hey all, I was looking around sewing mamas last night for the first time and noticed on a few of the posts people would refer to making a pattern as a 'muslin' or making something out of muslin.

Now, my asusmption is, because muslin is cheaper, that a person would mock up a new or tricky pattern on plain muslin before they cut into their nicer/more $$ fabric. Am I right on that?

Very clever idea, I always by clearance whatever to practice on and never even thought of getting muslin at .87 a yard!

Yes, that's exactly why you use muslin.

I'm not sure where you're at with your sewing but the big pattern makers can't seem to get sizing right.....ever. It's very very discouraging to cut deep into your favorite fabric only to have your outfit come out 3 sizes to large. or worse, too small.

I use fabric that I'm not too fond of as my "muslin" sometimes--that way if it fits, great, the kids can wear it, but if it doesn't, I haven't ruined my favorite fabrics :)

yeah, I learned my lesson after cuting into $80 worth of beautiful fabric only to have the neckline turn out WAY too big, and the waist WAY too small. I use a cheap, similar weight fabric anytime I'm trying something new now. ;)

You've probably already figured this out from the replies, but JIC...if you read someone refer to a "wearable muslin", it usually means they tried out a pattern using practice fabric (not "muslin" but something inexpensive) to test the pattern and hopefully end up with a wearable garment.

So "a muslin" refers to a test garment made from a pattern, but it doesn't have to be made from actual muslin (but it can be, of course). In the case of a pattern that calls for knits, it isn't a good idea to use muslin...you want to use knit practice fabric that has the same amount of stretch as your final version fabric.

hth

I use muslin when I'm making up a pattern for a very fitted or complicated pattern because my measurements never seem to match ANY of the ones on the pattern. But what I do more often is to cut a pattern from a favorite ready to wear dress or top. This works best with flowing, relatively unstructured garments from lines such as Blue Fish, Flax, etc. I try to look for things that have no darts when I'm not going to take the garment apart. I just lay the item out on wide butcher's paper or old wallpaper or tissue paper and draw around it. Then I draw around again 1/2" outside for a seam allowance. If it's pants, I take apart a well-fitting but worn out pair and use the pieces as a pattern. Goodwill, the Salvation Army and thrift stores are a great source of "patterns". You can try them on and find something that fits really well but is worn out or the wrong color or whatever. This is actually cheaper than a retail pattern sometimes. Does anyone else do this?