Thursday, January 6, 2011

A New Year, A New Post

Hello Followers,

Sorry for the hiatus. Because I spent most of this break hanging out with friends instead of making corsets, I don't have much to post about them. However, I can post about the magic of making dresses!

Dresses are relatively straight forward. All you need are your measurements and material with some give (material that doesn't stretch will be difficult to put on unless you install a zipper). If you want, you can also use some ribbon to use as a draw string at the top. 

The kind of dresses I create consist of two parts: a tube top and a circle skirt. To create the tube top you need about half a yard of fabric (you actually wind up using much less, but I always like to have more just in case I make a mistake), some paper, and your measurements (bust, waist, and upper hip measurements, or wherever you want your circle skirt to begin). The upper hip is located under your belly button. Take your measurements and halve them, this will be what you use to create your pattern. Make the pattern on the sheet of paper, and then cut it out on the fabric. Sew the two sides together and try on your tube top to make sure it fits. Add the drawstring at the top by folding over the top edge of the tube top, cutting two holes where the ribbon can be threaded, and threading the ribbon. You only need the folded over edge to be a little more than the width of the ribbon.

For the circle skirt you will need about 1.5 yards of fabric and your measurements. Fold the fabric in half and then in half again, so that you have the fabric in fourths. Take your upper hip measurement, or the measurement you used in your tube top for where you wanted the circle skirt to begin. This is the circumferance of the top of the circle skirt (the part that fits around your upper hips). You will need the radius of that, this is where your grade school math skills come in handy. Circumference = 2*pi*radius so the radius = circumference/(2*pi). Measure this radius out from a corner of the folded material (where the folded edges are) and cut it out. What you have is a fourth of a circle showing. Then, unless you want a skirt with square edges (like a pixie skirt), cut the bottom of the fabric so that it's round. Atttach the skirt to the tube top.

Viola! Now you have a lovely dress. :) If you want to make the dress look really nice make a petticoat.

Anyway that's all I have for now! Happy New Year!

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