I’d like to apologize in advance for making any readers who are strong swimmers cringe.  I’m desperately wishing I’d had swimming lessons at this point.

This is muslin number 3 for the Request Gown.  I cannot thank those of you who left comments on my last drowning post regarding this horrendous challenging project enough.  You were all very encouraging to one learning to swim, and I’m grateful.  I have never in my life had to create such an incredibly customized Franken pattern.  You may recall in my first muslin we were considering very full gathered sleeves, but, in all honesty – and maybe it’s the old sheets – everything looked like Little House on the Prairie or one of those long-sleeved flannel nighties I used to wear as a small child.  So the consensus was long tapered sleeves.  Split down the centre.  With loop/button closure every 6 inches or so.I did do the circle and draping in a mirror front and back, and we decided we’d see if a zipper on the right side of the dress where there’s no detailing would be better.  Certainly it is from an insertion point of view – less mess and patience required to match things up perfectly while inserting an invisible zipper (which is always a bit of challenge for me anyways).  Here’s the back view, and you can see that I still need to add more width through the shoulders.  I decided to leave everything above the waist on the bias as much as possible.  I dunno….  I don’t know enough about draping/drafting to make an informed decision on that one, but I think leaving it on the bias will give it a more fluid look. The bodice is on the straight grain in the picture below, but will be on the bias, too, since more draping is required across the bust.  I just don’t know how the heck I’m going to get all the draping into the desired 1-inch wide shoulder seam.  This dress is pushing my comfort zone.  I have realized that I’m operating in an information void, which is frustrating me.  If I knew what I was doing, or what I needed to do, it would problem-solve much faster and easier.  And the front slit will still be as muslined with 5 buttons with loop closures at the top.  I guess it will have to be faced so I have a seam in which to sew the loops.