military-style jacket part 1 - the muslin(s)

I have spent the past 3 days working on muslins for Simplicity 4129. I originally fell in love with this Dolce and Gabbana jacket, but of course could never justify the price - even if it is $2200 cheaper on overstock.com. When I saw Erica B's version I was re-inspired and then realized I had a pattern in my stash that I could use to emulate the D&G version...enter Simplicity 4129 (which is apparently out of print and not available on Simplicity's website - I searched for it). I'm making view D (the green one in the upper-right corner of the photo) with some modifications.



I decided to use some fabric from my stash, a caramel colored sueded poly blend (it doesn't photograph very well in my dimly-lit dining room). It looks and feels just like suede, but it's more forgiving to work with than true synthetic suede (it eases better and doesn't show needle and pin marks like a true synthetic suede would). I decided to not get too crazy in the lining and settled on a chocolate brown Ambiance and then I found some antiqued gold buttons.

Because I didn't want to cut into my fabric without knowing this would fit perfectly, I decided to make a muslin. Three muslins later I am FINALLY ready to cut out the base jacket pieces. I plan on adding pockets to the peplum, possibly pouch pockets like the D&G version, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to add yet. This pattern has been a bear to get to fit properly. I went with my high bust measurement and decided on a size 20 for the first muslin.

Muslin 1: Basic fit was OK. The only alterations I made for this first muslin was lengthening the jacket body by 1 3/4" at the waistline. The bust line and hip area were snug and while the sleeves fit well, the movement was horrible. On to make some additional modifications for the next muslin.

Muslin 2: I did a 1/2" FBA, which only partially fixed the bustline. From the waistline, I widened all pieces to size 22 for extra hip room. For the sleeves, I originally questioned whether the sleeves were really too tight which might account for my movement issues. Not the problem - in fact, altering the sleeves made the sleeves worse!! Off to muslin #3.

Muslin 3: Wearing the second muslin and studying it in the mirror, I realized that my sleeve issue was because the armhole was too low. For muslin #3, I lowered the armhole by 1/2" (an alteration I NEVER have to make), using the method in Fast Fit - except because of the princess seams I decided to make my alteration at the dots on the sleeve cap rather than just above the notches...this way I didn't have to deal with making an alteration to the side pieces. I also needed to figure out what was wrong with the bust area. After looking through my Fast Fit book I decided to check my bust point against the bust point on the pattern - I needed to lower it by 2". I also lengthened the sleeve by 1 1/2" after adding the sleeve cuff. All of these modifications FINALLY made the muslin fit well...

I'm going to cut out the fabric and lining tonight.