Burda 05-2012-135 muslin

I decided to have a go this week at making Burda 05-2012-135, a fairly simple collared blouse

Burda 05-2012-135

It's pretty ordinary, although I quite like the little pleat on the sleeve and the deep cuff. I didn't really like the way the facings are done -- they're actually cut onto the front pieces and then you fold them back. You can see from the shot of the sample that they're quite wide and they of course then end up flapping about in a way that drives me entirely insane.






This muslin is in a cheap polycotton black and white stripe that I had set aside as a shirt muslin because of an unfortunate sun fade/yellow mark that ran across the fabric in several places. It's pinned together rather than buttoned, but the pins are exactly where the buttons would be.

Muslin

I cut a size 46 bodice with size 50 sleeves, and added in a 5cm FBA based on my measurements. Unfortunately I then took out most of the 5cm at the side seam. You can see I actually took a little too much out when I was playing with the fit because there's that characteristic little fold suggesting bad bust fit above the bust on the left of this shot. As bad as the fit is on this incarnation, it was SO MUCH WORSE when I left the full width of the FBA in -- utterly tent-like. (I also made zero effort to set my sleeves in properly, so please ignore the puffiness and pleating).

Overall, I am not at all thrilled with this blouse. It's quite boxy looking on me, and I don't really need any assistance to look boxy since I don't have all that much of a waist at this weight. If I were going to make this up in fashion fabric I'd need to play some more with reshaping the side seams to try to get the fit right at the bust and waist and to get the shirt to cope with my butt (which is the cause, I think of that wrinkling/pooling in my lower back) and I don't know that I find the blouse flattering enough overall to bother. In addition to refining the shape at the side I'd have to play with the sleeve quite a bit -- take out some of the sleeve head ease for a start since it's excessive when you're fitting a 50 sleeve into a size 46 armhole. I quite like that cuff detail but the sleeves too long overall. I also couldn't make any sense of Burda's instructions on how to finish the back neck AT ALL, so I'd have to figure that out even though I don't love the collar. And finally, I really REALLY don't love those front facings. I loathe any facings that flap about like that. I suppose the buttons/buttonholes would anchor it somewhat but I bet it would still be quite prone to flapping.

All that said, while I am feel very indifferent to the pattern I am very happy that I made this muslin. In particular, I am pleased to have had a low pressure go at a couple of elements of the garment that were new to me: collars and cuffs. I think I need a better explained pattern and/or my sewing books to get to grips with collars -- Burda isn't great for teachine new skills -- but apart from the finishing and a little bit of uneven-ness I am actually pretty happy with that collar. Certainly, making this muslin has helped me refine what I want from the first shirt I actually make from fashion fabric -- probably something more fitted than this (which means probably a princess seam), probably a collar with a collar stand rather than this one piece collar, and definitely a pattern with better instructions. This one, meanwhile, is going to go lurk, unloved, somewhere for a few weeks until I decide what to do with it.