Making Muslins, the Correct Way

Let's get this out of the way: no, I don't get paid for promoting learning platforms like Craftsy, Creativebug, Domestika, or any other. I just like to know that if I can help one single person avoid all the fumbling that I had to go through before feeling confident enough to share my sewing journey here, well that's all the reward I need.

So here is my latest discovery: it's a 15-module course by first-class professional Susan Khalje and though it's called The Couture Dress, to me the value was learning the proper way to make a muslin (aka mock-up etc.). It turns out I had been doing it wrong all those years. Not 100% wrong, but with the professional secrets I learned in this course, I know my sewing will improve.

The course is included in my monthly Craftsy subscription, or I could buy it for $30, then it would be added to my Craftsy Library where it would remain forever. I already have over 30 courses there, which I had purchased before the platform turned to the subscription model.

Craftsy changed hands recently, and now both options are available, which is just perfect.

Trust me, the muslin I'm making this week will follow all the rules I learned in this course. I'll be back here to show it to you soon. Stay tuned!

 

A Doll As An Embroidery Sampler, Why Not?

 

Making this doll - her name is Josephine and I found her in Dollmaking for the First Time by Miriam Gourley - was just an excuse to practice some different hand sewing stitches, and some embroidery that relies on stitches more than on pretty pictures.

The stitches were inspired by these books. Not much of a collection, you may think, but there are enough stitches in there to last me several lifetimes!

But my main sources of inspiration were a course on the Domestika platform by Mexican designer Garbriela Martínez of the Ofelia y Antelmo studio, and another on Craftsy by Natalie Chanin, author of The Geometry of Hand Sewing, above. She also heads her own design firm, Alabama Chanin and the School of Making. 

I had already become familiar with Sashiko sewing from a couple of beginner tutorials on Creativebug and Craftsy.

I LOVE hand sewing and plan to decorate my future hats and garments with some decorative stitching. 

This small project taught me a lot! First of all, cotton twill is a lousy support for embroidery! I mean, the weave is so tight I had to use pliers to pull the needle through!

Secondly, the seed stitch I used on the border of the doll's skirt is easy all right but it takes forever! So in case you’re tempted to use it as an allover pattern like on this top... 

Copyright Ofelia y Antelmo

...remember that the designer lives in Mexico where she employs women to do the embroidery for her!

More Fabric Shrinkage Info

 The following applies to 4 metres of 100% linen fabric purchased online at Club Tissus . This is the fabric in question:

Fabric after washing and ironing

I had purchased 4 metres and received slightly more, that is 437 centimetres instead of 400 (172 inches).

The width was 150 centimetres (59 inches).

After washing in hot water (as per all recommendations) and machine drying (at lowest setting), and ironing at the Linen setting with steam, the piece measured as follows:

WIDTH: 147.5 cm (58 inches), a loss of 2.5 cm (1 inch);

LENGTH: 434 cm (171 inches), a loss of 3 cm (1.25 inch).

As you can see, the shrinkage was minimal, a little over 1% on the width, and way less than 1% on the length.

CONCLUSION: For this particular fabric, pre-washing would not be justified EXCEPT for the fact that the unwashed fabric was as stiff as cardboard. 

And "stiff" is not what linen is supposed to feel like. The typical drape and slightly wrinkled look of linen can only be obtained by removing the stiffening agent that is applied at the mill.

I will continue to experiment with different fabrics, and report my findings here.