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This bodice has been giving me so much trouble. I sewed up the sleeve pieces on Friday night, and that all went pretty decently. Then on Saturday morning, I went over to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vanessa_lynne's house so she could help me fit them in. The bodice was fairly tight, and because I had made the silk top layer go past the h&e tape, the tightness pulled on that, and made the little silk flap stand straight out. Problem #1. But we figured a few snaps would help that, so I wasn't worried. She pinned the sleeves pieces in place to the bodice, and I took it home to sew later.
Six caroling gigs later, I finally sat down to sew it on Sunday night. I sewed down both the sleeves, and was confused how she marked the back, since one side of the sleeve/back piece went past the edge of the bodice. So my bf helped me put it on. I then realized that I must have had the bodice on crooked when we pinned in the sleeves, because they were totally off center. Also, the top of the back in particular was still really tight, even if I laced my corset all the way closed. I ripped the one sleeve off of the bodice, and figured I would try to move the piece of h&e tape over to the edge of the CB silk flap I had made. Luckily, underneath the h&e tape, I found that the twill interlining had been folded, and could be extended out as far as the silk flap, so I could get an extra .5"+ in the CB. I pinned everything back in place, so that I could machine sew the h&e tape back down in the morning before I left for work, and therefore be able to do the handsewing on the bus and at lunch.
Yesterday morning, I did my machine sewing, grabbed my kit, and headed out the door. I sewed the other edge down on the bus ride to work, and went to go reattach the trim at the top of the bodice. But when I went to line it up with the other side, they didn't match at all. In fact, the bottom and the trim line were both about .5" off between the pieces. Somehow, I had pinned my h&e tape totally wrong. So before I started work, I ripped both lines of stitching back out, and re-pinned it in place. Luckily, I had brought some bias binding with me, because by moving the twill tape, it wasn't long enough to cover the piece of boning underneath. So I wound up hand-sewing a small piece of bias binding to each end of the h&e tape, to act as the endcaps for the boning.
At lunch, I handsewed the h&e tape back to the bodice, using a backstitch, and then on the bus ride home, I turned it and whipped it into place, inserting the boning before I did so. When I got home, I reaffixed the trim (which now matched on each side - yay!), and sewed the sleeve piece back in. I did a narrow hem on the center backs of the sleeve pieces, and then pressed and hemmed the satin layer of the skirt. Then I got less than 6 hrs of sleep, because I stayed up way too late doing this.
At this point, I need to put the h&e on the skirt waistband, and at least 2-3 h&e on the top of the cb bodice closure. I also realized I never pressed the skirt seams, and the skirt itself is quite wrinkly, so I'd like to press that, too. I have at least an hour or so in which I can do all that tonight, so here's to hoping. But seriously, this project has been such a headache! And I really need to start (and finish) the Elsa skirt. And pack, because I haven't packed a box since I found this ufo fabric...
vanessa_lynne's house so she could help me fit them in. The bodice was fairly tight, and because I had made the silk top layer go past the h&e tape, the tightness pulled on that, and made the little silk flap stand straight out. Problem #1. But we figured a few snaps would help that, so I wasn't worried. She pinned the sleeves pieces in place to the bodice, and I took it home to sew later.Six caroling gigs later, I finally sat down to sew it on Sunday night. I sewed down both the sleeves, and was confused how she marked the back, since one side of the sleeve/back piece went past the edge of the bodice. So my bf helped me put it on. I then realized that I must have had the bodice on crooked when we pinned in the sleeves, because they were totally off center. Also, the top of the back in particular was still really tight, even if I laced my corset all the way closed. I ripped the one sleeve off of the bodice, and figured I would try to move the piece of h&e tape over to the edge of the CB silk flap I had made. Luckily, underneath the h&e tape, I found that the twill interlining had been folded, and could be extended out as far as the silk flap, so I could get an extra .5"+ in the CB. I pinned everything back in place, so that I could machine sew the h&e tape back down in the morning before I left for work, and therefore be able to do the handsewing on the bus and at lunch.
Yesterday morning, I did my machine sewing, grabbed my kit, and headed out the door. I sewed the other edge down on the bus ride to work, and went to go reattach the trim at the top of the bodice. But when I went to line it up with the other side, they didn't match at all. In fact, the bottom and the trim line were both about .5" off between the pieces. Somehow, I had pinned my h&e tape totally wrong. So before I started work, I ripped both lines of stitching back out, and re-pinned it in place. Luckily, I had brought some bias binding with me, because by moving the twill tape, it wasn't long enough to cover the piece of boning underneath. So I wound up hand-sewing a small piece of bias binding to each end of the h&e tape, to act as the endcaps for the boning.
At lunch, I handsewed the h&e tape back to the bodice, using a backstitch, and then on the bus ride home, I turned it and whipped it into place, inserting the boning before I did so. When I got home, I reaffixed the trim (which now matched on each side - yay!), and sewed the sleeve piece back in. I did a narrow hem on the center backs of the sleeve pieces, and then pressed and hemmed the satin layer of the skirt. Then I got less than 6 hrs of sleep, because I stayed up way too late doing this.
At this point, I need to put the h&e on the skirt waistband, and at least 2-3 h&e on the top of the cb bodice closure. I also realized I never pressed the skirt seams, and the skirt itself is quite wrinkly, so I'd like to press that, too. I have at least an hour or so in which I can do all that tonight, so here's to hoping. But seriously, this project has been such a headache! And I really need to start (and finish) the Elsa skirt. And pack, because I haven't packed a box since I found this ufo fabric...