Margaret's Red Cupcake Dress (Part 2)
I spent the last two days of free time determined to finish the bodice for this dress. It's now a 100% wearable garment!
I spent the last two days of free time determined to finish the bodice for this dress. It's now a 100% wearable garment! When we left off I still had all the edges and lining to finish, and the bertha was still in strips. Many very small strips of dupioni later, I finished the bertha!
I also finished stitching the lining, adjusting it to match the alterations we made over the corset. I had to add in little gussets at the back to account for the bulk of the skirt pleats, and for the bust I just followed the pin line from the shell alterations. Once that was all done, I bag-lined the neckline and pressed it down, since it was going to mostly be covered by the bertha anyways. I still wanted a clean finish and a removable bertha, though, so it's a pretty tidy edge.
After the lining was set in place, I inserted the hooks and eyes into the back closure. As I was stitching them on, I decided I didn't want them to show, so I added on little covers on the outside of the hooks and underneath the eyes. Honestly I was running low on dupioni at this point after all those little strips from the bertha, so I had to fold some pieces into some interesting angles to get enough length for both of those little tabs. I machine stitched the hook and eye tape and cover tabs directly to the shell layer, since the cotton and silk would provide the strongest base. I then slip stitched the lining to the shell so that it would have a clean edge. I also slipstitched the outside tab down so that it wouldn't pull back from the hooks when the bodice had a little tension from wear.
Hook side gallery
Eye side gallery
Once the closures were in, I finished the bottom edge with black hem tape. I'd originally wanted to do a self-fabric piping, but as I stated above I'd started to run out of long enough strips of dupioni. However, I think the lace is SO PRETTY. I mean, look at that contrast! It just screams old west to me, with the black and red lacy precision.
And then it was done! A completely wearable bodice! I still need to attach hooks to the shoulders to hold the bertha in place, but it could be worn without them, you'd just have to adjust it a little more regularly.
I'll post pictures of Margaret in the whole getup soon!