Robe à la Française: Stomacher

For the stomacher, I decided to leave any decorations for after I have finished the gown. This is again so that I can make sure I have enough fabric to finish the gown. I can always order more fabric for the trim if I need to.

Due to leaving off trim, this project was extremely quick to complete. It only took me half a day from drafting the pattern and cutting out the fabric to having a completed stomacher I could pin to my dress form.

Now, in the AD book, they tell you how to make your own linen buckram. I was a bit silly and didn't read the instructions on making this back when I was buying everything for this project resulting in me not owning the stuff you need to make said linen buckram. I didn't really have the time to wait as I'm on a deadline so I just decided to buy some plastic buckram from my local sewing shop. I do try to use natural fibers as much as I can, but here I just don't have the time. Although, a positive is that I now know how to make linen buckram and will be doing so the next time I need buckram.

I started by drafting the pattern for a stomacher from the book. Drafting the patterns from this book has been a bit annoying as the drafting paper I have has is gridded to 1cm squares, whereas the book is gridded to 1-inch squares. I have to regrid the paper which just feels a bit of a waste, but it's got to be done. Anyway, after it was drafted and I checked that it was a good size, I cut out all the fabric. 

I basted the linen and buckram to each other before pinning the outer fabric, wrong side to the buckram. I hemstitched the outer fabric to the linen and buckram, being careful not to come through to the right side of the outer fabric. Then it was done. 

I wasn't quite expecting how quick this project would be but was rather pleasantly surprised. 

Now onto the gown!

There will be a different post next as I need a bit more time to finish off the gown.

I'll talk to you soon. Have a swell day!

-Maysie