Swiss Waist Fake

 A proper Swiss waist has hand-worked eyelets, not metal.

I said, pfft, we know me, I don't do hand sewing, so I will finally make something like a Swiss waist, and I will use the grommet machine to apply metal eyelets.

And then I did not heed a friend's advice to punch the holes with the smaller die size, and, while that was not a problem for 7/8 of the eyelets, it was very much a problem for that last one.

How did I solve that problem?

...by hand-sewing over all of the eyelets, making sure to catch the edges that didn't get trapped in that one eyelet, and just covering all the others.

 

 (yes, the recalcitrant eyelet is marked by an overly exuberant amount of Fray Check that did not dry clear.)

Roll the Die: Patch Waist B

 

Patch Waist B: Waist once again means a waist cincher-y thing derived from Simplicity 5006.  This time "patch'' means "patchwork" and B means "from the scrap Bag" (yeah I know it's a reach.)

The scrap bag in question is filled with bits of pink, red, turquoise, blue, and green. (I have other scrap bags with other themes, yes.)  A slight issue is that a lot of the scraps were saved with the idea I'd use them for doll patchwork, but I wanted to keep this project from skewing toward pieces that were really small, so it took extra time to tease out larger scraps.

The process of choosing pieces, squaring them up, roughly arranging them against the pattern pieces, and sewing them together into approximate shapes (using an extremely small stitch length so the seams could be cut without unraveling much) took about 4 hours (with breaks.)

The next morning, I pressed everything and cut the panels with the pattern pieces, then constructed the waist cincher/fancy belt as usual.

There were no surprises in making these, especially since the strength layer/underlining worked to make smooth boning channels, no need to fight with the patchwork seam allowances.

I used the same calico for lining as the previous patch waist project--not for any symbolic reasons connecting these two projects, but just because there was enough of it and the faded areas meant I didn't really want to use it for anything visible.  I made the bias tape randomly when I got my first bias tape maker--I really like the color combination in the print, and the drawing style of the graphics, but it's an incredibly dated (and random fabric grab bag thrifted) Eiffel Tower print, so I like how turning it into bias tape obscures that.

This is probably the silliest one of these Roll The Die projects, but I'm glad I tried out the idea, no matter how Unwise it may be

Roll The Die: Patch Waist A

 So.  I had six projects I wanted to sew with equal enthusiasm, and couldn't choose which to do first.

I decided to roll a die.

So there we go: 2!

Ending the Bustier Odyssey

 So I altered the folds made in the previous waist cincher and traced around all of the pattern pieces, then got the original size 14 complete pattern and added the upper sections back on and jumped straight into sewing what I hoped would be the final version of the complete thing

It has issues, but, for something that goes together so fast, and that I probably won't ever seriously wear, it's good!

Ace Cinch

 I can't remember if I made any adjustments between the previous waist cincher and this one, but...this one ended up a bit small--not in a "help I can't wear this" way, but more in a "Oops All Drag Lines" way

 But it still has the fun built in pun of being able to say it's ace.

Misdirected Cinch

 So I reduced the depth of the folds I'd made to reduce the size of the previous cincher attempt and jumped right in to making the next one, using an odd thrifted rayon? cotton? nylon? blend brocade fabric that burned in a very interesting way that maybe someday I'll understand.

And I went ahead and got a tiny bit fancy, adding a loop of bias tape to hold a clip to hang shiny things

Too Much Cinch

 I do want to clarify, the making of the previous cincher--and all of the cinchers/bustiers made over the last week and a half--was, actually, a cinch.  Even if the previous one didn't actually cinch anything.

But I'm really not looking for heavy compression, not on something closed with a zipper.  So, when I folded out some width on the pattern pieces to make this one, I was too generous, and it ended up much smaller--in fact, as narrow as the first attempt.

However!  Since this one is not only front zip, but the top layer is a knit, so not really adding to the overall sturdiness, I am able to wear it

 

 Snugly.

It was not a Cinch

To address the fit issues of the previous project, I decided to make an underbust or waist cincher version.  This was partly because I felt like I'd be more likely to wear a waist cincher, as a sort of large belt that won't try to work its way up over my abdomen, and partly because I didn't have enough extra long cable ties to make many more full-length bustiers.

So I traced a combination of the size 14 pieces that I had overconfidently cut out of Simplicity 5006 before, and size 20, figuring things would average out.  I also decided to go with ¾" seam allowances instead of the normal 5/8"

and this time it ended up a bit large

 

 And that was good!  Because, due to the figure-skimming nature of this kind of garment, it doesn't look too large 

Beginning the Bustier Odyssey

This is zipped instead of laced, so I won't call it a corset.  Is it, then, a bustier?  Meh.

 But it's not a corset.

It's also too small.