I made a quick and dirty Cami muslin...and a zipper purse

This morning, I set my clock for an hours worth of muslin making of the Cami dress. I extended the timer (a few times) and after some very quick and dodgy sewing ended up with enough of a muslin to get an idea of how the dress might look on me.  I had originally only intended to sew a quick and dirty to see size but as the muslin making progressed I started to think that this dress doesn't quite work for me.

Now before looking at these photos remember that it is a quick and dirty muslin. So it's barely hanging together.  I also couldn't get the under collar to fit (no idea why - but if I do end up making this I will wait for the tutorial/sewalong) so I ended up changing the button fold to get the neck to fit and as a consequence the front of the bodice isn't quite right (I didn't properly iron it either).  The skirt isn't attached perfectly as by this time I just wanted to get it on to see. Of course it would probably look better if it was sewn up well and the bust darts were right.  But how much better?  I asked Ben and he said what I was thinking.. that it wasn't flattering and that it made me look chunky around the waist.  I think that it might be the placement of the waist maybe it's too low (?) or maybe I just feel/am proportionately thick around the waist.  It's annoying because I do like this style of dress and Nadinoo who has always been a bit of a style icon for me has some lovely similar styles.

There has been a bit of talk on the blogs lately about style and sewing to it, both Tily and then Adrienne spoke about it and it got me thinking in relation to this dress.  Despite thinking that the Cami and the Colette Hawthorne (for example) are great dresses and look really beautiful on heaps of people. I'm just not sure that I can pull it off, it's not quite me. I think I prefer a leaner line around my stomach and hips, with less blousing out from the waist over the hips.  Mmmm, I'm probably over thinking it, but I'm just going to sit on this make for a while.

So, it hasn't been the best sewing weekend for me.. I think I so desperately wanted to sew something that it all went bad.  I did make a zipper purse yesterday but the zipper was too short.  I tried again today using some fabric in the stash. I think it turned out super cute (100% due to the fabric) although I  have a perfection tendency when it comes to zipper purses as I can always find something wrong and the zipper ends still feel lumpy to me.  Does anyone have a fail safe method for zipper purses?  Surely I should be able to make a simple zipper purse!