Production Process: The Bodice

This page demonstrates the production process I went through for the bodice of my costume when constructing my design for the exhibition. As well as this it includes health and safety and the equipment I used

Health and Safety when making costumes

When sewing there are many risks to injury if someone isn't aware when constructing costumes, things to be cautious for include:

Being careful when using electrical appliances such as irons because they can cause burns or can become faulty if a liquid is put on it.
Have hair out the way when using machines because it can get caught in it.
Cut away from yourself when cutting out fabric with sharp scissors.
Keep hands at a reasonable distance from the needle of a sewing machine so it doesn't cut you.

The equipment I used

The sewing machines I used

For this project I used:

Tailor Chalk
Sewing machine
Bias binding
Eyelets
boning
unpicker
Scissors
Pins
Needle and thread
Iron

overlock machine

Industry machine

The Construction

The Bodice

To start my bodice used my bodice pattern and traced around the fabrics I wanted to use. In total I had 14 pieces of fabric when I was done cutting them out.

In my silver fabric I had 6 pieces: 2 for the centre front; 2 for the centre back; and 2 for the back .

For my front fabric I had 1 of the silver and back embroidered fabric .

As well as this I had 14 pieces of my black lining fabric. I needed 4 pieces for the centre front, centre back and back and 2 for the front so I could create boning channels.

After all my lining fabric were cut out I re-drew on all the information i needed off my pattern onto my lining in chalk. For example: the boning channel placements and what part of the bodice it is.

Then I used the industry machine to sew on all the boning channels I had drew onto my lining - I used a number 2 stitch and locked of the ends so that my channels would be secure, and the boning wouldn’t be able to move around.

After this I tacked together my linings to my outer silver fabrics using a number 5 stitch on the industry machine, rather than doing a running hand stitch like I did for the Alice show. This was because it was less time consuming, we only had 2 weeks to construct our costumes so using the machine was a lot more efficient.

I also used the over locking machine to lock to stop the ends from fraying. I didn't over lock the neckline or bottom of the bodice because bias binding was going to be used.

Nadine tacking together the linings and outer fabric with a number 5 stitch

Next, all my pieces were sewed together. I made sure they were in the right order before pining them together to form the bodice.

When I was sewing them together, I made sure my chalk lines were lined up on each piece of fabric. I did this because if I didn't the fit of my bodice would not be the size, I wanted it to be.

I had to re do this step with a couple of the panels of my bodice because I stitched them together to far off my chalk lines. But this taught me to always check my pining is accurate and on the seam lines before I sew my garment together.

Following this when my bodice was put together, I added in the boning. To get the right size I measured the length of the boning I needed by using the channels on my pattern. In total I had 12 boning channels and pieces of boning to put in it.

To insert my boning used a seam ripper to unpick the threat that tacked my fabrics together because it was blocking the top of the channels to insert my boning, the boning was put between my two lining fabrics.

Subsequently, I added on my bias binding to the neckline and bottom of my bodice. This created a cleaner finish.

To attach it I used my mechanical sewing machine to sew the bias binding onto the right side of my bodice at the waist and neckline. I sewed the bias binding onto the bodice a straight stitch, the seam allowance was 1 cm.

Then I folded over the bias binding to the wrong side and did a slip stitch all the way across.

How to: Attach bias binding to a garment

Adding on extra parts/ alterations

When making the bodice, I found that the back didn’t have enough seam allowance for my eyelets. I made a new pattern and added that onto the back of my corset.

Rather than using the black lining I used for the main body, I ironed on an interfacing to give my sliver fabric more strength and sewed it onto the back of the bodice using the industry machine.

After I did this, I folded over the extra back pieces I had interfaced, and hand sewed them using a slip stitch at the top and bottom to make it look neater.

Lastly, I had to create the eyelets. Which is how I wanted my corset to fasten up. I did this by marking and measuring where I want my eyelets to go.

I decided to have nine ion each side (odd number are more aesthetically pleasing than even) 5 cm away from each other.

When inserting my eyelets I used some sheers to cut a hole, next in inserted my eyelet and the back piece, and then used a Eyelet Machine Punch Presser to secure them.

When inserting my eyelets I made sure that I didn't hit the boning, and by following my markings, they came out straight.