Bodice Pattern #1

I finally got down to business actually working on this dress instead of just talking/writing about it. I started by tracing my bodice slopers onto butcher paper. Slopers are basic patterns that are used as a starting point for different designs. Mine are made with my measurements, as they were taken this summer. Once the bodice shape and darts are on paper, there’s a whole lot of cutting, taping, erasing and redrawing.
 

Back bodice sloper.                            Front bodice sloper.

Because the look that I want has a princess seam that curves into the armhole, I don’t need to have as many darts as the sloper. Instead of sewing certain darts, I am able to incorporate them into the new seam. I used my waist dart as a starting place for my new seam. I drew a pleasing curve (there’s a lot of silly language like that in patterns) and cut my bodice into center and side pieces. I shaved the dart width off of the inner part of the side piece and got rid of the bust dart. I did this by cutting one leg of the dart and leaving a tiny paper hinge at the edge. Then I just matched up the dart legs and cleaned up the side seam, which had become funny (kind of jogged) in the dart vanishing process. I also cleaned up the curve at the apex so that it would be sewable. It had turned into more of a point than a curve when I got rid of that dart. The next step was to “walk the princess,” which is a fun way of describing scooting my side pattern piece along the center to make sure that they are the same length. In this case, they were nearly identical, saving me from having to make more adjustments – for now. I fully anticipate having to make many changes to this pattern in between fittings.

Now that I have the basic princess shape, I changed the neckline to look like the one on the Resort dress. The neckline, shoulder, and cap sleeve were traced right off of another pattern that I made that has very similar features. I’ve already had fittings in the other pattern; so, I’m hoping that the adjustments we’ve made will save me some time on this project. I’m pretty sure that the armhole is going to need to be made a bit bigger, but I’ll just see how it looks in the fitting.

The back did not need as much tweaking because it will not have princess seams. It will have a normal center back seam, probably with one waist dart on each side. I shaved off half of my dart width and shifted it over to become back contouring. I also added waist shaping. After the first fitting, I might see if I can get away with shoving the rest of my dart into the side seam or into more back contouring, but I want to see how it looks first. Because the front has seaming instead of darts, it would be nice to keep darts in the back to a minimum, but I’m not going to sacrifice fit just to do that. I finished the back by changing the neckline and shoulder and matching the side seam to the length and angle of the one in the front.

To make my cap sleeve I began by measuring the armhole. That helped determine the shape of the sleeve. My cap sleeve looks a bit bigger than many people’s would because I like mine to be longer. I’ve always have kind of serious shoulders; so, my “sweet spot” is lower than many women. If I wear a cap sleeve that is too short, it doesn’t do anything for my arms but make them look bulky. Well, I am making this sleeve, and it is going to work for me. It is here to do my bidding, and I want it to make my arms look good by ending at a place where my arm tapers. I also added in some ease at the bottom so that I can move my arm, and some at the top to give it the slightest puff. I’m not sure if I want this puff, though. My current plan is to use the puff cap sleeve on one side, and the normal cap sleeve on the other side to see how they both look at the first fitting. 

Back, front center, front side, and cap sleeve patterns.

Next up: cutting muslin and the first actual SEWING on this blog about sewing.