Hi everyone.
I finished the dress for Weiss, so of course here is my walk through of how I made it. As always with loads of pictures - just for you ;-)
The dress
is a simple dress with a bodice and a circle skirt.
The bodice has a sweetheart neckline with boning - if you
want a full tutorial these are very easy to find on youtube. Personally, I used
a pattern I had bought and altered. In the end it would probably have been
easier without the pattern but lesson learned. The dress itself wasn’t
extremely challenging, but as I hadn’t made one before it took some time.
Choice of
fabric:
I know that many people who cosplay Weiss choose to use satin or silk,
I agree that this is an obvious choice when considering the personality and
upbringing of Weiss. In the series her outfit doesn’t seem to shine and when
you think about it, it would probably be a pain to fight in satin as it would
be ruined by the smallest of things. And even though Weiss is very aware of her
looks she is not stupidly impractical.
These considerations brought me to the
conclusion that I would make her dress out of cotton. I admit that I was biased
because I would much rather sew and wear something made out of cotton than of
satin or silk – also I admit to being paranoid about the dress getting dirty
and cotton is easier to clean than satin or silk.
As the
lining of the dress is either white or not visible I decided to use the same
cotton fabric for both layers, this made cutting easier and it also insured me
that the fabrics would behave similarly.
First I cut
4 of each piece except the front piece which I cut 2 of, as it is placed on a
fold.
After
cutting, I collected all the lining pieces and ironed interfacing on. The
interfacing was cut a bit smaller than the lining pieces to avoid bulky seams.
Then it’s time to sew the pieces together, leaving the back seam open. The next
step is to make room for the boning.
You can either buy bias tape or make your
own. I decided to make my own out of the same fabric as the lining. The strips
need not be cut on the bias as no stretch is needed. I ran the strips through
my 16 mm bias tape maker and ironed them. The strips should be as long as the
seams in the bodice and there should be a strip for each seam. When sewing the strips on, I was careful to sew as close to the edge as possible
and to sew in a straight line. The boning need to fit! 
After the
channels were sewn I cut lengths of boning. Each piece of boning was cut to the
length of the seam minus the seam allowance – they were then filed down so they
were smooth and not poking through the fabric. After the boning was placed in
the seams I basted the edges to avoid the boning falling out while working. I then understitched the lining down at the top of the dress. When
the boning is been inserted the lining is done and it’s time so sew the outer
layer of fabric.
The outer
layer of fabric got sewn together the same way as the lining with the back seam
left open. The lining and outer layer were sewn together at the top.
When the
two layers are attached you can sew the skirt on. The skirt I made is just a basic circle skirt. I did this with a normal seam
placing right side to right side and then turning inside out. Now all the dress
need is a zipper.
The easiest method is sewing it in a seam. I decided not to, which just made my job harder and left me with a small fold at the bottom of
the zipper. This is – as of now – the only visible mistake on the dress and
overall I am quite happy with the project as it was my first dress with boning
and lining. Yay me!
When the dress was basically done I sewed the black piece on. This is made from a piece of lace and some black cotton I had lying around. I just topstitched it, being sure to only sew in the lining.
I need to shorten the dress and the petticoat, but as I'm hoping to find a rolled hem foot this weekend I'm procrastinating.
The basic
dress is now done and ready for dyeing and embroidery.
This is all for now. I expect to have a new blog out next Wednesday - so until then...
- Miliyia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiliyiaCosplay
