Today’s question is…
How did you make your Wonder Woman bodice?
For basic bodices for costumes, I have a couple of commercial patterns I like to riff on. My FAV is Simplicity 5006. I know it like the back of my hand and know exactly where to take it in to make it fit the way I like, and I’ve altered it to be underbust, to have padding, etc. I have like 4 copies of it LOL There’s a few others I’ve used before, check out my pattern collection album on smugmug, it’s most of my patterns I’ve used/own.
I have to tell you, I don’t really use 5006 (or any of those patterns) going by the pattern instructions. (Pattern instructions are more like “pattern suggestions” to me.) I just use the pieces as a starting point. So here’s my process with a basic bodice (and without altering the pattern too much).
Here’s the base of a bodice I made for Glimmer using 5006. Generally, I have 3-4 layers of fabric in my bodice. One outer layer of my “main” fabric, and two of cotton that sandwich the boning. The occasional fourth layer is often a layer of canvas fabric or interfacing, if I feel like it needs to be sturdier.
I made a DNU Wonder Woman in 2011 and took a lot of photos during the construction; so here’s a little walk-through of how I did this one specifically. First, here’s the beginning of 3 layers of my DCNU Wonder Woman bodice:
For simplicity’s sake I’m only going to explain 3 layers instead of 4 (and since these photos only show 3). I always cut it slightly longer than I think I’ll need, because that’s easier to fix than it being too short. I’ll sew the two inner layers (usually the 2 cotton layers) together to make them one piece….
Then I sew boning channels in. How many depends on how heavy you want it to be – I usually do around 8 total. I use the seams as a guideline for putting the boning in. I use spiral steel boning, cut it up into my lengths and put it in the channels. Then I sew the edges up to secure the boning in place.
Occasionally I will add bra cups to it at this point. I’ve done it different ways, sometimes right underneath the outer layer, sometimes stitched to back, sometimes hidden between layers – if you want to add them, just pin them in and see where you’d rather have them. For me it depends on the costume and the look.
Then I attach the main layer, depending on how I want the edges finished. Sometimes I sew them together right sides facing each other, and flip it out and top stitch it. For this one, I just sewed them together and edged them.
Then, eyelets or grommets up the back, and it’s done! I personally prefer grommets because I suck at eyelets, and it’s easier for me to lace myself into a costume with larger grommets.
