Fitting of Marfy 6253: Monthly Marfy Challenge Ep. 4-Part 1 (May)

Hello again everyone.  I'm excited to share the latest Marfy pattern fitting discussion.  This dress is the third installation of the #sewtofitmarfychallenge, that I started back in February, on my youtube channel.  I can't believe I have gotten board yet.  I really hope you have enjoyed these post.  I enjoy a challenge, yes I do, and this one was that challenge!

I sewed the Marfy 6253 that you all voted on during the Saturday evening live-stream.  (See details below.) In the above picture, I thought is good to show me in the muslin to give you an idea how my dress looked void of all color.  We tend to see only the fabric in most cases. I did the pattern review on the video from last Saturday's live-stream reveal on my channel.  You don't have to watch, that is quite fine.  Just know it will be a while before I get to the full review here on the blog.

Pattern Description:
This dress has a central fastening, inset armholes, a V-neckline with strip collar, the darts run into the rounded pockets, it has a belt inserted at the side. The pattern is sold without seam allowances or instructions.  To put this together, you will need to give some consideration to paper or tissue fitting or at least putting the paper together in order to see how it goes together.  My process is to put the paper pattern together as I study it before I sew the muslin or the fabric.  This way, by the time I'm ready to sew the garment, I have a really solid idea of how I plan to execute the garment construction.

No matter what pattern I use, I am used to pinning the pattern pieces together to check how they are assembled.  This is my way of learning and understanding or developing a construction order for each of my projects.  Which is why I don't usually use or need the detailed instructions.  I can get away with just simple photos to figure out the construction.  I know not everyone can do that, so I think pinning the tissue paper together is a good habit to get into.

Notice how the pocket bag and the pocket lining differ in size.  The lining is smaller in order to allow for the pocket opening to stand out from the dress.  This makes room for the hand to be inserted without distorting or creating drag lines in the dress itself.  I think this is genius!!!

I cut a size 48 this time around and I glad I did.  I made the changes after using my own pattern block/sloper to test the design first.  I did the test by cutting a similar design from my block and then overlaying the Marfy pattern to check where I need to make the necessary changes which would match the fit of my own pattern block.

This is a view of my Sew-To-Fit pattern block redesigned to match the Marfy pattern design lines. I aligned the center front in order to check the bust location and the neckline depth.

After analyzing the overlay, I decided to do the following adjustments....

• I lengthened the waist by 1 inch. 
• The v-neck was raised by 1 inch using the pivot and slide method and the 
• FBA was added used the pivot and slide method.  (Video demo to follow later.)

This pictures shows the final changes made before cutting the muslin/toile'.  You can see the front v-neck has be raised as well as the FBA was integrated into the new cut of the pattern.  (The white is the Marfy and the yellow is a tracing.)

My Sew-To-Fit pattern block used to check the sizing of the Marfy pattern against my size.  I cut my block to match the Marfy design lines.

You can see the FBA done on this waist dart, and the princess dart extension is lengthened as a result of the FBA and changes with the width.

The dress design was complicated no doubt.  But, I felt it easier to use my own pattern block to test the fit.  Doing this method saved me a ton of time trying to fit the pattern from scratch.  I have done all the work fitting my block a.k.a. TNT.  This is what a block is for, plus I saved on all the excessive muslins, and FBAs.  I made the pattern paper changes, cut and sewed the muslin and then made any additional changes to the paper pattern before cutting it out of the fashion fabric.  I based the entire garment together before finalizing the seams. 

If you are a more visual person, I have a video to fully demonstrate the process that you will receive notification for when I upload it to the channel. 

You can learn more about the Marfy Challenge and why I started it, by reading the first blog post here.