So, here’s the thing, you sew your muslin for a few reasons. Fit is the most important, but getting a handle on the construction of something that may be difficult would be another reason. For instance, a wrap maxi dress that has a slightly weird thing going on with the tie wraps would be something you would want to test out on the muslin. You know, so when you go to sew it up you know what you’re doing maybe…

Then you spend all this time cutting out your fabric because of the sheer amount of fabric that needs to be ironed and laid out and cut and marked and so on. You use every bit of that fancy fabric and you feel great when you are finally ready to sew because you know that your fit will be great and you know you took your time when you were cutting and you also know that you know how to put this dress together.

You sit down at your beautiful machine and then you realize you have sewed one of the ties completely wrong and already clipped the seam allowance, you cut out two of four maxi skirt panels with the print upside down, and you don’t have a single bit of extra fabric.

This is the story of my life and every sewing project in it.

This is also why I am known to be a problem solving, resourceful type of lady. Don’t worry, I managed to salvage the tie that I messed up with some very close tolerances for seams and as far as the skirt panels being upside down… Fuck it.

In the wise words of a white water rafting guide I had once, “You just gotta square up and push through.”

Anyway, In case you wanted to see the part I screwed up in the instruction so that you don’t do the same thing I did, here you go.

Step three is where the mishap went down.

Basically what had happened was, I sewed shut the wrong side of the tie, you leave the wide end open and sew up the short side.  I did the opposite and clipped the seam before I turned it right side out.  So when I sewed it on , I barely had enough seam allowance to sew it to the bodice when I needed to.  You live you learn.