Pocketful of Stars

I bought the Pocketful of Posies pattern with the intention of modifying it to be nursing friendly in March 2016. Check it. It's now March 2017. So let's just say sometimes life gets in the way. Thinking back, I would have been early in my third pregnancy when I bought the pattern. Now, I've been nursing that sweet pea for 6 months and we do not plan to have any additional kiddos. IT'S NOW OR NEVER FOR NURSING MODS.

Sew anyway, I finally got the motivation I needed after Susan Katz tagged me in a thread about the mods in the Blank Slate Patterns group. I got to work. First playing with the pattern pieces and trying to decide where I would add an opening for quick access. The pattern has big pockets on the front bodice. There's facings and side panels, all coming together overlapping over the chest. Conceptually, there's room to hide a slit. I decided just to put together a muslin and see where things sit.

I don't often wear dresses. I'm more of a jeggings and leggings kind of gal, so I followed Sabra's tunic mod post when cutting the length.

Instead of stabilizing the pocket facings, I chose to use a woven fabric.

'Skies Star Black'

Fitting-

The bodice was really full across my hips and I wanted to bring it in a bit with the hem band. I figured I could get away with shortening the band width drastically by using brushed poly (aka stretchy fabric from heaven). I took about 8 inches off. Enough that the poly really wanted to curl when attaching the band, so I gathered the bodice first.

Gathering the bodice hem before attching the hem band. (Gah! A stray dog hair!)

I also shortened the sleeve pattern pieces 2 inches before cutting. I made my own sleeve hem bands (2.5" x 13" for my size L, shortened sleeves).

So here's my muslin. LOVE it. The pocket facings and side pieces don't come as far in to the midline as I hoped. There's about 2 inches of overlapping fabric, but I'm worried adding a slit in here might result in some accidental wardrobe malfunctions. I want to re-draft the facings and side pieces, adding an inch (maybe more) to the midline seams to hide my nip slits. More to follow, maybe!

Peeking in one pocket. There's those stars.