Mermaid dress minus the side fins which I have to figure out how to add. This is what I look like all the time in my head. This is the outermost layer of the costume I’m working on for a mermaid-themed burlesque act I’m doing next month. (Me? Mermaid burlesque? Quelle surprise.)
It was Butterick pattern 5788, really super easy, especially with a serger. The thing about this pattern is it’s in 3 pieces per leg instead of 2, so you can add a stripe of contrasting fabric up the side. I’m thinking of doing this pattern with fish scales for the main fabric and stretch lace on the sides. It think it’s gonna be beautiful. I also bought some sheer rose fabric and I’ll make some more tonight.
I’d do a tutorial, but it’s really so incredibly easy that there’s no need for one if you follow the instructions in the package. There’s only like 5 steps. It took me an hour to make, for real. Just make sure to get fabric with 2 or 4 way stretch to them, and the pattern going in the direction you want. I bought the fabric for the leggings I just made and found the stripes were going vertically, so I had to refold it and luckily it was still enough fabric to make the leggings with.
sonrei said: I just wanted to show you! I got that exact same fabric the other day! The ladies who cut at Joann’s here think I’m nuts because I use all of the quilting fabric with cool prints for clothes. Anyways, I like your leggings a whole lot, I made a stupid dress
I also use quilting fabric for clothes ALL THE TIME. I just love all the patterns and colors and they don’t make apparel cloth with such variety. I think this dress is super cool, especially with that belt.
Made some new leggings last night. First time using the serger and they were super easy to make. I’ll probably make more.
I hate it when I’m searching online for a tutorial to sew something, and the instructions I find essentially say “find a pattern; make that pattern.” It’s like trying to find a recipe for a cake and all you find it “buy a cake; eat the cake.” That’s not what I’m trying to do here and those are the least helpful instructions ever written.
Harumph!
I make my own patterns! Because I couldn’t find a good corset pattern anywhere for the longest time. The “historical costumes” section of the pattern books had corsets that were either a. not very historical at all b. the wrong type of corset from what I wanted or c. ugly as sin. So I looked into drafting my own patterns, and piecing together bits of info from like 6 different sites, I managed to figure it out. It’s strange how nobody will give you the full story on making a corset. It’s like some kind of fetch quest where I have to find the six pieces of a map that has been scattered across the kingdom, and only then will I be able to find the treasure.
Then it was a matter of taking good measurements, and using Adobe Illustrator to draw it out with nice, smooth curves. This mushroom one is the fifth or sixth corset pattern I’ve drafted.
I actually plan to do a basic underbust corset tutorial once I’ve made a few more and get to a point where I’m confident I’ve got the best version I can think of.
If you want to know more, Foundations Revealed has about a bajillion articles on making corsets. Most are only available to subscribers, but there are some good free articles to get you started, and it goes over the basics like what materials to use.
Finished another corset last night. I had a bunch of this Alexander Henry mushroom print fabric laying around, and I felt like making myself a fun, playful, colorful corset. Flat steel boning for most of the bones this time, just to compare the shape they give as opposed to the spiral steel. I must say, I find this more comfortable than the last one I made, and it gives some defined shape without needing to be laced too tightly. This should be a good one for day to day wear. It’s cute, but it’s not so super fancy that I’ll worry about ruining it. Like I did with my last one which split in four places. T___T
I made myself a witch hat because October gives me an excuse to wear one. I gotta sew on the lace and roses still. #sewing #Halloween #witch (Taken with Instagram)
