A New Look 6148 (wearable?) muslin

  I hate the idea of making muslins - all that time wasted! And if I were to chose material that I liked to make a muslin it would probably cost nearly as much as the final garment. However after my recent 'not so great garments' I thought a muslin would be a good idea to see if I liked the style of the pattern etc plus the husband had another shirt with a worn collar ready for the bin -  I just couldn't let all that material go to waste!

  Now that all of my little people have started school I find myself working more and my preferred wardrobe choices of leggings, tunics, dresses, and skirts are not suitable. I want something comfortable, loose fitting, but smart. I have seen quite a few loose fitting woven tops that I love the look of but that have a price tag beyond my means.

  I thought Simplicity New Look 6148 might provide me with the perfect work top.

  There are quite a few variations, I particularly like the contrasting yoke options  - I think a sleeveless one for the summer would look good too. I decided to go for the longer length of view D.

  After I cut down all of the seams of the shirt I discovered that my pattern pieces didn't quite fit onto the fabric so I had to add a strip of contrasting fabric into what would be the middle of my back (rather than cut two back pieces I just cut one on the fold). I also used the hem of the shirt as my hem - partly because I am lazy and partly because I liked the curve at the side seams. I had to make the sleeves slightly shorter than the pattern requires as the plackets of the shirt sleeves were quite long.

  Construction was OK but I did panic when joining the yoke as the fabric all seemed to bunch up at the 'v'. Joining the neck binding to the neck line was also tricky (mostly because I cut one back piece on the fold and forgot to take out the seam allowances!) and has resulted in some puckering of the fabric.

 The front.......

and the back....

The fabric is very soft and drapes beautifully but the pattern on it does make me feel a little like I am wearing some kind of uniform, so I'm not sure how much of a wearable muslin it is. However I like the feel and look of the top, perhaps the shorter version in  a different fabric with some skinny trousers will be perfect for work!

  I have the 'end of holiday blues' as it has been half term this week - I love having the little people at home and not having to rush around everywhere so I am always miserable on the last day of school holidays!

        Su xx