Pirates, Potter, and Pleats

Hello again it is 3am and I am blogging about costuming once more!

Kathryn and I have had quite a productive night! We did after all have to make up for a dastardly attempt at a sewing circle last Thursday evening where Kat fell asleep on my Couch of Living Death as soon as she sat down and I...have no idea what I was doing but it clearly was not sewing because neither one of us made a stitch in the whole evening.

muslin underbodice and actual over bodice!

Today though, after themostdeliciouspizzaever we picked up our projects once more. For my part, I finally solved my under-bodice issue. Using a dress from my closet who's shape I particularly enjoyed as a pattern, I was able to draft out the pattern pieces I will use to construct the under-bodice. I'm rather pleased with the results of my muslin although I did decide not to do the under straps. Worst case scenario I can always as them as an afterthought, but I think the dress will look more elegant this way. I'm very grateful to Kat and my cousin Georgia for their assistance in this step. It's rather difficult to drape on one's own body and my dress form is slightly too large to work for me on something so precise.

Earlier in the day I also put together the sheer lavender outer part of the bodice. I used a french seam for the underarm/ side seams and based the back where the zipper will be. While sewing the darts, I didn't realize I still had a leather needle in my sewing machine so unfortunately I created some unsightly pulls in the chiffon with the first stitches. With some coaxing and ironing though I got it looking good as new. I put on the outer bodice over my corset and it fits nearly perfectly. I just have to adjust one of the ends of the sleeve. I have no muscle whatsoever but the sleeve is still a little tight around my bicep.

Kat modeling her bodice!

Kathryn and I got her skirt all put together this evening as well. She sewed the three back skirt sections together and I pleated and attached the front two sections. We also attatched the gingham check to the top of the skirt which acts as a facing to finish the top edge, and as a guide for evenly sewn cartridge pleats. Those will be our next step which I'm oddly looking forward to. I fine hand sewing to be far more enjoyable then machine sewing.

Thats all until I pass out.
Cheers!
Thera

Kat sewing her skirt!

Pile-o-skirt with gingham check for pleating!

dress used as pattern