Sew Retro Bombshell Dress Course

Fate has shined its light upon me again (?!). I had already decided to sew this dress (halter strap version) for my boyfriend's sister's wedding this upcoming Sunday, and I was sort of dreading starting to work on it because I knew I'd run into fitting problems I wouldn't know how to deal with. Incidentally, I saw that Gertie had created an Online Bombshell Dress Course... and I knew I'd found just what I needed.

If you are an intermediate seamstress, or advanced even, and want to upgrade and refine your skills and learn something new, take this course. I would have given all of my fitting books away (and then some) for this course. It is worth every penny and at $30 (50% off) it is a steal! I learned so much you can't even imagine. Gertie is an amazing teacher and this course is top notch. It is packed with couture techniques, tips and tricks, so clear and organized, and at the end you've got an amazing dress! You can ask questions and post pictures - Gertie was so helpful with that! And you can forever go back to review the course videos. No hesitation - go for it - you won't regret it!!

So here's what I've been up to this past week (has it only been a week...?) More photos here.

For the course I used the fabric that I had originally intended for making the skirt for the wedding:

Satin (probably synthetic) black and white flower print fabric - 40 NIS (12 USD) per yard

 The first step was to create a muslin. I used a cotton fabric I had lying around, which started fading in areas, for that. My bust called for a size 38 and my waist for a size 40, so I went for the 38. It came out too small. You can see the stretch marks, and the bust was just not fitted properly:

first muslin - size 38 - too small

After analyzing which alterations were necessary (Gertie shows in depth what to look for and how to fix), I realized the best thing to do would be just to go up to a size 40, and that sure fixed most of the problems. I enlarged the bust a tiny bit as well, though in retrospect maybe I should have just left it alone. I also added 1 cm to the neckline for better coverage.

Second muslin - size 40 - good fit

 Then it was on to cutting and assembling the bodice. The course calls for underlining the fashion fabric, which is an amazing tool to stabilize an otherwise delicate fabric that doesn't have enough structure for this type of bodice.

The underlining pieces are used as the pattern for cutting the fashion fabric and then basted on to it

Assembling the bodice.
The underlining is a medium weight cotton twill I had lying around the house

Outer bodice fabric assembled (satin fashion fabric + cotton underlining)

Wrong side of bodice with cup padding attached.
Facing and seam allowances catch-stitched down.

I had a bit of a mishap with the skirt. Luckily I got to the store in time before it closed for the weekend to buy new fabric - a solid black satin instead. I think it looks a lot better than using the black and white print fabric for the skirt!

Skirt mishap. See how the fabric warps instead of hanging nicely.
Don't cut fabric when you are so tired you can't remember your own name!

New lovely black satin for the skirt, underlined with silk organza

That was the turning point of this dress for me. In no time I stitched the skirt panels together and attached them to the bodice.

Attaching the skirt to the bodice

In order to get a circle skirt to connect to a bodice or a waistband, you can stay-stitch the seam and clip into the seam allowance and it'll straighten up.

Pinning the bodice to the skirt with a zillion pins.
Then I secure the seam intersections, hand-baste, and finally machine stitch the seam.

Here I am trying on the dress! Ignore the silk organza peeking at the hem.
No bodice lining or boning or zipper yet either.

At this point it was time to assemble the bodice lining and add boning.

Satin ribbon "casing" for the rigilene boning, edges singed with a candle.
This was so much fun to do!

Enigma - to where do all the pins disappear?

Bodice lining with the ribbon for the boning attached to its wrong side

Bodice lining (wrong side) with boning encased in ribbon

I used up almost two meters of boning!
Luckily it was just enough - only this tiny piece remained.

Bottom of the satin ribbon is closed so the boning will not come out.
Watch out for fraying on the satin ribbon.

What's left for me to do with this dress:

1. Fix a problem with the shape of the bust (halfway done)
2. Install a lapped zipper and a zipper guard
3. Add a waist stay
4. Attach the bodice lining to the bodice
5. Hem
6. Wear :-)

Coming up on the next post!

Please do leave your comments :-)