My stagette was pirate themed, so that is my explanation for the crown on top of my hat!
In my design for Steampunk Sailor Mars, I kept those two items in mind.
The bodice was a lot of work, and the boning took forever. I used Butterick pattern B4254 - Misses Stays and Corset - View A.
Each boning channel must be sewn in a specific order, and each bone must be inserted before the next channel is sewn. This is because they go in all sorts of directions, and the next bone will close off the previous channel. I drew on the lining side with a marker each stitch line, traced from the pattern. Following the instructions, I wrote the number on each channel, so I would know which ones to sew first. After each channel, I inserted the bone, and moved on to the next one. Because of the high number of bones, and the fact that this was a costume piece, I used plastic boning from the fabric store. Each bone is sandwiched between the fashion layer and lining. There are two layers of material in the corset. The edges are finished with bias binding, hand stitched all the way around. The grommets are two piece, hand set. The lacing is 1/2" ribbon.
Each boning channel must be sewn in a specific order, and each bone must be inserted before the next channel is sewn. This is because they go in all sorts of directions, and the next bone will close off the previous channel. I drew on the lining side with a marker each stitch line, traced from the pattern. Following the instructions, I wrote the number on each channel, so I would know which ones to sew first. After each channel, I inserted the bone, and moved on to the next one. Because of the high number of bones, and the fact that this was a costume piece, I used plastic boning from the fabric store. Each bone is sandwiched between the fashion layer and lining. There are two layers of material in the corset. The edges are finished with bias binding, hand stitched all the way around. The grommets are two piece, hand set. The lacing is 1/2" ribbon.
Because the original stays took so long, and involved so much boning, my plan was to make "covers" to wear over the original when I wanted to change the colour. This meant that I could sew the basic stays, put a few key pieces of boning in place (the very front and next to the laces) and wear it over top of the original piece. The structure and shape would be created by the original heavily boned garment, and the top layer would simply be for fashion. Lots of layers, yes, but much easier to make! This is exactly what I have done for Sailor Mars.
During design stage, I decided that I didn't want to tabs on the bottom of the bodice. I removed the tabs from the bottom, smoothing out the bottom line. The whole thing is hand stitched with ivory bias tape, and then ivory lace is sewn to the bottom edge. I had lots of ivory lace left from the original pirate skirt, so I used the same lace to edge the bottom of the bodice, tying the whole look together.
When raiding my grommet stash, I discovered that I had no gold coloured grommets. A trip to the notions section of my local Fabricland left me disappointed... in a last desperate attempt, I looked through their clearance section, and found these adorable brassy star grommets!! They did not come with a setting tool, and I was unsure if my various tools at home would do the job. I resigned myself to trying these with my last resort being to use the silver grommets I had in my stash at home. Lucky for me, these worked just fine in the setting tools I had!
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During design stage, I decided that I didn't want to tabs on the bottom of the bodice. I removed the tabs from the bottom, smoothing out the bottom line. The whole thing is hand stitched with ivory bias tape, and then ivory lace is sewn to the bottom edge. I had lots of ivory lace left from the original pirate skirt, so I used the same lace to edge the bottom of the bodice, tying the whole look together.
When raiding my grommet stash, I discovered that I had no gold coloured grommets. A trip to the notions section of my local Fabricland left me disappointed... in a last desperate attempt, I looked through their clearance section, and found these adorable brassy star grommets!! They did not come with a setting tool, and I was unsure if my various tools at home would do the job. I resigned myself to trying these with my last resort being to use the silver grommets I had in my stash at home. Lucky for me, these worked just fine in the setting tools I had!
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What a perfect little detail! It is highly unlikely that ANYONE is going to notice these, but by golly, I know they are there, and I just L-O-V-E that they fit the theme and character so well!
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