An Engineer's Guide to Handwork

 Having achieved a successful muslin, the next step is tracing off all of the pattern pieces and making sure that the alterations I made to the main pieces are transferred to the lining and interfacing pieces as well. This is a bit tricky, since there are a lot of pieces and they don't always follow the exterior pieces completely. Particularly since I did the swayback adjustment up at the top of the pattern not at the center back there will be some intersection between back lining and back facing to contend with.  Helpfully, the blazer fitting book Closet Core has available lists all the pieces, and suggests that you mark up what will need to be changed. This is what mine looks like, with the approximate line of the changes. I'll check each piece off as I trace it, so I know I have all the required pieces traced. Pattern pieces showing red marks for required adjustments The one thing that I have changed from the last muslin is the shoulder slope/forward shoulder adjustment. I ...

 Muslin take 2!  This time, I adjusted the front and side pieces for a 1/2" shoulder slope and a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment, combined into a 1" change to the front piece only. Because I don't want to change the armscye, the shoulder change needs to continue down into the underarm area, to keep the length the same and make sure the sleeve still fits. I used the pivot and slide technique here too, to make sure the length didn't change. Then matching the notches on the modified front and side panels allowed me to transfer over the change, and pivot back to the back edge.  Sketch of the adjusted front and side pattern pieces I recut the body pieces, with the shoulder adjustment and staying with the size 18 for the full size. I pulled the sleeves and collar off the original muslin and put them into the new one. Getting pretty close to being ready for the real thing! Blazer - size 18, front and back views The sleeves are definitely too long, but I'm not sure ...

 My dreams of making a blazer that actually fits me are inching towards reality. I started with the Jasika pattern from Closet Core patterns. I knew that I was going to need to make a full bicep adjustment, since my arm measures 16" and the finished garment size is 15.75". I added 2" to get a reasonable amount of ease. I also followed the advice the ever helpful Carol Kimball on Ravelry to pin the flat pattern pieces together to check the fit. This made it obvious that the back was going to be too long and I needed to do a sway back adjustment. Pinning out the lower back made it sit much better.  Initial paper pattern fitting on my dress form I adjusted the back pieces for length, using the pivot and slide technique suggested here. I shortened the center back by 1 1/2" (since the fold I pinned out was 3/4") and tried it on the dress form. Making the initial pattern adjustments to the paper patter made the back fit better, but there is clearly a shoulder slope...