Custom Suiting: Muslin vs. Basted Fittings

[Roen]

Are Muslin fittings, where a test garment is created to confirm fit and highlight changes, considered a type of basted fitting? Is there a technical difference between the two? Are they just the same thing?

Could a baste that is created from the suit fabric itself be considered a muslin?

Just random, incoherent ramblings going on in my head.

 

[Bromley]

A basted fitting just means you're trying something on that's been roughly assembled, rather than constructed with finished seams, etc (although depending on the stage of fitting, some parts may be finished). This makes it a lot easier to take clothes apart, adjust, and put them back together. With tailored clothing, this is almost always done in the actual fabric of the clothes you're having made. Muslin just a cloth-- a short staple, light weight cotton. There isn't necessarily any advantage to using muslin for bastes, and there arguably a disadvantage-- different cloths behave in different ways, and muslin would likely be very different from whatever cloth you're actually using (unless that happens to be a short staple, shirt weight cotton).

However, you might encounter a muslin fitting if the cloth you'll be using for your final clothes is very rare or especially expensive. A tailor may decide to play it safe and sneak up on the fit with a stand-in cloth before cutting into the real thing. Probably not in muslin, though-- more likely with a cheaper cloth similar in weight/body/composition to the final thing.

You may also have a muslin fitting if you're having something made from leather (since stitching leather leaves permanent holes), or if your clothes have some really unusual details or features.

 

[dieworkwear]

Muslin is with scrap fabric. I've only ever heard basted refer to a basted version of the actual garment.

If you're getting something made, always good to confirm with your tailor.

 

[Despos]

A basted fitting just means you're trying something on that's been roughly assembled, rather than constructed with finished seams, etc (although depending on the stage of fitting, some parts may be finished). This makes it a lot easier to take clothes apart, adjust, and put them back together. With tailored clothing, this is almost always done in the actual fabric of the clothes you're having made. Muslin just a cloth-- a short staple, light weight cotton. There isn't necessarily any advantage to using muslin for bastes, and there arguably a disadvantage-- different cloths behave in different ways, and muslin would likely be very different from whatever cloth you're actually using (unless that happens to be a short staple, shirt weight cotton).

However, you might encounter a muslin fitting if the cloth you'll be using for your final clothes is very rare or especially expensive. A tailor may decide to play it safe and sneak up on the fit with a stand-in cloth before cutting into the real thing. Probably not in muslin, though-- more likely with a cheaper cloth similar in weight/body/composition to the final thing.

You may also have a muslin fitting if you're having something made from leather (since stitching leather leaves permanent holes), or if your clothes have some really unusual details or features.

^This
I use muslin to check a pattern for a style I’ve never made before. To check proportions. Easier to judge from a muslin that can have darts and seams sewn to create shapes than a paper pattern that is flat. Would not baste muslin onto a canvass for a fitting. Would use scrap cloth basted onto canvass for hard to fit types before cutting actual cloth.