Even though I'm not going to get much done this year in the way of new costuming, I have made some significant headway into Verson 2.0 of my the bodice for my Rapunzel costume. In the first version, I used an amalgamation of different patterns to try and match the construction of how Rapunzel's actual bodice was "sewn". It worked all right, but I had to make the sleeves custom and I didn't do the most stellar job.
This time, I chose a different approach. I'm starting with a different pattern, McCall's M6420, because it tallies the highest on matching Rapunzel's bodice with one pattern: the puffed upper sleeve with the lower fitted sleeve and the waistline that comes to a V. There aren't as many panels, and it uses princess seams instead of an empire waist, but I'm willing to live with that. The only thing I needed to change stylistically was to add the sweetheart neckline in the front and the lower, squared back.
Below are drawings of the alternations I made (for everything BUT the sleeves).
Exhibit #1 - I combined pieces 3 and 4 of the pattern as shown below and drew the sweetheart neckline.
This time, I chose a different approach. I'm starting with a different pattern, McCall's M6420, because it tallies the highest on matching Rapunzel's bodice with one pattern: the puffed upper sleeve with the lower fitted sleeve and the waistline that comes to a V. There aren't as many panels, and it uses princess seams instead of an empire waist, but I'm willing to live with that. The only thing I needed to change stylistically was to add the sweetheart neckline in the front and the lower, squared back.
Below are drawings of the alternations I made (for everything BUT the sleeves).
Exhibit #1 - I combined pieces 3 and 4 of the pattern as shown below and drew the sweetheart neckline.
Exhibit #2 - I lined up pieces 4 and 5 of the pattern and matched the edge of the neckline on both sides. The seam ripper is pointing to where they line up. I also finished drawing the squared back, which you can see in full later in this post.
Exhibits #3 and #4 - Using some plain, stiff muslin, I drew a new, altered pattern for each piece of the original. Note the curving pencil line a couple inches from the top. I also lengthened the pattern by two inches because of my long waist. This is actually one inch less than how I lengthened my first bodice, though. It's true my natural waist falls lower than it does on off-the-rack clothing (or patterns) but it turns out it's not quite as low as I've been telling myself.
I made sure to label it clearly and note the notches to help keep things lined up.
Exibits #5 and #6 - Repeat the process for Piece 4.
Exhibit #7 - After the new patterns were cut out, I lined them up to make sure everything would fall as expected (most particularly the new neckline and the length).
Exhibits #8 and #9 - Repeat the process for Piece 5. Here you can also see how I squared up the back. I did discover later, after assembling the bodice for wear, that I should have made the edge of the strap more up and down (not so parallel to the armscye, as I did below). I ended up up tweaking a correction for the error with little darts at the corners.
And with that, (and a quick test, which I probably should have given a little more care), I was ready for construction!
More to follow.
More to follow.
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