Muslin | Sew Eleanor

Good Muslin Versus Bad

If you fit your garments, you are probably in the habit of sewing test garments known as “muslins.” Many people make these test garments out of a sturdy plain weave cotton fabric known as muslin. Thus the name “muslin” for the test garment. In the U.S., muslin is generally undyed, though one could use any plain weave fabric, such as quilting fabric, for this purpose.

I have tried a few types of muslin. As a cost savings, I used to use the cheapest muslin available at Joann’s. However, that didn’t turn out to be very satisfactory. That cheap muslin was very thin (almost tissue weight) and usually off grain. Since it is a good idea to test-drive your garment using (1) a fabric of similar weight to the fashion fabric and (2) a fabric with a straight grain, my muslins have been limp and a bit catty-wumpus.

Recently, I discovered that Emma One Sock sells a medium weight muslin. (I’m sure that other companies sell this muslin. I just haven’t looked yet.) This muslin is a dream to work with. It has a good hand and sufficient body. I love how it feels. The grain is always straight and I can easily tell if my test garment is hanging correctly. The selvedge (a.k.a., selvage or selvege) of this muslin are tightly woven, which I just plain enjoy.

Woven Selvedge Of Muslin

Tip: Good quality selvedges make terrific twill tape. To make the twill tape, tear the selvedges off of the large/long muslin scraps, put them in a lingerie bag and then pre-shrink them by machine washing and drying. If you give the selvedge strips a good press and then wind them around a card or spool, then the twill tape will be ready to go when you need it.

This good quality muslin is easy to tear and tears cleanly, so that you have crisp, straight on-grain edges for aligning the fabric on the cross-grain.

Aligning The Torn Edges

I like that this muslin makes a crisp fold when finger-pressed. Making a crisp fold can be useful when laying out a pattern (see below).

Laying Out A Pattern For Fitting With Muslin Fabric

Since I can go through several fittings, I use a lot of muslin. I am contemplating buying a bolt of this muslin. Maybe I can get a bit of a price break.

BTW, did you notice how the fabric is not hanging off the end of my table? Allowing the fabric to do that would make it pull and mess up the fitting. So, instead of letting the fabric hang off of the end of the table, I prefer to fold the fabric so that it is out of my way. It is fine to do this after you have pinned the pattern to the fabric.

Vogue 9850 Skirt Part 1

This is my next project, a Vogue 9850 skirt in Jacquard denim with a poly charmeuse lining. This pattern is no longer in print, but I have seen it on some vintage pattern sites. I have had this pattern in my filing cabinet since the ’80s and always wanted to make it. At the time I bought the pattern, I had a Ralph Lauren skirt that was very similar and loved it.

Vogue 9850 Pattern In File Folder

I like to keep all of my patterns in 1-inch accordion file folders. The envelope figures and pertinent information are glued/pasted onto the front. Then I label the folder and add a color-coded tag. The tag indicates a category (i.e., skirts, dresses, tops, pants, etc.), so that I can easily find it in my filing cabinet. In the folder, I keep the original pattern (which is traced off and not damaged), my altered pattern and any extra pattern pieces that I add (i.e., facings, sleeves, etc.) and possibly the muslin.

Laying Out Muslin For Cutting

I am using View C, which has box pleats in the front and back. To begin, I traced off the pattern and adjusted the traced off pattern to my size. Then I cut out a muslin for fitting.

After I tried on the muslin and marked my adjustments, such as the proper location of the side seams, I drafted a new pattern to be used when cutting out the fabric. Since the original pattern had only 2-inch pleats that were sewn down for only 2-inches, which looked stupid, I deepened them by adding an additional 3-inches in width and extended the sewn-down portion to 4-inches. This is much better, but I might make them even bigger the next time I sew this pattern. It would also look great if the pleats were sewn down much farther down the front and back, and then top-stitched.

Stretch Cotton Blend Denim Jacquard From Emma One Sock

The fashion fabric is a stretch denim Jacquard that I purchased from Emma One Sock. For now, you can find it here. Once it is sold out, I’m not sure that it will be restocked. It also comes in a blue colorway.

Stretch Poly Charmeuse From Vogue Fabrics

VF134-38 Spritzer Perfumery – Stretch Woven Charmeuse Conversational Print Fabric From Vogue Fabrics

The lining is a stretch polyester charmeuse that I purchased from Vogue Fabrics. You can find it here. I usually line all of my garments with silk or rayon. But, since I knew this skirt was going to go in the wash and needed to be more sturdy, I decided that this poly fabric would be okay. I didn’t draft a separate pattern for the lining. Instead, I pinned out the box pleats all the way to the hem.