I have a love hate relationship with my Macaron wearable muslin

44 comments
I have a love hate relationship with love and hate with my Macaron wearable muslin. It was one of the more difficult dresses I have sewn up and I made plenty of mistakes to prove it. The actual pattern and directions were great, but with all the markings that had to be transferred there were bound to be some errors on my part. The good news is that when I make it again it will be easier, right?

I know, I know, I need to find a different spot to take photos. It's just that by the time I get home from work it's getting dark and my photo location spots are limited.

There is nothing better than a dress with pockets! 



 My side yard.
 Frankie!!!! I love my pup!

The fabric I used is a Civil War reproduction print. It's one of those fabrics where you can't tell if it's black or brown. In the photo it looks more brown, but in person it's darker, almost black.


I was very proud of how the bodice turned out. Initially there was some slight puckering along the yoke that worried me, but by the time it was finished it wasn't an issue at all.

PROS
  • The final fit (size wise) was perfect and I didn't have to make any adjustments! It's form fitting, but not too tight. I could eat a meal and still feel comfortable wearing it.
  • Pockets!!!
  • Pleats were new to me so I learned a new skill.
  • The sleeve style is now one of my favorites.
  • It's a dress that can be worn out to a nice dinner, to a meeting, or out to run errands. Hopefully I will wear it out to dinner this Friday when I go out to celebrate my friend Krista's birthday :)


CONS
  • I struggled with easing in the sleeves and the gathers don't look consistent.
  • After doing the pleats, the dress front and back were different sizes, by a couple inches! I probably traced something wrong :( To fix it I made two of the pleats on the back slightly smaller and it worked. Next time I may just do gathers instead.
  • Fabric choice. I didn't start the project with a fabric in mind for the final garment, so I bought this cotton to use for the muslin. Fabric really inspires me and without an end fabric to look forward to I found it hard to get motivated. Does that make sense? I'm still not sure what I will be using the next time I make this.
  • The neckline size is a little small and I had trouble getting my head through the dress, granted this is coming from someone that has a HUGE head (literally) and can't find a hat that fits. When I wore this to take photos I made sure to put the dress on and then put on my makeup. If I had done my makeup before there would probably be foundation on the dress haha.
Now that I know what I need to do differently, I'm ready for round two!

44 comments :

  1. it looks great - i can't believe that's your muslin! you really nailed the fit! i had the same problem with the skirt and the pleats - i also found the skirt wasn't the same size as the bodice so i had to tweak the pleats. i've seen a few people saying the neckline was small. i have a fairly small head (but i make up for it with lots of hair!) so i didn't have a problem.

    frankie is adorable!

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    1. I have a huge head and my hair is super thick. It's a problem for hats haha

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  2. This actually looks amazing, how can it just be a muslin?!? I wish my final anything looked as good as this! I love those colours on you too, very sweet :o)

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    1. Aww thank you so much, Marie! And your finished garments blow mine away, you are very talented. xo

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  3. Your dress looks fantastic, the colours in the fabrics go so well together! And honestly I can't see anything wrnog with the sleeve gathers. Also I had the same 'problem' with the back skirt too on both my Macaron dresses, so I guess it's a little flaw in the pattern.

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  4. I think it looks really good on you! The fit is super super flattering.

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  5. Oh my goodness I think its adorable! The fit looks spot on (and from what I hear around the interwebs you weren't the only one that had problems with the tight neck!) I also really love the fabric/color combo here. I totally get you about needing to be excited about the fabric - but I think this looks like the kind of dress that could get a lot of wear and be dressed up or down.

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    1. I absolutely agree, it will get a lot of wear. Flaws and all. Well, flaws that only I would notice :)

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  7. This is one of my favorite Macarons I have seen. Love the fabric combo and the fit looks great!

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  8. Looks great!! I had the same issues with the neck hole. By the time I got it off and on it had makeup and lipstick smeared all over it and my hair was a mess. I now know to fix hair and makeup after putting it on! On my next version I will be cutting a larger neck hole.

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    1. haha oh no! Yeah, I will probably do a larger neck next time too.

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  9. What a great dress - pretty damn good for a muslin! Love the fabric choice. That civil war repro is so pretty.

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  10. i love everything about this post: you, your dress, your photos, frankie :) I really like your photo backdrop--I wish I had a blue door!! and the gate in the archway--fabulous photo spot. I'm a little jealous of your yard ;) Way to persevere on the dress, it turned out great.

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    1. Thanks, Qui! I want to get down to the beach or Hearst Castle to take more photos. Yeah, we should sew up our Peonys and go to Hearst Castle for a photo shoot!

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  11. This is so cute-- I really love it! I bet you're going to end up loving this one. I'm sad because I didn't have time to make a Macaron... the last month or so has been brutal at work, and I haven't been able to get it together enough to start a new project. :( But it's been so fun to see all of your versions of the Macaron-- they're way cute!!

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    1. You should sew one when you get a chance. I'm falling more and more in love with this pattern every day. Is that creepy???

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  12. I really love your wearable muslin! the colour combination is awesome!
    I find it funny that a lot of people have said about the neckline, with my little head this never occurred to me even after 3 different versions! :P

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    1. haha well my head is definitely larger than the average persons head :)

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  13. This looks fantastic on you- well done. And how cute are the sleeves? The pleats look fantastic as well :D
    Macaron was the dress pattern that brought me back to sewing and was probably not the best piece to attempt as a novice but I got there in the end... even if working out the sleeves took me a whole night...

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    1. Thanks, Amanda. The pleats on the back are kind of wonky in person, but that's ok because this is my muslin.

      I also struggled with the sleeves. Well, not struggled, but it took some thinking before I realized that I needed to fold the pieces in half hah. Ooops!

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  14. I hear you on the trouble with taking photos... This is always the biggest hurdle for me! That said, I think you and the macaron dress were made for each other. Maybe you being uber-aesthetic-ly pretty helps, but I really like the way your 'wearable muslin' looks on you! Gorgeous as ever.

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    1. You are so sweet!!!! When I read this comment yesterday it put a smile on my face. XO

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  15. Erin, I am so impressed! Your sewing skills are improving before our eyes! Love this!

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  16. I think you've done a beautiful job! Those colours suit you so well and the fit is great :)

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  17. I love it!! Awesome job!! I'm totally the same with fabric - I'm SO MUCH more motivated when I'm in love with my fabric!! Also I lol'd at you having a big head - you so do not! ^__^

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    1. LMAO!!! That makes me giggle ^___^ Maybe you just have a tiny body, not a huge head ;)

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  18. Super cute- yay! I can't believe this is a wearable muslin, it looks that good!

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  19. WOA. Well I LOVE it! I think this is so beyond 'wearable muslin'! I think that pink looks great on you! Super cute!

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  20. Great job. Thanks for the pros and cons - gives us a heads up.

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    1. Thank you! Are you going to sew one up? I can't wait to see your version if you do!

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  21. For me at least it's why I never make a wearable muslin. I like making muslins, but I also feel like I have to be inspired by the fabric I'm using.

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    1. I think for my next projects I might just use actual muslin to spot check some areas.

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  22. I love that you used a Civil War repro print! That's so cool!! I love your dress even if you love to hate it lol. And little Frankie is just so sweet!

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    1. I think I like it more and more. I think I was being really hard on myself because the execution isn't perfect. But whatever, it's my muslin. I do really like the fit though, so I want to make another one.

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