Tales of a Sky Blue Dress

Well hey now, what's this? It's my first adult garment sewing project in about ten years. I got the cotton fabric at Mood in NYC; the pattern is Vogue 8577. I made a muslin first, which of course seemed totally tedious and unnecessary until I made the first of a series of mistakes that would have been disastrous had I been working with the real fabric the first time around. Don't get me wrong, I made plenty of egregious mistakes on the real thing as well. A partial list: markings that were supposed to wash out and didn't, many hours of labor to produce two right-side pockets, bad buttonhole placements that had to be ripped out. I could go on. Nevertheless, the muslin did indisputably save my bacon when it came to making the armholes. The directions as written result in armholes that droop inches below the braline and protrude out from the shoulder in an unflattering way. Because I had the muslin I was able to figure out a better answer (bias tape right up against the bottom of the armscye, moving inward to take off an inch and a half of the shoulder width at each side). Overall, I am pleased; it fits, the color is nice, and the mistakes really only show to me. I was amazed at how different sewing is from knitting. I have so much less experience as a sewer that it's hard to tell how different I'll eventually find them, but for now it's wonderful to have such a distinct fiber vista opening up to me.