Ahsoka Tano Cosplay - dress construction

The Ahsoka Tano costume continues!  After all my pattern work, I cut out the pattern pieces in the red twill.  I have just enough

My pattern weights are a collection of heavy finials, nuts, paperweights, and (in a pinch) butter knives.

THE CUT-OUTS

The first thing I work on is the cutout for the front.  I interface around it to keep it from stretching on its bias sides, then sew a facing on it, then turn and understitch the facing.  I do the same for the back opening.  

Here's part of the front cut-out, below the yoke.

Interfaced with iron-on interfacing.

The facing is sewn on, and I'm pinking the edge.

Then I ironed the facing forward and top-stitched it. In this pic you also see how I graded and notched the seam allowance.

And here's how I attach the top yoke to the bottom:

Here are the two front pieces...

... and the yoke pinned to the bottom. I sewed the red twill and the red facing in one seam.

The seams are sewn and facings pressed inward. I've pinned them in place for the nonce, but will eventually catch-stitch the edges to the twill.

BASIC SEAMS AND FIRST FITTING

The basic seams are the front panels together, back panels together, and shoulders, giving me a kind of smock to put on my client.  I sew and serge them.  

Since the front seam over the bust is quite a sharp turn, I hand-basted it in place first, then sewed it, then serged it, which was slow, but better than trying to shepherd dozens of pins under the machine without breaking anything. 

I start by pinning the apex of the bust in place.

I put the bust over a ham, on my ironing board, and baste the seam in place.

Basting in progress

This picture (left) shows the crux of the difficulty of these kind of curving seams... the seam allowance on the one piece is larger, and the seam allowance on the other piece is smaller.  So even though the seam length is the same on both pieces, the seam allowances are different.  When doing it on a machine, I like to put the curve with the larger seam allowances on the bottom, and curve the piece upward like a cup as I sew. 

The bust seam is sewn, and now I remove the basting.

The front on Claudia.

The first fitting enables me to pin the side and back seams to the right level of tightness.  I pin while she is standing, then have her sit to make sure there is enough ease over the bottom.  As it happens, my 5/8 inch allowance is perfect.  While we're at it, I pin the hem up to make sure it's parallel to the ground all the way around.  Then I unpin the back a bit at a time, opening the CB from the top and having her try to get out of it.  This is how I figure out where to start the zipper so she can easily get in and out of the dress (a few inches below the widest part of the bottom).  Finally, we place some bra cups, stolen off a thrift store bra, into the torso of the dress and adjust them to the right place, where I pin them to be tacked in later. ​

CLOSING THE BACK

Here's the back on Claudia, before I install the closures. 

Figuring that most women are adept at managing hooks and eyes behind their own backs, I use hooks and eyes to close the neck. 

Then, below the cut-out, I opt for the simplest method of installing a zipper: sewing the whole seam, but basting the part where the zipper will be, ironing it open, then pinning the zipper on top of the basted seam (on the inside of the garment) to be top-stitched into place.  When the basting is cut away, the zipper is in and there are two little lips that cover it when it's closed. 

NECK AND ARMSCYES

Possible facing design for neck.

At first I consider making a single facing to cover the neck and armscyes (see the tomato red line on the pattern), but realize I don't have enough red fabric in that configuration.  I would have to piece it awkwardly. So instead I make bias tape, in a continuous strip, using these directions.  See more pictures in my recent post about bias tape and ergonomics, if you're interested in my tutorial. 

Below is the bias tape pinned on an armscye.

(In other news, geez my balance was terrible on that serging!)

The neck got the same treatment. 

THE HEM

Knowing C. will wear tights or leggings under the dress, I want to line it with something slippery, so the friction of dress on tights doesn't make the dress ride up when she walks.  But lining fabric and time are not in the budget, so instead I use a satin blanket binding to face the hem, creating three inches of slippery stuff to do the job of a lining or slip.  I have to hem it anyway, so this doesn't add to the cost.  The blanket binding is a lavender that matches the apron front of the belt, so that's nice.

BONUS: this picture shows both the inside and the outside of the zipper.

The accessories to the dress (apron/belt, gaiters) will be another post.