21.11.11

Dancewear

I have been sewing dozens upon dozens of dance costumes this past few weeks.  This year I have even sewn a couple of costumes for the principal dancer, including her undergarments.



I did have some input into the design of this costume.  The brief was a demi-tard with frilly legs.  I combined a Jalie 2915 bodice pattern with a Kwiksew leggings pattern and added a flounce between the two.  I modified the Jalie pattern to ruche some of the panels.  I added frills to the bottom of the leggings, which are above-the-knee in length.  It turned out rather cute.  I did not choose the fabric.  I imagine that there will be nowhere to hide under the bright lights in this white lycra.

To determine the attachment line on the leggings, I tried the leggings and bodice on the dancer and marked where the bottom of the bodice sat on the leggings.
 

I had a frilly elastic that I used along the top of the bodice.


It turned out to be rather easy to gather lycra for the leg frills.  I just used a long stitch and a high thread tension and the frills gathered by themselves, no pulling of threads required.  I attached the frills to the leggings with a zig-zag stitch so that the legs could still stretch.

I did not hem the legs or the flounce.

4 comments:

Bernice said...

This looks very impressive. I can imagine it will look extremely striking on the body of a dancer under the bright lights. I'm glad you've featured the frilly elastic as I had no idea what you were talking about during your comment on my blog. Now I know what to look out for if I head back to Cosy Mas. I got all the trims for Meg's skirt from that shop also. BTW, you'll have to wait until Xmas day to see the skirt on Meg.

Sue said...

Great costume - terrific design and will look great on stage!

Gabrielle said...

That looks great - you are such an amazing (and evidently fast!) sewer - I really can't imagine taking this sort of project on! I hope all the dancers are duly impressed and grateful?

Uta said...

Super cute, who gets to wear this? (Re the white lycra: I hope it's a child!) Sewing for a whole production, that's quite a feat. I'd love to see stage pics.