A while back I had made a black Victorian style skirt because the idea of it was hammering my brain. And I started the muslin for a bodice to go with it. And the bodice is stalled. I know how to fix it, but I'm not sure I'm still as in love with the idea of it. The Edwardian ball is this weekend and we are planning to attend on Friday for the 'carnival'. I really wanted to channel a more steampunk attire so I decided to make a vest and shirt to wear with the black skirt. Then I can add some gadgets and accessories. Months ago I had modified a vest pattern to wear with a corset. Due to my shape, there was extensive modification required. I grabbed a faux suede remnant that I got super cheap (a dark reddish brown) and whipped out this vest. I even added a welt pocket. I'm really proud that the modified muslin worked right the first time! (I added 5 inches in the bust and took out 2 inches at the waist - which means the original pattern was clearly NOT what I should have been using). In fact, it fits me much better than the dress form shown here.
Next I started making a blouse. I have a pattern for a plain
blouse with fitting darts front and back. Outside of that, it's not really what I wanted. So I modified again. I wanted to added pleats in the center front, and I needed to add boob-room. I also wanted the collar to fit snugly at the neck rather than the pictured 'open button casual' fit shown in the pattern. Here's what I did. I took a piece of muslin and pleated it like I wanted the the center front pleats. I laid the pattern on the muslin so that the pleats would be where I wanted them in the blouse. In addition I added a large (2.5 inches total) fold in the muslin at the shoulder area (adding for bust). I cut the pattern over the pleated muslin. I used the largest size on the pattern for everything except the collar and shoulders. That way the collar was a good fit and the shoulders wouldn't be too big since I'd added for the bust. I modified the armscye on the fly while cutting. I unpleated the muslin and used it as my pattern (marking for pleat location). I'm not done yet, but everything seems to fit. The photo is the actual front of the blouse with pleats. Robin is going to do buttonholes for me today and then all I have left is side seams and sleeve decoration.
I made the sleeve extra wide and am going to pleat it around the forearm. All this must be done by Friday evening. I will seriously try and take pictures of the whole outfit.
So, overall, I decided to try and make something in a very short amount of time, and modify patterns extensively while I was doing it. So far, so good. My goal is to look a bit like Madame Vastra's assistant in Dr Who (A Good Man Goes to War). With a hat, but not a sword (just because I don't have one handy)
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