Day 1 of adding a Corset back

In my previous post, I decided that i was going to alter my old homecoming dress in order to make ready for the masquerade.

First and foremost, let me give thanks to the multitude of online blogs, how-to sites, my mother and a co-worker who dabbles quite beautifully in sewing.

Sew for Dough a recent find that has a step by step process of how to add a corset back to a dress as according to an actual seamstress who makes gown alterations. Several nifty tricks in this little nugget.

eHow.com...as always has been extremely helpful in explaining sewing terms to me. On the bias means diagonally. Why they don't just say "diagonally" is beyond me, but online was a great deal nicer about my ignorance than the lady at the fabric shop.

My mother who gave up her evening to assist me in locating good fabric and reminding me of things like interfacing and oh yeah THREAD! which would have completely slipped my mind. Also her own sewing skills as a much needed second set of hands.

And lastly, my co-worker Susan who has a far superior knowledge of costume design than anyone else i know, who patiently took the time to explain to me how to go about making the changes i wanted.

Now for the before pictures!

Front of the dress Back of the dress

The plan is to split the back of the dress down to just about my tail bone (where the safety pin is), remove the existing fake lace up, insert a modesty panel with ribbon tie. Oh yeah, and i'll also be sealing up where the zipper currently is located on the side.

Last night, i set up my craft table and sewing machine and since it was already 9 pm, I settled for just making the ribbon into tubes to be ironed flat.

So much to do, so little time.