So now that we've drafted the front, back and facing pieces of the full bodice, how do we put it all together? You've come to the right place because that's exactly what this tutorial will show you. For a bodice like this, it's usually one part of a dress. You can always make a muslin first to test the fit of your bodice. When you're ready to make something fun, you can pair it with one of your skirts. I decided to pair it with a pencil skirt so you can check out the pencil skirt pattern if you want to copy me. Also, please note that this tutorial focuses on bodice assembly only. If you need help with the skirt portion of assembly, you can watch our basic skirt assembly tutorial.
This tutorial is part of a series so if you want to start from the beginning, check out full bodice block pattern front, full bodice block pattern back and full bodice facing. I recommend watching in that same order as well.
When tying the knot at the end of the dart it’s handy to use a pin to guide the knot. Put the pin through the thread loop and stick it at the end of the seam. Tighten the knot against the pin and the pin will guide the knot so it ends up right at the end of the seam.
What I do is create my muslin and put it on my dress form, or if you don’t have one, put it on and have a friend help you. Then use a pencil to draw the neckline where you want it to be, directly on the muslin. Remember it needs to blend into the back neckline so those shoulder seams match up. Cut on your pencil line and retry on the muslin and see if it’s to your liking. Take the muslin apart, lay it on your pattern and redraw the new neckline so you have a new pattern. Hope this helps! 🙂
Would it be difficult to create a lower neckline without compromising the rest of the bodice? How would this be accomplished?
Thanks