getting started

I started on my ETD evening gown in earnest yesterday. I had piddled around with it last week but yesterday I actually did some fitting.

Since I’m building this gown from the inside out I started with the bodice foundation, using the lining from the Lady Maude Warrender gown found in Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. Using patterns from Arnold is always interesting because those patterns are taken from extant garments that were fitted to a specific figure. This bodice had a really interesting shape (that was nothing like mine!) and a pretty dramatic waist to bust ratio. So lots of adjustments, albeit simple ones.

I tried fitting from the front to the back but found that fitting from the back to front was more accurate. Also much easier to fit on oneself! I transferred all the markings, cut and stitched a new toile and that was as far as I got...