Draping costumes

It's been a frenzy of dot and cross paper here in The House of Marmalade as over the past few days I've been re-drafting my skirt block - at my last pattern cutting class we discovered that something had gone drastically wrong in between proceedings and the block had somehow shrunk. Unfortunately, I had not shrunk. Rather, I seem to have expanded a little! So while I was drafting that up (hurrah! it fits now), and making up a practice skirt (forgot to take a picture) I had a sudden bolt of inspiration for my next "costume". That's what i'm interested in - corsety costumes.

When I drape fabric around my dress form (Madge the material girl), the ideas just flow and flow and flow, I get extremely excited, laughing, smiling and hopping around the room!

Here's one I made two years ago. From Madge to me (and back again).

This project was a bustle. I had seen the red organza in a shop and just HAD to have some.

I wrapped it around Madge, figured out a pattern, and made it up with an old voile curtain which was a similar weight to the organza.

Made a few adjustments
Then sewed it all together

et Voila!


So I went through the beginnings of that process again today with some amazing fabric I bought quite a while ago. It's black net with silver coloured rubber bobbles pressed onto it. I was a bit worried about sewing it, but a practice run with a ball point needle seemed to work just fine. This will form a feature on the corset section, with some furry beaded trim.

The skirt is a lovely soft net which I purchased from The Cloth House in London last year. It was a remnant so much cheaper than if I'd bought it from the roll, and just enough to make a lovely long skirt. I have added a long tassely trim to the bottom of the corset section.

I will use more of the rubbery fabric to make a train

Very Exciting! Now Madge has to wear the outfit for a bit while I procrastinate over the finer details.