Saturday, January 26, 2013

Is an Elastic Strap a Crime?

Again with the poor lighting! One day I'll have a mirror in an area with good light and a good camera. Until then, forgive my glowing shoulder....which leads to my main problem currently. The boning wants to sag and barely covers my bra.
Especially with the lined skirt attached, I have to keep pulling it up, and it didn't hit me until this morning that I should have stay-stitched or stabilized the necklines since they're on the bias. I was thinking I needed a tuck there, but then it occurred to me - not in the instructions, though they DO mention stay-stitching the front sides where the princess seams are. I think this pattern needs a couple of tweaks!

Oh, and what do you think about the shoe? Silver didn't go since the fabric has gold glitter over it, but is this too much going on with the ballerina ankle strap? But wait, I AM a ballerina of sorts (another annoying Pure Barre reference here).
Bad picture of the back of dress - these shoulder blades are registered as lethal weapons, and they do NOT lay flat.
Took care of the swayback with a 2" raise of the skirt when attaching to the bodice, which I've just basted together, by the way, so I can judge how to cut the real bodice.
Another frightening view of chest, which brings me to the title of the post. Is it wrong to find one of those clear elastic-y straps to hold this side of the dress up?
I've seen other women with off-the-shoulder dresses have that strap on the free shoulder, but is that only for pageants? The few PR-er's who've made this pattern didn't make this view. Otherwise I was thinking of lengthening the boning by an inch in front, or trying the other bodice that has a bikini-style top with narrow straps, though I wanted to avoid the rib cleavage of that one, plus even the line drawing of it emphasizes the hips. Your thoughts?

In other news, may I just say that I LOVE Nikki Minage on American Idol? She is kind to the contestants and approaches them from an angle of how they can be an inspiration to other people like them. And IMHO, Mariah Carey is a narcissistic Bee-Yotch! I have a hard time watching it because of her. With that off my (poorly covered) chest, I'm back to sewing.

5 comments:

Pam said...

Great job! I think it looks fab - can't wait until the final project. I think Elastic straps are fine - especially if you live in the South (very hot!) and have the possibility of drinking alcohol and perhaps not noticing a critical sag at the wrong moment. I've seen some off the shoulder shapewear in black...http://www.resultwearshop.com/The-Ava-One-Shoulder-Reversible-Bra_p_15.html

Elastic Strap, Stat!

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Chick, you rock! You anticipated the problem and found the solution - awesome! You are the Queen of Shapewear Knowledge, too.

Anonymous said...

Another possible solution would be to ease a piece of twill tape or stay tape that is slightly shorter than the bodice opening along the seam line on the inside. This would help it hug your body better. I have seen this done in "couture" dress construction. Your dress is going to look great either way!

As for the shoes, you can get them here: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/via-spiga-angie-pump/3300859?origin=keywordsearch&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=MARINE+SUEDE&resultback=0

Yes, I am an enabler :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I have used double sided tape to keep a dress like that up before. It was one of the first dresses that I made (it's on my blog -- the really colorful one).

If you could find some silicone rubber gripper stuff, that would work, too.

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Thanks Katrina! I went back and did the selvage trick - see current post. And I have some of that double-sided tape, so I'm going that route instead of the strap - thanks for your help!