March 7, 2012

Sewing Designer Knock off's and Muslins

Country Road
There are a lot of American designer label knockoffs around the web, not usually using a pattern but free-styling.  How do you feel about sewing a big name designer 'knock off'?  I would rather use it as inspiration than a complete copy I guess...there isn't much imagination required to copy!  It is nice to sew a current look for half the price which would be my main motivation behind a knock off.

via Tessuti
So when I saw this Waterfall jacket in Country Road (top image) it reminded me of the above jacket seen on the Tessuti blog, a similar look for possibly cheaper but not directly copying!  The jacket above is a commercial pattern - Vogue 8714.  The Tessuti blog features a mix of pattern and Japanese sewing book reviews in photograph, which I love because they give me a much better idea of what the end product will really look like in real life instead of on a twiggy model. 

J Cardigan via Make Something

As you know I have a couple of Japanese sewing books and I love looking online to see if someone else has made/modified a project I would like to make from it.  I have made a 'muslin' (like a draft version) of the T dress in a cheap voile from Lincraft before I use my nice material.  I find the idea of making an unwearable muslin a complete waste of time.  I don't think I will make a muslin for every pattern I make but since this is the first of my Japanese pattern book sewing I thought it would give me a better feel for what it is like.  There are a couple of interesting posts on muslin's on Gertie's Sewing blog - how do you feel about making a muslin?  I think we call Muslin, Calico in Australia!  It is what I would be using if I was making an unwearable muslin!

1 comments:

Yana said...

I think a muslin, or I call it toile, is a great idea if you want your final project to be perfect. However, I don't like the idea of a non wearable muslin, as you said, complete waste of time! Also, it is advisable to make a muslin in the same type of fabric as the final project, because calico for example is very different to voile, and the end result will be completely different. That said, the muslin could end up costing a lot, so i guess its better to either make it a wearable one or none at all. :)