Muslin Butterick 6166 Part 1

Well, the dress has been started.  Here's the line drawings:

My thoughts were to do dress B with the sleeves from C at a 3/4 length.  After examining the pattern, I decided to start with a size 18 as a base dress.  I have never chosen to start with a dress in this size before but my thinking was that I should start closest to my bust/hip size.  I have a not so flattering knit it stash and decided that it would be a good muslin fabric.  So, I cut out the base dress which isn't shown as an option but it's there.  If you take away the gathered piece at the waist and the overlay, there's a very basic knit dress.  If I can get that part to fit the rest will be easy.  I'm also guessing that the dress will need a minimum of 3 inches to be correct length but that can be added later.  Here's the first effort on the muslin:

Not too bad for straight from the envelope with really quick and dirty sewing.  I didn't hem anything here.  My first thought was the the shoulder line fell too far off my shoulder but when I looked a picture of the dress, I'm not so sure.  Here's a picture of the sleeveless version:

I do think that the neckline is too wide on me when compared to the pattern picture.  Other changes that I see from the picture is that I need to change the angle of the shoulder line just a bit, maybe a 1/4".   So, here's my little list of things to do:

1.  Change the shoulder angel just a bit.  This I can do to the existing muslin.
2.  Change the shoulder length just a bit.  This I can do to the existing muslin.
3.  Remark the waist so I can see it in the pictures.  This I can do to the existing muslin.
4.  Double-check the neckline against the information provided on fit in the pattern.  I think it said that it was 5/8" before a jewel neckline.  This can be done on the existing.
5.  Check the back shaping.  This can be done on the existing muslin.  (I didn't provide pictures of this because my down and dirty sewing wasn't so good here, lol.)  --  do darts, check waistline.
6.  Double-check hem-line length.  It's hard to decide that looking at these pictures.  My son is almost a foot taller than me.
7.  Adjust sleeve length.

Hopefully, the next time you hear about this dress it will be finished and not tossed as a wadder.  I'm hoping that the overlay and the banding will be nice to my belly.

The subject for the March monthly get together has been decided.  We will be working on different techniques for binding.  This will mostly be for quilting or home-dec type items.  Specifically, we will be working with a binder that my friend purchase and has never been able to get it to work.  Have you ever been to a sewing show, saw a demo, purchased the item, and then couldn't get it to work?  I'm hoping that we can get this working for her as she spent a lot of money on this particular binding system.

Happy Stitching!