Crepe Sew-Along #2

Progress on my Crepe dress is happening slowly. Very slowly. At this rate, I'm hoping to finish it in time to bring on our trip to Bangkok (we leave at the end of January). We've been busy with Christmas preparations and my in-laws are visiting. It's so nice to have family here for the holidays. I think we'd be a bit blue if we were alone in China. There are a surprising amount of Christmas trees at the shops and restaurants in our neighborhood. And Christmas music is playing nearly everywhere. I don't miss the commercial aspect of the holiday at all.

I finished my muslin for the top part of the dress about a week ago. To be honest, I feel kind of funny posting photos of myself -- most of the clothes I make are for Dagim and he's generally an agreeable model.  Most of the sew-along peeps (including me) are having issues with the bust darts. So while I feel weird posting pictures and talking about bust darts, seeing and reading about other people's experiences has really helped me.

I wish I had used a different fabric for the muslin. This is the orange-y fabric I originally purchased for the ties on the dress. It's very stiff and I think the soft linen of the actual dress will drape much differently. But anyway, here's the front:

I lowered and shortened the darts on my right side. The left side darts are from the original pattern markings. I think I could stand to lower the bust dart another inch or so but I don't really feel like fiddling with this anymore (can you say lazy?).

Here's the back:

Please ignore the garbage bag in the corner!

I'm happy with the way it fits in the back. I wonder how close-fitting the top should be? The shoulders seem a little big to me but again, I don't feel like messing around too much with alterations at this point. This is my first time altering something to fit (other than adding some length in pants patterns for Dag). Right now, my plan is to just sew it with the repositioned darts.  Hopefully I'll get a little sewing time in before the new year!