The Dress: Constructing the Bodice

The underbodice in silk twill was flatlined in cotton, sewn up, faced, with a drawstring around the neck and hooks and eyes in the back.  The seams were boned with spring steel.  A tucker was made by hand-rolling thin strips of the pleated chiffon and layering it over the neckline.

Underbodice with first layer of tucker pinned on

My dressform was barely too big. Sigh.

  

Detail of Tucker

The overbodice was sequined and appliqued in the same method as the overskirt.  The applique alone took 26 hours.  I know because I did it while going through the first two seasons of Miss Fisher’s murder mysteries in June 2015.  One side seam was sewn, the other placketed with hooks and eyes.  The applique around the bottom of the bodice was first couched onto silk organza, which was then trimmed and hemmed to the back of the applique, making them stand-alone and able to hang off of the bottom of the bodice, as well as act as a closure.  The bottom was faced with silk organza to control the front pouch.  It was then mounted and hand-sewn on, and the last appliques sewn on by hand as well.  Then it was lots of snaps to hold it together, as the back panel stretched across the overbodice to close at the side, while the free hanging applique ‘strap’ wrapped around the waist to close at the side of center back.  I am really happy with this closing arrangement; the overbodice appears almost seamless. 

Hanging-off applique first applied to silk organza

First the back closes, then the back panel wraps around

Side bodice closure. The hangy-down bit in the left picture
is wrapped and snapped at the center back motif.

Front

The sleeves were my own spur-of-the-moment fancy.  I admired the long drapes of the original, but in some views they overwhelmed the dress and the chiffon I had procured did not have nearly the same transparency as that of the original, lending a very different effect (I may later try them out in silk gauze).  So I decided to go for the ‘pulled through’ shoulder puff with puffed trim, basically the top portion of the original.  After lots of futzing, I went with organza instead of chiffon for stiffness, and then decided that glass pearls sewn in the puffs made a nice touch.  I then sort of ‘propped them up’ high on my shoulders for mobility and cuteness; I call them Disney Princess sleeves!  But they had the right look of the period to my eyes, at least. 

Sleeves in progress

This is before I pulled up the bottom hem of the sleeves with
triangular insets, these were a little too princessy.

Much better!