Thursday, November 17, 2011

Bodice= 80% done

So the bodice is about 80% done (that's a random number I pulled out of the air, but approximately correct). The top part has been attached to the bodysuit as have the straps. Yay! I made straps using a thick (1") piece of elastic and a lycra casing and attached them to the bodysuit. It took me remarkably less time than I expected to attach the outer bodice to the bodysuit. I expected to have to rip everything out and do it all again once or twice, but I think (I'm hesitant to say for sure) I got it right on the first try! This must be a miracle. I did spend about 10 minutes just staring at it and flipping it around to make sure I was pinning it together right so that I would get a nice smooth top edge and not sew the wrong sides of the fabric together. Then I realized I had put the pins on the wrong side of the fabric and had to move each one to the other side. Then I realized I still had put the pins along the line that would be sewing (is it sad that I thought line of dance when typing that?) and had to go back and move them all 90ยบ. So after doing all that I used a zig zag stitch to secure the elastic down and attach the outside part to the top of the bodysuit. Here's the result:

I pinned the skirts to the bodysuit to give the full effect, but the bottom of the bodice and the skirts are not finished yet, so the wrinkles and lumps will get flattened out. Also the skirts are a little see-through so I'm going to have to make an underskirt lining that goes to my knees or so so that it doesn't look like I'm naked.

4 comments:

  1. Hi - I see we are doing parallel projects! I love your green gown and I think it will show up very well on the floor. I often wish I could draw out my gowns as you have, but it is nice to see that someone else switches and changes as she goes along. The gowns do seem to have an organic life of their own, don't they?

    Do you have a deadline for this one? I am sort of aiming for February for mine, but not going to stress about it.

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  2. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, I thought I had replied already!

    I've taken a break largely from sewing for competitions, finals, and life in general, but I'm hoping to finish this one by the end of January. I'm starting winter break soon and will have a lot of time and little to do, so I'm hoping to put some serious work into it then and get it done.

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  3. How did you attach the bodysuit to the bodice.im attempting such a thing for the first time and haven't a clue. Any advice?

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  4. So since this dress, my sewing knowledge has come a long way! I now attach the bodice and the bodysuit together along the top edge as I put in the elastic. I make a sandwich of fabric such that I have bodice fabric (right side down), bodysuit fabric (right side up) and then 3/8" elastic on top. I serge the elastic to the two layers, then turn it under and stitch a zig zag along the edge of the bodice. There's more information on doing this in the kwik sew swim and actionwear book that's very helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions!

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