Carolyn’s dress: Bodice Making
You will have noticed that Carolyn’s dress has lots and lots of curving lines, and consequently, will need lots and lots of pattern pieces. This is how I drafted the bodice pattern: Working on Isabelle, I used classic pinch draping (rather than my slightly unorthodox cut draping method) to fit a length of fabric to the bodice, and to get a rough idea of the lines needed. All of those extra seams were a pain to drape, but they do give wonderful shaping over the bust and around the waist. With the front half of the bodice draped, I cut away all the extra fabric, and suddenly you could really see the shape of the bodice emerge. With the front done, I did a similar drape for the back, but neglected to photograph it. For both front and back, I marked all of the seam lines with pencil, took the drape off Isabelle, and cut out all of the pattern pieces (being careful to number them and mark tops and bottoms, as there is so …