Constructing my close fitting bodice block with Pattern Magic – Toile

I previously wrote about how I made my one cube pattern magic bodice block patterns and how I cut the pattern out of fabric in a post called Pattern cutting my close fitting bodice block with Pattern Magic.

I started to construct my bodice by sewing the one dart on my third front bodice block piece. I then also sewed the 4 darts on the back panel.

For this practice toile I am not hemming the armholes, the neck or the bottom edge. I have not cut off the seam allowance for the armhole and the neck as I am not sewing the front bodice block panel and the back bodice block panel together. I plan to sew this bodice block out of jersey so there will be no need for a zip. However, calico does not have any stretch so I would not be able to wear this practice version and leaving the panels separate allows me to still pin it to a mannequin.

Now that all the darts have been sewn.

I decided to experiment with adding interfacing on my pattern magic cube to see it it will give the cube a more defined cube.

Interfacing has two sides, one side is shiny and that side has the adhesive on so that is the side that needs to be in contact with the fabric, whilst the other side is slightly rough and has no adhesive on it.

First of all I got my light to medium weight interfacing and ensured that It was the right way up so I was drawing on the rough side not the adhesive side.

I then got a ruler and traced through the fabric around the 6cm by 6cm pattern cubes below. I accidentally only put interfacing on 3 of the 5 sides of the pattern magic cube as I forgot the other sides on the separate pattern pieces, I need to ensure that when I make my final piece I add interfacing to all 5 sides.

Next I remembered that when using interfacing you have to have the interfacing 1cm smaller than you need to avoid really bulky seams. So I drew a square 1cm inside of the original cube, this is the new line that I will cut the cube out on.

I then cut out all three cubes and placed them on the fabric pattern piece to check that it fitted within the cubes drawn on the fabric.

Before I ironed my squares of interfacing to my practice fabric toile, I decided to create a small tester to check that the bond together properly before using it on my actual toile.

Now that I was happy with how the interacting bonded to the fabric I ironed the cubes onto the pattern piece. I ironed the interfacing on the inside of fabric so that ideally it would not be seen however on this toile it did not go quite to plan and the issues I faced will definitely be rectified and overcome in my final piece.

The first time I tried to sew the 2nd and 3rd piece together of the front bodice block, it did not work as I had not perfectly aligned each individual notch and therefore the two pieces did not meet perfectly and alight at the bottom of the bodice also as I did not align the notches and the fabric perfectly you can see the seam allowance.

I then unpicked it and before I started again and made the same mistakes I asked my lecturer for some guidance.

This time it turned out a lot better however instead of sewing it to ensure that the cube was on the left side when I went to re-sew it I had flipped the patterns over and sewn it so it was on the right side instead and subsequently the interfacing ended up on the outside.

I then sewed the 1st pattern piece to the 2nd and 3rd pieces that had already been joined together.

This is the front and back of my finished practice toile.

This is the inside of the front and back of my practice toile.

I found constructing this my practice toile of a close fitting bodice block with Pattern Magic very difficult as you have to perfectly align all the notches and ensure that you have sewn right to the corners following the pencil line on the fabric before cutting into the seam allowance. This is definitely the hardest garment I have ever sewn and constructed.

I am also aware of the difficulties that come with sewing with a stretchy fabric, I have already chosen to use a jersey so I think I need to plan enough time to make this garment to incorporate two challenging factors sewing with a jersey and also sewing a difficult design.