Princess Dreams: Making Princess Tiana #3

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!  Tiana has a bodice (I hope you were reading that in Professor Farnsworth's voice)!!  I've been working on piecing this together over the last few weeks!!  When I first started this, I honestly didn't have much idea on how I was going to create the top of her gown.  But I took a good look at pictures of her actual gown, and also other cosplayers that had done her, so I could figure out what they did, and what I wanted.  I chose Simplicity 5006 for the bodice, and came up with a piece that I hoped would work for the leaf-like front.  A friend suggested I try using suedecloth for the bodice.  I found a really pretty green that reminded me of the color from the artwork.  I bought a Kelly green cotton fabric for the lining, because that was all Joann had at the time (or maybe I didn't look hard enough, one of the two), but I later found a different green for the lining that looked a lot better.

A few of the pattern pieces I originally came up with.

I also used the center front pattern piece of simplicity 5006 to come up with the petal pieces, and then an extra piece for the third petal.  I made these out of some of the same brocade fabric as the skirt, and ordered some super pretty beaded lace from ebay.  I love the beaded fabric, it was so pretty I didn't want to cut it!  I literally apologized to it before finally mustering up the courage to do it, lol. I added lining and interfacing to everything, and the center seam of the petals on the left and right have a piece of white steel boning sewn in.  The center petal was going to be topstitched on.

The original petal fabric: Main fabric (top), beaded lace added (bottom).

Two weeks ago, I turned my attention back to the bodice and re-cut the lining pieces.  I also used my serger to finish the edges on the main fabric.  I added interfacing to the lining pieces and sewed them together.  I ordered some white steel and spiral steel boning, because plastic boning is really pretty meh.  I decided that since I was going to be going all out for this version of her dress that I was going to put good, lasting boning into the bodice. :)  I decided to try using twill tape instead of boning casing in the seams where the boning would go.  Joann didn't have the width I actually wanted, so I used some one inch twill tape.  I laid a piece of boning on top of each piece, and drew lines on either side of the boning with tailor's chalk so I'd know how wide the channel needed to be.  I also made sure that when it came to ordering the boning, that I took seam allowance into account because steel boning is NOT easy to cut.  I definitely like using twill tape to make channels, as opposed to previous bodices where I was fussing (and cussing) with sewing in the casing.

One side of the lining, with twill tape added.

I originally thought I was going to be able to sew everything together as-is, but I realized that the petals were going to need something behind them.  So I made a center panel for the petals to be sewn on to.  After I made sure each side of the panel wasn't going to interfere with the boning channels, I used a zig-zag stitch to sewn in the panel.  Figuring out how to put in the panel was a little tricky!

OoOo-la-la! XD  The center panel sewn in!

Petals added to the center!

A test fit on my dummy. :)  Isn't she lovely?

The petals have been sewn on to the panel, and the boning has been added in.  I think two of the pieces might still be a little long, so I'll either have to try to cut them, or just re-order them a little shorter.  It needs a zipper in the back as well as a hook and eye (probably), and I will be tacking it down in various places.  After all that is done, it's on to the leaf skirt!  It might be a little while before I update on that.  I'm trying to get the embroidery figured out.  But hooray for progress!!

Things I need to go back and finish:

-Bedazzling the other shoe

-Adding horsehair to the skirt

-The monster petticoat