The finishing touches-part 1

 BUCKLE UP FRIENDS…. Let’s make a bodice.

Ok to start I took apart the mock-up and sleeves and began by tackling the back first.  I work from back to front on all my stuff (don’t ask me why I really don’t know).  I took the mockup and laid it on the fabric matching the seams on the TAIL section of the bodice.  This results in the center back seam being on a slight bias.  I’m not too concerned about that since the fabric is pretty stiff and a little bias would help it  curve around the back.

Then the same steps were repeated for the other pieces.  Here’s my final thought on pattern matching:  I try to match the center back seam….. no other ones.  She’s not a wall, and this isn’t wallpaper.  Make the pattern match a statement, and it becomes a beautiful design feature.  Once all the pieces were constructed, it was time to bone the bodice.  I use pre-covered plastic boning from Joanns for this, but I will use a historical technique for placing the bones in the seams.  I use a herringbone stitch to place the bones in their seams.  This makes for a secure and historical look, and since I knew I would be writing about this…. HERE S A SMALL TUTORIAL!

Step one: From underneath, Bring your needle up and across the piece of boning.  Bringing it across and back down about 1/2 inch up.

Step two: About 1/4 down from the last entry, bring the needle back up and go across to the other side, bringing the needle back down.

Step Three: Repeat as necessary.

LOOK AT THOSE PRETTY HERRINGBONE STITCHES!!!

It’s a shame really that this gets covered by lining…. Such is life I guess.  Ok, now its time for a quick try on to make sure we are on the right track.

I mean CMON….. that’s a cool seam right there.

There’s a seam right there…. I promise.

Everything looked great, so know we move onto the arm-pants (cause we don’t use the S-word…. It is evil).  Remember how I said I only try to match the center back seam???  Well I’m a liar and I wanted the back sleeve seam to match.  So I cut those out and sewed them together!

Then they were added to the bodice and it was time to add the lining in.  I decided to bag-line this bodice, and I KNOW ITS NOT CORRECT BUT I MADE THIS BODICE IN ABOUT 3 DAYS AND I DID MY BEST OK.  Then it was time for all the frilly bits, buttons/buttonholes, and all those fiddle bits I put off till the last minute.  

“Hey Frank?”

“Yes?”

“What’s that other piece on her skirt?”

“That’s called OH CRAP I FORGOT TO ADD THIS SO I SPED THROUGH THE PROCESS AND DIDN’T DOCUMENT IT AND I REALLY DON’T LIKE IT SO DON’T LOOK AT IT OK?”

So yeah, I made the middle skirt layer and slapped it on.  The plan is to remake it better and fix it.  BUT, she’s wearable and done for the event!!!  Here she is right before she got her hat on and with all her jewelry and accessories!!!  I hope you enjoyed reading up on this, it was nice to go back down memory lane a bit.  Till the next one friends!