Fall Sewing!

One of the best things about August, aside from all the fun school and office supplies that are on sale, is the release of the fall pattern collections from the big four pattern houses. It's my time to sit down, evaluate the trends and start planning what I want to make. I've decided to focus on clothes that will allow me to make the most of this year's hot fall colors, while still keeping cool during the daytime heat.

So what's first on my must-sew list? A short sleeve blouse with a slightly gathered neck edge and sleeves and a straight pencil skirt. I'm going to be using Simplicity 1692, a vintage 1940s pattern for the top. The skirt will be my first attempt using a Burda pattern from their magazine. (Wish me luck, just following the cutting lines was a job in itself!)

To make the outfit feel more fall-ish, I'm going with purple fabrics. The skirt will be made in a solid gabardine, while the blouse will be from a sheer polyester printed fabric in purple with hints of teal, mustard and winter white. Both of the fabrics are from Joann's and I can't wait to start sewing.

Which brings me to my big problem ... Fit! I know all you fashion sewers out there can relate. After several years of not sewing too many garments, I've discovered that patterns don't fit me all that well anymore. I'm pretty sure I'm cutting the right sizes, but a need to make a lot of adjustments to improve the fit and I'm not always sure which adjustments are the right ones to make. For instance, on two different garments I sewed recently the back neck didn't lay flat against my neck. Instead it seemed to pull away from my body. But I noticed the shoulder seams were way to long, so is this all a result of my shoulders being narrower than the pattern pieces or is there something else that needs fixing?

Because I really want this purple outfit to work, I think I'm going to make a test garment first and see if I can't figure out what I need to fix. I've never really done this before, so I'm not quite sure how I take the test garment and mark the changes I'll need to make on the pattern pieces, so I'll be doing some research to figure it all out. In the meantime, if you have any fit tips or advice on working with a muslin sample, feel free to leave them in the comments  section and if you don't sew clothes is concern about getting the right fit one of the things that's holding you back?