Monthly Archives: August 2016

Bodice Sloper to Dress Bodice

This is my first attempt at using my bodice sloper to make a dress bodice, and it hasn’t come out too badly! At the moment, the zip is tacked into place; there’s a bit of a catch at the base of the zip that I need to work on, but once that’s done, I can stitch the zip in place properly.

Dragons Flame Designs - Dress Muslin

Those finishing stitches on the zip should also give a slight overlap of fabric, so the zip itself isn’t visible. One day I’ll invest in a concealed zip foot and learn how to do those, but for now, I’m sticking with a centre zip.

On to the not-quite-so-good parts…. I have no idea what happened with the darts – they’re not the same length, and are finishing way too high!

Dragons Flame Designs - Dress Muslin

The armholes are perfect (which I’m amazed about, considering I don’t have a French Curve ruler and ended up drawing the curves in freehand)! But you can clearly see there’s some excess fabric at the front of the bodice, and also a bit of a gap at the back on the neckline.

Dragons Flame Designs - Dress Muslin

I think maybe the back gaping wasn’t helped by changing the neckline on the front. I have a feeling that altered the shoulder width, so my darts in the back shoulders are a bit too wide. Hopefully the back gaping can be helped with a hook and eye at the top of the zip, but the front might need another dart coming from the armhole.

 

Floor Cushion

I’ve been needing a floor cushion for a while, but didn’t really want to spend out on a premade one. So spotting a 22″ polyester cushion pad at Shaws Direct for just £1.25, I bought a metre of purple polycotton to go with it, and set about making my own!

Dragons Flame Designs - Floor Cushion

It’s a simple design – plain on the top, with an envelope style closure at the back (like a pillowcase). That means there’s no lumpy zips or buttons when you sit on the cushion.

Dragons Flame Designs - Floor Cushion

I did have to piece the back, as I was originally aiming on using an 18″ cushion, but they only had 16″ or 22″ in stock. However, as it’s on the underneath of the cover, you wouldn’t know it was pieced from the top.

All the seams were stitched as French Seams (including the piecing) to hopefully ensure it’ll stand up to a lot of use, and also that no stray raw edges have any chance of fraying in the wash.

So, for £4.24 (I already had some matching thread left over from making my sun hat), I have a practical floor cushion that is the perfect colour to match the purple and silver theme of the room. Much better (and more comfortable to sit on) than some of the ones I’d spotted as premade cushions!