Webmaster, Susan and I all agreed that we wanted to re-do the bodice of the Webmaster’s new dress. Being a 2-piece, we had wanted to try to make it as comfortable as possible, so we were trying for a t-shirt feel…nothing was stiffened except for the embroidered areas, and even those were cut out and appliqued onto the unstiffened bodice pieces. Although soft, it did not lay right and Webmaster was somehow uncomfortable as she kept tugging on it…it seemed to ride up.
This is the original bodice.
We decided to re-vamp it and make it stiff with a v-shape at the center bottom.

Below are all five stiffened pieces. The embroidered front panel has only been partially attached to the center front bodice. I finished attaching it after I have sewed the princess seams because the panel overlapped the seams.

All bodice pieces were all lined in cotton (I love having a wild inner bodice!) and serged.

The Feisdress pattern does not use any ease in the princess seam. (For a thorough discussion of the reasons for this go here.) Webmaster’s original pattern was custom-made for her, so I altered that to create a princess seam pattern and did not include any ease. Here the two pieces are ready to be sewn.

Here is the finished seam showing no puckering because there was no extra fabric to be “eased” in.

The bottom edge of the bodice was satin-stitched as was the neck. I still included the neck facing for a clean look.

Here is the finished bodice.

I used a separating sports zipper in this bodice. They feel so much sturdier… I am thinking I might start using these in all the dresses I make from now on.


…and underneath the pin and on the bodice are two big pieces of the soft side of heavy-duty velcro.
The end of the shawl is encased in a double triangle of the hook side of the velcro which then is sandwiched (pinned) under the shoulder “pin.”
The same happens at the right hip.
Webmaster also asked for a crown…
…and a second shawl.
I will post full pics in the next post.