3rd Fitting

 Yesterday, Gina and Linda and Lola came to visit me for a fitting!  Here are the pictures of Gina in the dress so far.  I have some changes to make and work on the skirt, but here's what this fitting looked like!

2nd Fitting

So the next step is to take this muslin on Gina, and make sure it fits her body in the way that she would like it to.  It needed some slight adjustments, as you can see the pins.  We also decided on a waistline.  (Shortly after we changed our mind and went to a much lower one...but moving on!).  After marking the adjustments, and removing the pins, I needed to take it apart to fix the pattern.  Samson was staying with us at the time - and he decided to help me out.  He thought I was playing with fabric just for him :-).  Silly Samson.

Once I fixed the pattern, the next step was patterning the skirt.  To start, I decided to work with just the underskirt.  It's the easy part.  I patterned a simple skirt in a similar fashion as I began the bodice.  Cutting it out, and cutting out the new bodice, I sewed them together.  I cut two bodices for this muslin, one as the lining to give Gina a better idea as to what the top would end up looking like.  Gina and I then had a great discussion on the phone about what she wanted.  We decided to go against the higher waist-line, and go with a dropped waist.  The bodice will be covered in lace down to the skirt, with the possibility of a sash under the bust - but that can be decided later.  I also cut large pieces of fabric to be able to pin to the underskirt at the next fitting to get an idea as to how the skirt was going to go together.  Next, another fitting!  Speaking of fittings, I should mention that most people wouldn't do as many fittings as Gina and I are going to.  We are for a couple of reasons.  One of which is we are still learning exactly what Gina wants - which is easier if she can get more looks at what is going on.  Second, I want to check my work as often as I can - it gives me more confidence that I am doing things correctly!  :-)  Thanks for all the support and comments on the blog people!  It's great to know someone out there is reading :-)

The Second Muslin

 Since I now have a corrected pattern, I can create the second muslin.  It's put together exactly the same way that the first, but  with slightly different shapes.  Giving the bodice princess seams eliminates the darts.  Putting two curves together can create the same shape, but without the seemingly out of place darts.  Gina and I have a fitting tomorrow afternoon, and we shall see how it fits!  We are going to look at the fit, and see how the bottom of the piece is.  See if it is now long enough, and if it is - getting the shape correct.  Once the bodice piece is complete, the next step would be to work on the skirt part - much more complicated.