olive-green formal outfit

It's finished! (well, almost anyway...)

This is the reason I've been pretty much awol and not replying to messages for the last five days. I've been sewing non-stop because I have nothing better to do. (French homework is NOT calling me.)

This is a two-piece outfit that I made with my school formal in mind (it's six months away, but I have time now and won't have time when school begins). It's a corset-style strapless bodice, and a skirt with an elasticized waist and uneven hemline. There's also a black 7-pointed snowflake-style brooch (that I fell in love with when I saw it...and had to buy) pinned on the bodice.

When it's finished, the bottom of the skirt will have a black ribbon trim, and I might also trim the bodice with black ribbon, I haven't decided yet, and frankly, I don't have the patience to sew ribbon on at the moment so I'm leaving that till a later date
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Now for the long part: the making-of.

I have had about 4 metres of this olive-green-bordering-on-chartreuse colour stretch satin fabric for AGES, sitting around doing nothing. For over a year, I think. I have a lot of fabric which I have bought pointlessly. This year I'm not going to buy anymore. (Or so I say.)

The pattern I originally had in mind to make a dress was McCalls 4766 (which is now out-of-print) which is a dress with a zip at the back and ribbon ties around the waist.
I ended up using three patterns...

I made up the bodice of McCalls 4766, pretty much according to the instructions, but adding an extra lining layer so the boning would fit into channels. I used plastic sew-through boning as it was cheap, and the fabric shop didn't really have anything else.

When I made the skirt part of McCalls 4766 up (taking five inches off the bottom), it was so heavy, and I instantly knew that strapless bodice was not going to hold it up. So I scrapped that bodice.

Back to the drawing board

My recent interest in corsets sparked another idea.
I had bought a few corset patterns recently, namely Simplicity 5006 and McCalls 4109. Plus a lot of plastic boning and grommets. Okay, so I wasn't going to make a proper, authentic corset but the concept was essentially the same. (I've never attempted a corset or a boned garment ever.)

I made a mock-up in calico of Simplicity 5006, and the bust seam fitted terribly, looking very conical (a la Madonna). And I found it quite illogical that the pattern pieces didn't quite fit together. (Perhaps fine if you're a C/D cup, but I'm on the smaller side of B.)

I altered the pattern, taking about 1 cm off the bust seam and cutting the pieces so I could sew them together flat instead of having to "ease between the notches" as the pattern suggested. The size 10 that I cut seemed to fit me fine, although I've seen suggestions on many sites that this pattern runs big (and therefore I should have cut a size or two smaller)

Simplicity 5006 is unlined, so I used the instructions from McCalls 4109 to add a lining (which I made from an offcut of cotton canvas that I got). I slowly, very slowly sewed the boning directly to the lining (which in turn, blunted my needle afterwards.)

Luckily I had bought some new needles a few months back, as I was sewing on Mum's 30-year-old sewing machine which hadn't had the needles replaced for a while. (It's a Globe Cub7 machine, by the way, which I don't think they make anymore.)

And once that was done (really well, surprisingly), I had a lining with boning sewn to it! It didn't take too long to make the outer layer of the olive satin, and I stitched them, right sides together, along the top and bottom, trimmed the seams, and then turned the whole thing right sides out.

Finally I added the back facings, made the modesty panel (the piece which covers the gap at the back) and used my new lovely awl to punch the holes for the grommets. This morning was spent banging the grommets in with the hammer (to the annoyance of everyone else at home)

There are 12 pieces of sew-through boning in there, this corset definitely isn't for tightlacing and is the first one I have ever made. Oh, and by the way, the length of boning required on the back of the envelope was a bit misleading, I used nearly a metre less and could have saved some money!

I tried it on my dummy, and as you can see in the photos, it doesn't quite fit at the hips, but when I tried it on me (while I was sitting down), it fitted perfectly. So the largish hip bit is there so one can sit down!

Now back to the skirt.
I stitched the skirt to it's intended lining from McCalls 4766, and then trying it on my dummy, it sat down at the hips, and I now needed it to sit at the waist. I attempted to make a waistband from Simplicity 5006 (for view B), which failed. The instructions were so vague, I had no clue how to finish it.

In the end, I gave up on that, and saw that the waistband for another view (D) was a rectangle with an elastic casing, I used that one instead (piece 18) but half the width.

I had an adventure in cutting the skirt at the top so the new waistband would fit. It ended up slightly gathered at the back, but I like the look of it now.

The ribbon I had bought for lacing was too wide, instead I found some narrow black cording which did the job. And I didn't need the zipper I bought anymore as I had put elastic in the skirt's waist.

I couldn't find bigger grommets, the bigger so-called "grommets" in my fabric store are actually eyelets on closer inspection. Otherwise I'd have to order them online, and I don't want to order anything online (being very skeptical of internet security)...
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So five days later, here's the (almost) finished product, I love the lines on the corset and I'd make it again with my nicely altered and fitted pattern. Corsets are truly interesting to make

If I ever make that skirt again, I'll use some lighter-weight fabric.

I'm going to make another corset now
And sorry for the long read, I got carried away