The Paris muslin is finished

It turns out that the Crazy Paris Dress made as a wearable muslin for Butterick 5846 is not the worst dress ever made. I even plan to wear it in public.

I don’t think this looks all that bad, but maybe I’ve been looking at it too long. And would you look at that? I forgot to button two of the buttons when I put it on my dressform.

The belt was made with a vintage slide buckle and some waistband interfacing. It stays closed with a snap I sewed on.

Although a contrast collar is one of the views on the pattern, this white one was done out of necessity. I didn’t have enough fabric because I cut out all the bodice pieces first rather than follow the pattern cutting layout, so I used some poly-cotton batiste I had in the stash. I really like the white collar, which inspired the white buttons and belt. I think all the white tones down the “novelty print” fabric.

You can get a better look at the red topstitching below. This is the best convertible collar I have ever done. The pattern calls for a hook and eye at the top of the bodice just below the collar itself, but I don’t intend to wear it that way so I didn’t bother. I also didn’t bother to interface anything because the quilting fabric seemed substantial enough and because this is a wearable muslin.

An up-close look at the topstitching. I used regular thread, not topstitching thread.

A closeup look at the topstitching. I used regular thread, not topstitching thread, which is thicker.

Here it is on yours truly:

As promised to Melissa, here I am in the dress. Photo by Maddie.

By making the whole dress, I found out a few things that will come in handy when I make it out of the lovely teal and navy lawn I’ve got waiting.

I added too much length and width during my pattern alteration. I can take out half of the 4 inches I added across the front and half of the inch I added to the overall length of the bodice.
When you add length to the bodice, you must add length to the front facing. I remembered that little rule one scissor cut too late. Oops. There may be a little seam in the facing near the hem. Shhh.
I can’t imagine ever using the pockets on this dress. They just don’t seem like a very secure place to put anything more than a handkerchief. Since the pockets just complicate finishing the side seams, out they go for the real dress.
The length is too short by at least 3 inches. I’ll cut out the longer version next time around and figure out the best length when it’s time to hem. Thank goodness they still had the fabric at JoAnn’s. I bought an additional 2 yards to be safe.

All in all, I really like this pattern. Since it’s a basic shirtdress, it has many possibilities for variation. I could even make it into a shirt by extending the bodice and the tucks.

Now that I’ve got the fitting really dialed, I’m excited to see how it looks in a nice soft cotton lawn as compared with a quilting cotton. I hope to be re-altering the pattern tomorrow.

WARNING: Butterick 5846 has a mistake. The collar is marked to be clipped at the wrong spot. It should be clipped where the front facing ends. It’s an easy enough fix. KimP explains the problem and the solution well on her blog, which I found when I encountered the error and Googled the pattern to see which of us was crazy, me or the Butterick 5846. Turns out it’s the pattern. This time.