purple wood fairy - Part 1

hello everybody,

This is the first costume project this year, which was also announced in my "plans for 2018"
The process will be broken up in a few parts, mainly because this project is kind of complex and I don´t have much time, which makes the progress rather slow.

So I had a particular design to start with the sewing an patternmaking process:
Some of the fabrics I am using for this were in my stash, like the striped organza, orange chiffon and twisted brown trim. The other materials were bought have those in mind.

This time I want to show more of my patternmaking process. especially the draping part.

But first I did make the patterns for a half circle skirt ( first picture) and a full circle skirt (second picture)

 I don´t go in depth with the circle skirt pattern, there a are tons of tutorials on the internet, where it gets explained better than I would.

Then I begun draping the pattern, starting with the triangular insert in the front.  I cut the rough shape. then put it on the dressform and marked the exact shape.



 The back Panel is an extension from the front panel and serves as the back of the bodice.

 I used the same method as above.

I didn´t want any darts on the bodice. the space for the breast will be provided by a pleated front. I cut a rectangle and gathered it down the way I wanted it to look., then marked the strap, neckline, waist, triangular panel and side seam  and cut there.

The back straps was draped the same way.

Then I took the pieces of the dressform and transfered the pattern to paper, with this pattern I made a mock-up out of white muslin and organza.

The mock-up was a disaster, i had several things to change, including the whole shape of the gathered panel. I didn´t feel comfortable moving forward with so much changes, so I made another mock-up, which was a lot better, still not perfect. but the crucial parts worked out.

With the redone pattern I made a list of steps, so I won´t get confused and I  noticed that there a lot of steps.

 I also wrote down the prices of the materials, so I can calculate the costs, because I think this is really interesting.

This were the finished patternpieces. I cut the back panel two time, beacuse I have this diagonal lacing, which should look a bit more dynamic with the stripes.

 

I cut all the pieces out, The front part and the back straps were cut in a beige embroidered taffeta, everything else in beige satin.

I´ve sewn the two front pieces about halfway together, so I have enough room for the pleats.

I looked like this from the right side:

I basted the all the pleats, so they are secure while working on the whole bodice.

With that done I could sew the inserts shut.



After that I focused on the back panels. I sewed some white cotton strips on the edge, because the eyelets need some support.

Then I made a 1 cm hem, where boning will be inserted.



 I hemmed the top edge (I hemmed it with lace binding, this will get explained further down below), so the boning has a stopper.

It looked like this with the boning in. I marked all the eyelets with a blue removeable pen.

The eyelets were embroidered by hand  with half a strand of embroidery floss. I made 4 stitches in every direction and the filled them with stitches till I couldn´t see any fabric around the hole.

The back straps and armholes were finished with lace binding. The process is rather simple once you get the hang of it. The first step is to sew the lace to one side as close as possible to the edge.



Then the lace gets flipped onto the other side and sewn down.

I sewed the shoulder seam by connecting the baack strap to the front piece.

The edges gets turned inward one time and simply sewn down. At the curve of the armhole I had to clip the fabric so it lies more or less flat. i finished the clipped fabric  with a quick buttonhole-stitch by hand.

So thats it for part 1, the bodice isn´t finished of course, the next steps will be subject of part 2.

thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it