Muslining the day away

Well, I was none too pleased with my last coat muslin. It was just sort of… hanging there. So! Out came the ever-brilliant Fit for Real People, and I got to some hard-core adjusting. I know that you’re meant to start at the shoulders and work down, and re-muslin at every step, but… I’m a rebel. Hardcore, eh? Unfortunately I didn’t anticipate the more-than-one-muslining, so this time I had to use *actual* muslin (confusing, huh?) but it has made it it a little easier to see in photos.

The adjustments made were:
– FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) of the Princess Seam sort – I added an inch. As I have a similar figure and challenges to Shams at Communing with Fabric, I followed her advice and cut the piece just below the bust line, made the adjustment, and then blended it back into the full length of the front pieces. This means that I added the necessary width and length to the bust area, but not then down the entire front of the coat (which would have ended up as a tent)
– Peculiarly, the shoulders were too big for me (odd, as I have a broad shoulders), but I took them in by 1 inch, using this Colette tutorial which was super simple and didn’t involve having to change the sleeve, yay!
– I did my first ever sway back, using the Fit for Real People technique which was remarkably easy. 1 inch: gone! I added a central back seam which I think is fine design-wise, and will also allow for a bit more tweaking in the final things.
– Aaaand finally. It’s hard to get a balance between boxy and over fitted, but I decided to nip the waist in a bit, in an attempt to give a bit more definition. I took off an inch on each side, and blended out to the hips.

Phew!

Here’s the end result. I *think* it looks better… What do you think? Any advice? With the final fabric, I’m definitely going to cut large seam allowances on the sides and do baste-fitting to make sure it’s still all working in the heavier fabric. I also still have to draft the collar – which frankly, is about 80% of the coolness of this coat.

– I think the narrower shoulders definitely reduce the linebacker look

– The waist is coming in a bit more (though hard to see in this photo)

– From the side – this is my only hmmmm. Those diagonal lines coming down from my bust: are those inevitable? Or should I do something about them? Because my actual fabric will be significantly less drapey, I’m thinking that they may not show up at all when I make it up. Or does this indicate that I need to make another change? Am slightly stumped on this one.