In which I regret my fabric choice because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be out of place on a lounge chair cushion on the Golden Girls' lanai...
I am planning to make an Itch to Stitch Bonn dress for the holidays out of some sparkly crepe fabric from Style Maker Fabrics, but I wanted to make sure I nailed the size/fit before cutting into it... hence this wearable (but is it? really?) muslin. Plus, I wanted to sneak one more shirt under the wire
For my Bonn shirt, I chose a size 12, D-cup at the bust, graded out to a 16 at the hip. I was a little bit skeptical because I am almost never a 12, but the sizing actually worked out really well! The shirt is fairly loose-fitting, with no darts or anything on the back bodice, and bust darts shaping the front.
For the dress, I am considering going up to an 18 at the hip, just for a little more wiggle room there. It's hard to tell whether the 16 hip will work because the curved shirt-tail hem goes up over my widest point, so the shirt is not necessarily indicative how how the dress will fit in that region. Maybe I should just trust the measurements, though.
For this shirt I opted for the 3/4 length sleeves. The sleeve width is not bad at all. I may increase the size of the bicep ever so slightly for my dress, but that's not unusual for me. Next time I may only interface half of the cuff, which is folded over upon itself, because mine ended up a little bit stiff with the double interfacing.
I struggled a little bit with the collar, which is like a highly-curved collar stand. Admittedly, collar stands are one of my weak points. I stink at getting that little curve at the front to look nice and cover the seam allowance. But luckily it looks ok from the outside and the Bonn collar lays nice and flat to the body so no one will see the inside!
Ok, back to the fabric. This fabric one of those purchases that seemed like a good idea at the time but made me question my own taste when I looked at it later. The colors, the faux paint strokes. Ug. I bought it locally at one of my favorite fabric shops here in Bangkok. Perhaps if the color combination were different it wouldn't be so bad, but the tan and that shade of purple? Nope.
However, the fabric does feel great- nice and drapey, easy to sew. I think maybe it's a viscose blend?
Ok, so let me summarize in case there was any confusion: fabric bad, shirt good. I'll definitely make more of the Bonn shirt, but will be paying closer attention to my fabric purchases in the future!!
