Is that mock up mocking me?

Here's a progress report on my sewing of the mock up for the dress.  For those who don't sew, the purpose of doing a mock up is to practice with the pattern before you cut your good fabric, and so that you can make any major fitting adjustments on the mock up. 

Mock ups are usually made of muslin, because it's easy to work with.  I'm staying true to form on that.  And I'm SUPER glad I did a mock up.

The very first thing I did was go through the pattern instructions and highlight the parts I actually need.  The pattern came with a lot of decorative additions that I'm not at all interested in, so I only cut out the pieces I actually wanted and highlighted the instructions I thought I would need.

The bodice was the first part I pieced together, and I'm torn as to whether I should line it or not.  On the one hand, lining is an easy way to make seams look nice.  On the other hand, the pattern anticipates the lining being used for . . . who knows what purpose.  The way they have you use it would not result in those nice seams I want. 

Once I got the bodice on the dress form, it was obvious it needed some fitting.  So I put in a few darts here and there, and it looks like it will fit better.  My dress form isn't identical to me, so when I get the full mock up done I will find someone to help lace me into the corset so I can try the dress on and see how close I've gotten and make any last minute adjustments.

Of course, I was SUPER smart and started making my darts on the outside of the dress instead of the inside . . . so I got to take them out, flip the bodice, and start over.  Oh well  - that's why we do a mock up.

This is what a dart looks like on the inside.  On the outside, it just looks like a line in the fabric.

Here's a view of the back - it also laces up, like a corset, since they didn't have zippers and such back then.  They had buttons by the 1860's, so I could probably also have it button up the back.  Either way, you need someone to help you get into it.

I think some women may have had dresses that button up the front, but this pattern would be difficult to do for that.  My original sketch has buttons on the front, and I may still do them for decoration (which I have seen in period pictures of simpler dresses).

After doing the bodice, the next step was the sleeve.  Let me tell ya, the pattern sleeve is awful - both in looks and in how complicated it is to make it.  The pattern sleeve is on the right in the picture.  The pattern piece for the sleeve lining, though, makes a nice cap sleeve (on the left side).  For the final dress I'm just going to use the "lining" to make simple cap sleeves.  (See why we do mock ups?)

See the difference in the sleeves?  Right side = hot mess of weirdness.  Left side = simple and pretty.

The skirt is MASSIVE - it winds up being 175 inches wide, which will all need to be smushed down to match my waist size.  The pattern calls for a complicated method of pleating, but when I started pinning it on the dress form to store for the night, I realized I can probably just pleat the final dress on the form, pin them, and then sew them.  WAY easier than what the pattern calls for, and fewer marks to transfer.

Overall, this pattern is way too complicated.  It leaves me scratching my head, even with my experience sewing garments.  And it has way too many extra steps and do-dads for what I want.  While I want this to be a ballgown, that distinction comes more from the size of the hoop and the skirt than from the fanciness, and I want to have it hold up well through vigorous dancing and over time, so simpler seems better.  I'm also not a huge fan of lots of frills thrown on top, and I'm going for a more middle-class look than high society.

It's still a lot better than trying to make my own pattern though!

I'm not worrying with a lot of the finishing steps on the mock up, since I just have to take them apart anyway.  I may also sit down with the instruction book tomorrow night and type out my own instructions to follow when I start to make the real dress so I don't spend as much time scratching my head trying to figure out their instructions, and so I don't forget what I learned by making the mock up.

Corset time!

Yesterday and today I made the corset, which was the trickiest piece (as I predicted).  I've lamented for a long time that sewing often requires taking something that is curved and somehow making it flat just long enough to sew it, and the corset was the epitome of this.  Especially when piecing the early seams.

My poor sewing machine deserves a rest - I broke at least three size 16 needles trying to do the finishing.  My sewing machine did NOT sound happy on the last few seams; not sure it's really meant for something this heavy.  If I do another project with duck canvas, I'm going to get size 18 needles and see if that helps.

 After sewing together most of the pieces of each half of the corset (if you've never thought about it before, you never realize that a corset is often actually two separate pieces, held together in the front by a busk and by lacing in the back), the next step was to sew (with very, very narrow seams) twill tape over the seams and in a couple of other areas to make the channels for the boning.

 The next step was to add the center-back piece on both sides, and then add the grommets.  The hardest part about adding the grommets was actually getting the holes to be the right size - my awl wasn't quite big enough, so I had to use scissors to enlarge the holes.  Then I had to hammer the grommets using the little grommet tool (sorry neighbors).

 Here's how it looks with all the grommets in place - not exactly perfectly straight or even, but not too bad overall.

 Here's how the corset looks before finishing the top and bottom and adding in the boning.  You can see how the duck fabric is stiff enough to already give the garment a lot of shape, even without the boning added in.

 Finished product!  It took me roughly ten hours, which isn't bad considering it's a pretty complicated project and I've never made a corset before.  Since my dress form can't "give" like a real body, I'm not trying to lace it up too tight.  Just enough to keep it on the dress form.  Sadly, I can't actually try it on by myself - I'll need a friend to help with that!

I might start on the muslin mock up of the dress tomorrow, but I should probably try on the undergarments and corset and have someone lace me up and help me take measurements first.  I'm pondering ;)  I can also just make the mock up and then try it on over everything and have someone help me with fitting from there.  Once I have my size in the corset I can reset the dress form and that will give me a pretty good model for fitting the dress, but the form doesn't go up quite big enough in the hips for me, and doesn't have the same shape/squishiness of a real body.  It's better than nothing though!