So this is my first mockup, using the patten drafted above. Its made from cheap curtain lining with a zip bunged in (since you can't pin things on your own back!) I've discovered a camera with timer and tripod are invaluable when trying to fit things on yourself - you can get shots from all angles without having to twist round to point the camera at the mirror. For this first bit i was most interested in making the bodice fit right - I (mostly) like my curves, and my boyfriend loves them, so what I'm aiming for is something that fits like a glove but doesn't smoosh.
So what do we think of this first mock up?
1. Yuck my tummy sticks out! Plan for this is an underbodice from hip to underbust level, made of coutil at the front and power net at the back, fastening with hooks and eyes and lightly boned with rigeline.
2. Top back is too wide - plan is to move the shoulders out to deal with this, which will probably mean I need to trim the arm holes
3. On the subject of armholes, these need filling in at the front as this is going to be a dress with sleeves (counterintuitively larger than neccessary armholes make itdifficult to move your arms)
4. The zip needs to be a bit longer - I had to wiggle to get in!
5. Its too tight across the bust, so I'm going to add about 1cm to the curve on the side front pieces.
6. I want to bring the front side seams in, co the center front panel is narrower - just to keep nice lines when it comes to adding the godet and lace.
1. Yuck my tummy sticks out! Plan for this is an underbodice from hip to underbust level, made of coutil at the front and power net at the back, fastening with hooks and eyes and lightly boned with rigeline.
2. Top back is too wide - plan is to move the shoulders out to deal with this, which will probably mean I need to trim the arm holes
3. On the subject of armholes, these need filling in at the front as this is going to be a dress with sleeves (counterintuitively larger than neccessary armholes make itdifficult to move your arms)
4. The zip needs to be a bit longer - I had to wiggle to get in!
5. Its too tight across the bust, so I'm going to add about 1cm to the curve on the side front pieces.
6. I want to bring the front side seams in, co the center front panel is narrower - just to keep nice lines when it comes to adding the godet and lace.
The other thing I did was work out the proportions for the godet - I printed out a couple of shots of the dress and guesstimated things like what proportion of the total height was taken up by the godet, where they fell in relation to knees, waist etc. This let me draft rough patterns - basicly segments of circles with radius equal to the length of the gap in the side front seams for the front godets, and the same but with a big extension for the train and making it as wide as the fabric would allow for the back.
Its tricky to get the effect cos the fabric just hangs but I think I'm on the right track.
Its tricky to get the effect cos the fabric just hangs but I think I'm on the right track.