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.

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!

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.

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.