This outfit is by far my favorite piece I've ever made, and it's my Mom's favorite too. She proudly showed it to all her work friends, and they all asked me to make one for them. Unfortunately, I don't have the skill to make outfits for other people quite yet, and I did not have enough fabric to make it for all of them.
I am obsessed with Riley Blake Designs, and this fabric was called Garden Party. It was on sale at my local fabric store, so I just had to buy it. The sale was if you bought the whole bolt of fabric, the fabric would be half off, so I paid $5 a yard for about 10 yards of fabric.
To start this two-piece set, I made the skirt first. I took 4 yards of fabric, about 18 inches long, and sewed a small rolled hem to finish the bottom of the skirt. Then, I made 2-inch box pleats around the raw edge, pinned them, and sewed them together.
Once the pleats were in place, I sewed the skirt into a tube, lining up the pleats. I sewed it together about 3/4 of the way up to give space for my hips to get into it.
Next, I made the waistband. It was a five-inch piece of fabric that I sewed right sides together to the unfinished edge of the skirt before folding it down on the inside to cover up the unfinished seam and top-stitched it to close it off. I added two button snaps as a closure on the back, and my skirt was complete!
The top was a little more difficult. It was comprised of 17 panels and a whole lot of grommets.
The first step was cutting out the pieces. The bodice itself was only 3 pieces: the front and two side/back panels brought together by grommets and ribbon I borrowed from my Mom because it matched.
I just folded the top and bottom edge in to make a rolling hem to make it look finished. The front panel was cut into a traditional “corset” shape, and the back panels were simply rectangles.
Each breast piece was made of 6 pieces. The bottom part was just one layer, but the top part of it was doubled up so the edges would be finished. I cut out two half-macaroni shapes and then placed them face down on the right side of the fabric and cut them out.
I then sewed the two halves to make a whole before sewing both pieces right sides together on the top before flipping them around so the seam was on the inside.
Then, I cut out two shield-shaped pieces and sewed the round edges together before lining the top of that shape up with the unfinished edge of the top part. Once they were all sewn together, it was time to sew them onto the bodice.
I took the breast cups and pinned them to be right sides together with the front piece of the bodice and stitched around it until the seams were on the inside, and then repeated it on the other side.
Once that was all sewn on, it was time to make sure the bodice fit. Once I figured out how much of the side/back panels I didn’t need, I folded it back to make a double layer of fabric so the grommets would be more secure.
Before putting the grommets onto the back, I marked the fabric with chalk, a dot about an inch away from the last one all the way down the piece. Then, I placed the silver grommets on and used my tool to put them in.
I used a light blue satin ribbon to lace it all the way down, and pulled it tight to fit me in a corset-like fashion.
The last step was making the straps. I took two 4-inch wide pieces of fabric that were slightly longer than the distance from the front of the bodice to the back with my shoulders there, and then sewed them into tubes. I pressed them flat and hand-sewed them onto the front and back of the bodice, and it was done!
I finished this in one day, but it probably took close to 10 hours of work. Overall, I am really happy with how it came out, and it was a great addition to my MDW wardrobe in Cape May!
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