Making a Muslin

The owner of an independent pattern company I sometimes buy from always advises us to sew a  muslin before cutting into our wonderful fabric. If you take the long view, this is sensible and may save you from a total disaster. I have never been a big fan of doing this as it takes as long or longer than making the garment alone. It also uses fabric for something that may never be wearable. So, a compromise for my frugal soul is to make the garment from a not too expensive fabric, but if the project is wearable, perhaps I can wear the 'muslin' around the house.

Well, it's been a long time since I've actually made much for myself to wear. My shape, which never did comply with commercial pattern sizes has changed even farther in these past few years. So, as  I have been looking at patterns and styles and fabrics thinking about what I'd like to make, the muslin idea seems even more sensible.

So, today I made up a pattern for a casual knit top.  I most likely will not make this pattern in fashion fabric, there are some basic problems with the width of the yoke piece.  I just don't like exposing that much skin to the sun or for all the world to see. However, I did use a piece of knit fabric that must have been really really cheap. It's a green, tan and pink camo pattern. (I have fabric that was purchased before my four year stint in Japan - I have little recollection of how much it cost or when I bought it.)

At least now I know to look for a different pattern for a casual knit top. I guess that was worth some of my time today.