Velvet Bodice: part I

I figured it was about time to go back and look at another old project.  I don’t have any pictures of me wearing this as it is now a good bit too big, and I can’t find a decent picture from when it did fit. 

I think I made this the Halloween before I made the silver and black corset.  I wanted to try making a corset and I had just found the Elizabethan corset generator.  The fabric is really pretty in person, a fall floral pattern velvet, although I think it looks kind of gaudy and cheap in pictures.  It was part of an autumn fairy Halloween costume, which ended up being repeated a few times over the years in various incarnations.

What I like:

Once again, I made my own bias tape to finish the edges and to make the straps, and my application was lots better on this garment, since there weren’t so many curves.  The bias tape is made from a heavy synthetic fabric.  It is sort of satin-y, but I think it may have been meant to be a utility fabric, but I thought it went really well with the colors in the velvet.  I found the velvet at Joann’s and I bought half a yard because that was all I could afford at the time.  I had never seen anything like it and that was a huge part of the allure of this fabric.  I remember thinking it was sooo expensive at over $20/yard.

This actually fit pretty well considering it was probably the first pattern I had ever drafted, and I didn’t bother with a mock up.  I doubt I had ever heard of a mock up or muslin.  It didn’t pinch and it wasn’t uncomfortable.  The straps were even the right length.