41 DTG-Mock Up, Take 3, Continued

Now, with right sides together (so all the seam backs face out), I pin the lining and the outer layer together.  There's a few guidance notches along the way and the seam edges to help line everything up.

To stitch together the top and bottom edges, the pattern calls for a zipper foot.  A zipper foot sits to one side or the other (depending on where you want it) of the needle.  A regular foot has plates on either side of the needle, to hold the fabric down flat against the feeder plate of the sewing machine, so the layers stay together and feed evenly through the machine.  But, when you are sewing on a zipper, that little ridge of teeth being pushed down by the foot would get caught in the feeder and wouldn't feed through properly.  By using a zipper foot, the foot will only push the fabric down on one side of the needle, not both, allowing the zipper side to not get caught in the feeder.  This comes in handy for my purposes because the close contact with the ends of the boning would act just like a zipper and get caught in the feeder.

Zipper foot          -          Standard or zigzag foot

Sewing together the lower edges

Me-hard at work :)

I trimmed up the seam allowances where they stuck
out beyond the line of the garment edge

Here's those same seams with the allowance
protrusions trimmed off

Essentially, the top is now a tube of fabric I need to pull inside itself, to turn right side out.  I press the upper and lower edges.  I learned a few lessons right here.  1)  I had put the boning into the lining curved out side facing the finished seams, which would be correct if the boning was going into the outer layer and then the lining sewn to the back of that.  BUT, it's in the lining, which will be right side against my skin (so that the wrong side with the seams faces the underside of the outer layer).  So I really need to put the boning in so it appears to be curving up toward the unfinished side.  2)  I really need to reinforce the seam where the semi-sweetheart neckline curves between the bust and then clip to the curve here because it's a really stretched area with a lot of pressure on the curve.  I'll explain this more when I make The Real Thing.

It's starting to look much more like the finished product.

The only 2 edges I need to finish binding are the back edges.  The pattern calls for the folded under lining edge to be slip stitched by hand to the seam of the outer layer, but since this is a mock up, I just sloppy baste it to tack them together.  It's not attractive, but it's a mock up.

The pattern also calls for the top and bottom stitches to be top stitched 1/4" from the edges to hold the pressed over edge in place and keep it from rolling on itself.  Again, it's just a mock up and not something I'm going to waste my time on right now.

Last is to insert the grommets on piece 8, but I'm just going to thread some ribbon through the material, instead of wasting my grommets.  Once they're crushed onto the material, I won't be able to reuse them on The Real Thing.  The pattern calls for 10 grommets on each side, but I'll use 12-14 to get the ribbon spaced closer together.

Back into my spanx and bra for...The Moment of Truth!!

DH pulled it tight at the top just to see how much play I had.
Let's just say Da Girls were trying to meet people.

I've got a few symmetry issues to work out at the tops of the cups,
but that comes with more careful sewing on The Real Thing.

What do you think?

To Do List

• How much play do I have?
• Make adjustments if necessary-Mock Up, Take 4
• How large are the embroidery pattern designs?  Which ones would work best for the look I want?
• Lay out what I'd like done where somehow (tracing and pinning to completed mock up?)
• Order embroidery pattern
• Mom get materials-Hancock's sale on 50% off Sulky threads starts Jan 27th
• Make clean pattern copies of much worked pieces (so far 4 and 7)
• Skirt pattern work - assemble and iron
• Layout pattern pieces on lining and taffeta
• Cut final top pieces from taffeta and lining