Indiana Wen and the Muslin of Oogh,

Muslin accomplished! Well, in a manner of speaking. See, that patio sale where I got the dress form and the coutil? I also got a factory endroll of heavy muslin. Five bucks! Whatta deal! So I unrolled about a yard and a half to cut out my pattern, but it was all wrinkly. Fortunately, my iron and board were still set up from last time.

I started ironing, but the iron seemed to stick to the fabric. Not like the fibers were melting, but like there was a substance on the fabric. Old starch, I figure. After repeated attempts to smooth my iron across what felt like a syrupy pancake rather than fabric, I gave up. In the laundry room, I attempted to rinse out the starch.

Now, Dave is in the kitchen, making pasta, and he calls out like the voice of reason, "Why not just toss it in with a load of laundry?" No time! No time! I want to get this cut out and fitted tonight, and if I wait for a wash load to get done, and eat dinner, and clean up the kitchen, then it'll be late and I'll be tired and the couch will get all comfy-looking-beyond-all-reason and no test run fitting will take place tonight.

"Don't thwart my genius!" I cry, trotting through the kitchen with a sodden armload of dripping muslin, headed for the ironing board.

I press the iron to the cloth once again, and it moves much more easily. Success! But wait... what's that gross, greebly-looking gunk? Little white goobers of yuk are forming wherever I iron. It's the starch! Ugh! I return to the sink, lather, rinse, repeat.

"Dinner in fifteen minutes," cautions the voice of reason.

"Plenty of time!" I exclaim. I fling the now twice-rinsed muslin onto the board and raise my iron. Steam billows, and when it clears... there are more greeblies than ever. I poke at them and they smoodge across the fabric, slug-like under my thumb.

And that is why there is a wadded bunch of muslin in the washer and I made a prototype out of plaid flannel that used to be a bedsheet.

Which, incidentally, fit perfectly on the first try, and the plaid actually helped by making it easy to line up the two front pieces. Awesome! I didn't take a picture because dinner was being put on the table (the best pasta and sausage ever, with fresh basil!) and it really just looked like a plaid vest.

Now it's time to get serious and cut the fabric. More on that next time!