stitchu / sewing guide / How to make a toile before cutting your fabric
Make a toile before you cut.
A toile, called a muslin in the US, is a practice version of the garment sewn in inexpensive fabric. It shows how the pattern fits you before you cut the fabric you care about.
Choose the test fabric
Any inexpensive fabric works if it behaves like the final one: a similar weight and drape, and a knit if the dress is a knit. A drapey viscose dress needs a drapey toile, not stiff cotton. Light colours are easier to mark.
Cut and mark
Cut the main pieces from the paper pattern, on grain. Mark the grainlines, the centre front, the darts, the waist and bust points, and the zip or button placement; mark the seamlines too if you like. The marks show you later exactly where the pattern sits on your body.
Sew it quickly
- Use long stitches. Baste the seams by machine so they unpick easily, and backstitch only where a seam takes strain. Press the seam allowances open; they do not need finishing.
- Leave out the details. Do not sew the zip or buttons: pin the opening closed. Leave out the facings. Press up the hem and pin it loosely, so you can still judge the length.
Check the fit
Try it on and look in a mirror, or take photos. A pattern is not meant to be skin-tight: it has wearing ease for comfort and movement, so check that you can sit and move. Then check that the darts point to the bust, the waist sits at your waist, the shoulder seams sit on your shoulders and the length is where you want it.
Move the changes to the pattern
Pin out fabric where it is loose and open seams where it is tight, then mark the new lines on the toile. Measure how far each mark moved and transfer those changes to the paper pattern. After a large change, sewing a second toile is normal.
In stitchu’s sample patterns
Read from the five published sample patterns on 17 October 2026.
- Every sample is drafted in size EU36, for a body with an 84 cm bust, 66 cm waist and 90 cm hip. If your measurements differ, the toile shows where and by how much.
- The 10 mm seam allowance is included, so cut on the outer line. Hem allowances differ by piece and are printed on each one.
- Each sewing guide asks you to test a toile and your actual fabric before the final cut.
- We have not sewn these samples yet. Where a source photo could not show part of a dress, such as the back of the keyhole mini, the journal story states the assumption; your toile is the first test of it on a body.
- Each story says what to check on its toile. Red gingham mini: how the armhole sits and how the hip shaping is shared between front and back. Navy gingham mini: how the sleeves hang. Pink bow wrap mini: the fit at the hip seam. Pleated-underskirt version: the height of the hip seam, and the hip, where the ease is only 1.6 cm.
Sources
- Tilly and the Buttons: when, why and how to make a toile or muslin
- Threads: Fitting for Every Figure, chapter on test garments (PDF)
Before this: print the pattern at true scale and work out how much fabric to buy. After the toile: choose the final fabric, lay out and cut it and follow the order to sew.