Last time I mentioned costumes, some of you asked to see the finished costumes. I rarely take photos of the costumes, as for the most part, I am just the seamstress and I don't feel that they are my property to post publicly. I also don't want to go through the process of getting permission to post photographs of other people. The ones or bits that I do post are costumes where I have had a lot of input into the design / pattern, like this next one.
I was asked to make demitards. When I have sewn demitards in the past for this dance school, I have used a style that has a single pattern piece, wrapping around from front to back, with a CB seam and a crotch seam. The little girls that I was sewing for this time had hip measurements that were larger than their chests, and I wasn't happy with the one piece pattern, so I decided to draft my own, starting with Stuart's blocks.
My design has side seams., CF seams and a CB seam, allowing for a better fit than the one piece pattern. Pattern details include camisole style top, back cutout, CF gathering on some versions. After measuring the class, I used a smaller size for the top half of the demitard than the bottom half. I graded the pattern into 5 sizes. I gave my coverstitch machine a good work out.
The pink version was for the dance school. The pink straps have not been attached as I fit them to each child individually. The purple version was made up as a gymnastics leotard for the daughter of a friend.
I am SO impressed that you make a class' worth of costumes! They look terrific - my girls would love them.
ReplyDeleteThese are a very cute style. I imagine the extra seams do make the fit better.
ReplyDeleteThat is pure dedication!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! How many of these did you make? (And where did you buy that purple swirly lycra? It'd make some flash running leggings is all!)
ReplyDeleteIt is from Spotlight...a chain store in Australia. The fabric line is called Dance Coordinates, I think.
DeleteYou really are a master of knits. You can can sew any kind of knit, even purple swirly lycra, and it always looks so professional!
ReplyDeleteHi Katherine,
ReplyDeleteWould you please be able to share your cover stitch method? Tension for needles and looper, stitch length, diff feed, thread and needle type etc? I keep getting skipped stitches when I try to stitch the elastic down. Hope you can help!
Thanks
Claire
Hi Claire,
DeleteI have fluffy thread in my lower looper and I have only got that to work by setting the lower looper tension to zero. The other threads are set at a tension of 4 - 5.
Stich length of 3.
Diff feed is at 1 at the moment, but I know that I have turned it down to 0.7 for some fabrics.
I am using QA thread.
The needles depend on your machine. I think mine takes regular needles, but my previous coverstitch (a Bernette) had a lot of trouble with skipped stitches and it was recommended that I switch to an ELX705 needle, which I think is a midge longer than the needles I was using.
Some types of elastic are more trouble than others. I mostly use the rubber elastic these days, because I bought it in bulk. I often use my sewing machine to zig zag the elastic down if it is not working out on the coverstitch.
I like my coverstitch best for hems and bindings, but these days I use my sewing mchine as often as not for the elastic.
Hope this helps, Katherine