Everyday I'm Muslinin'

Blame that horrible title on the heat, please.

So, how about the Dress of Shame? I started putting it together, full of fresh courage, when I encountered an unexpected problem with the front darts on the bodice. They worked on the muslin, but came out horribly wrong in the dres fabric. think freaky double-pointed nipples.

I think I fixed the problem but felt like an additional fitting was in order, so I contacted my friend and found out she wouldn't be available for the next couple of days.

And that's not all! One of my dear old cats underwent surgery to remove his eye on Friday (The eye was blind already and he got more and more infections so the vet advised us to have it removed). He got through it really well but isn't exactly in top shape at the moment. He's wearing one of those collar things and since he's still on painkillers we try to keep an eye on him as much as possible; especially in this heat. I'm now giving him water by dripping it into his mouth with a small siringe because we noticed he had some problems drinking with the collar on. This is our little Mr. Van Dam now:

I've given him a little eyepatch because the stitches look a bit gruesome. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by them though, he's more annoyed about not being able to lick his tummy (that's why we are brushing him several times a day).

Anyway, since the Dress of Shame has been postponed I figured this would be a good time to work on some muslins. I'll be in New York in early September and wanted to finish a few garments by then. Two of those have a princess-seamed bodice, which I first wanted to draft myself, but when Grainline had a sale going on I picked up the pattern for the Kat dress:

Here is the bodice muslin I made last night:

The fit is fine, but I felt the bodice was a bit too short to work for what I wanted to do. I also didn't need the curved waistline. So today I spent the afternoon slashing and spreading the pattern pieces to add some length. Let's hope it works out! This is a kind of basic bodice shape I really love, and it can be used in many different ways.

I hope to have some proper pictures of other finished garments by next weekend! The past two days have been so hot I didn't even want to wear clothes, let alone pose in them.