Took a dart out of the center back neck and put it into the seam. It removed some of the wrinkles in the back. Also I think it needs to be lengthened by a couple of inches. As it stands, the jacket will cut across my widest spot and emphasizes my pearishness. Without the hem turned up, it's a nice looking jacket, so I think I will just redraft an additional hem on the bottom of the jacket pieces. It will be ready to go I think. Now to just decide what fabric to use.

Well, I'm on the third muslin. I think it's getting better. I went down to a 14 in the shoulders, 18 in the armsceye and bust with a FBA. Also did a dowager's hump alteration. This has made a huge difference.

The sleeves and back are still waaay to tight. According to Allyne Bane's Tailoring, the tightness in the back is caused by not enough ease in the bicep. You are supposed to have 2 to 3 inches of ease in the bicep of a jacket. I had only 1 inch. The shoulders were still too long and back too wide (and tight). Added a half inch on the top and bottom of the sleeve, trimmed the shoulder down by 1/2 inch and put new (bigger) sleeves in. The fit is much much better. We're getting somewhere. Also had to add 3 inches to the hipline.

I've posted a few pictures of a first draft and a second draft of Vogue 2957. They are on my picturetrail account under mastdenman.

picturetrail



In the first muslin, I narrowed the shoulders a little an created a back neckdart. I also squared off the shoulders and graded the bottom portion up a couple of sized. The sleeves ended up being very tight and the bodice portion was very snug too. It hung up on my bum. The back shoulder seemed to be a little too square so I took a tuck out of the back armscye running to the neckline. Also graded the bodice and arms up a size and dropped the armhole about 3/8 of an inch. Made a swayback adjustment.

Redrew the pattern pieces and made draft 2. The jacket went on much more smoothly. I could barely get the first one on. The sleeves are a little short and wide in the sleeve cap, but otherwise look fine. Will need just a little adjustment. It is still too tight over the mid-back. I have a distinctive baby dowager's hump beginning. The fabric has a fold from the upper mid back to the side waist. The bust looks a little tight like a tiny FBA might be needed. There is a pull from the front shoulder to center between the bust. I slashed the back horizontally from arm to arm and will add a little vertical length. I'm taking a little tuck around the middle from front side waist to back side waist and maybe a little more out of the center back to make up for the added fabric in the upper middle.

I am working on Vogue 2957. One muslin is partly completed. It is a little too tight. I think that if I draft one size larger it will fit nicely. The sleeves and the armsceye are too tight. There are wrinkles curving around the bottom of the armpit and the bicep is snug too.

It looks like it will be a nice stylish jacket to wear to work. It fits well through the shoulders. It doesn't hang over. It has a nice collar and lapel.

I finished the new linen pants. I needed a medium brown pant to finish up the summer work wardrobe. Next will be the chinos. I can't decide whether to cut those out first or to work on some summer tees for around the house. It's starting to get really really warm during the day and I need sleeveless or nearly sleeveles tees. I guess I need to post pictures of the new linen pants. They turned out very good because they don't have much in the way of drag lines.