Making In Calico

With the edited the bodice pattern it is time to prepare for the soon looming fittings and get the pattern pieces in calico. 

Our working drawings

 How the pattern would be laid out on fabric to create cut through dress.
(LEFT) A mini calico test to give us an idea of what the final product will look like

Miniature calico test as a sample

Our calculations to help us work out how much calico we would need for the toile.

We had to add the longest measurement of the bodice piece+seam allowance to the length of hip to floor measurement+Seam allowance and more fabric for a hem.

 At 150 cm+ width of the calico we decided that we needed two metres of fabric for one side of the cut through dress.

The first step was to draw a line, square, all the way across the width of the fabric. In our case it was 50 cm down (Length of bodice+2.5 cm seam allowance).

Then we placed and pinned our back pattern pieced along this line. At this point it was not very important how far apart the pattern pieces they just needed to be approximately the same length away from each other, eyeballing where they could be pinned down.

First time around we placed it along half of the width of the fabric, however, without cutting it out this looked wrong. 

My partner was not very happy when I asked out tutor if we should actually put the fabric across three quarters of the width of the calico. So we had to redo all of the pinning and seam allowance drawing that we had already spent time doing.

However it helped to make for a better over all look to the calico toile.

 We then added 2.5 cm seam allowance all around the pattern pieces and above the first line that we drew on the calico fabric.

With the seam allowance drawn on the calico we could unpin the fabric and cut in to the calico and begin construction.

The significance of that first line interestingly is that for cut through dresses, or generally historical dresses with long flowing skirts often a skirt pattern was not drawn, as it was too large to construct and skirts were often just large rectangles that were gathered and pleated to give shape and definition.

Pictured is my partner matching the balance marks and pinning the bodice pieces together ready for me to sew.

There was a lot of fabric involved in this toile, in the above picture I am pictured trying to position the fabric in the right place for ease of sewing.

Here you can see me actually sewing having found a comfortable way to have the fabric. When sewing a toile it is very important to have the stitch length very long, and the tension loosened off a bit. This makes it easier if in a fitting a seam needs to be moved around or loosened, with a loose tacking stitch the seam in question can be unpicked quickly and re-positioned.

The toile bodice seams now sewn

Gathering test

Having placed the toile on our mannequin we then began playing around with pleats and gathering to try and get the desired effect from the bodice.

One side of the dress will be gathered and the other side will be pleated, then in the fitting the designer can choose if they prefer gathers or pleats for the final garment.

 In these pictures you can see how pleating could be used all around the dress, with a detailed picture looking at the front pleats of the dress.

The next step was to cut out the front bodice piece and attach it to the cut through skirt.
Placed on the mannequin we began to see how out costume would look.

The pictures help to demonstrate the difference the bum pad makes to the shape of the garment, therefore encouraging us to make a new bum pad.

 Having finished one side of the calico test we reflected on the aesthetics of the garment. We reflected that perhaps the bodice pieces we in the places and were not giving the illusion of a small back.

We will give this as a question to the designer when we have out fitting, but we may need to redraft where the lines are on the bodice back, moving them more towards the centre. Where you can see the pins above, is where we were thinking of moving the line too.

The next job will be to cut out the second half of the front bodice and the cut through dress and we would be ready for the fittings...well not quite. We still have a sleeve to draft and make but that will come next.