Constructing the Romantic Tutu

Construction of Romantic Tutu

Before I could construct my romantic tutu I had to make the Basque which is the base which I have to sew the net to. I followed the instructions on our hand out to draft the pattern for the Basque. I found the instructions fairly easy to follow it was the waistband construction which I on reflection I rushed to make. To get the correct size of the waistband I used this formula: Waistband measurement – 2.5cm + 3cm extension + 7.5cm for C/B turnings. On the petersham I marked out my S/S, C/B, and C/F I did this in pencil however, which I regret because it has left marks on the inside of the waistband. I then sewed the 8cm pieces of elastic to the petersham making sure I matched up the S/S lines. I had to use a zigzag stitch to sew the elastic to the petersham so that it allowed for the stretch. However, I found that the zigzag stitch I used was too small in width so that when the elastic was stretched it made the elastic fray and the stitching come undone. So I had to re-sew it using a larger zigzag stitch. Because of this I found that when I was cutting down the excess petersham in the inner layer I could not cut it as close to the fold as I wanted so when I folded the top layer over it left a smaller elastic section. So when I was sewing the waistband to the basque I had to stretch the elastic quite a lot and it didn’t sit on top of the waist line on the basque.

Once the waistband and basque was sewn together I then had to mark and sew each line for the net the first line was the waist line then the next 4 lines where ½ inch down. The amount of panels in the skirt decreased by 2 each time so the top layer had 13 until the 5 line which only had 5. The reason we had odd numbers for the panel of the skirt was so that there was no seam at the front.

I then had to draft the pattern for the skirt, using this formula: length of bottom line basque divide no. of panels + 2”= top of panel. This measurement needs to be halved because I made the pattern on the fold. Draw straight line at top of pattern piece mark the length of the waist, then from CF go down 3/8” and connect the two points with a curve. Using this curve mark down 36” to create hem line at hem line measure along 14” this is the width of my skirt. Cut out pattern.

So that it is quicker to cut out all 45 panels, the net was already folded 4 times on the role and I folded it over another 4 times so that I cut out 16 panels at once. The net wasn’t folded perfectly so as I folded each layer over, I made sure that my skirt pattern would fit on the net without cutting any corners. I repeated this process a further 4 times to get the total panels I needed. I then separated the panels into each layer and then labelled them.

Each layer of the skirt can then be sewn together there is no seam allowance so the edges just need to be overlaid one another about 0.5cm and then sew down the middle. Mark warned us that we would have to be gentle as the net goes through the machine because it can stretch very easily so that you ended up with one panel longer than the other. So I decided to pin mine together to prevent this from happening.

 However, I found that it still did a little bit even though I was using a domestic, is possibly didn’t help that I was rushing, the net at the seam looks a little gathered and even though I have pressed it. So I will have to learn for next time not to rush and feed the net through the machine gently.

I sewed on two lines of gather stitches again I did this too fast and in places I had to start again so it wasn’t a continuous line. This meant when it came to gathering it on the skirt it didn’t gather as well as it should have done. Therefore, next time I am going to have to develop my skills in not rushing when I have lots of things to do because then I make mistakes. Another thing I should have done was tack the CF line on each layer before I gathered it however I did it afterwards so the CF was not as accurate as it should have been.

I thought that I would find the gathering of the skirt really hard but I actually really enjoyed creating the shape and trying to make each side equal I am pleased with the results. At first I thought I had made it too flat at the front because it looked so see through but once the top layer was gathered it looked fine. When I first gathered the layer 5 I didn’t put enough pins in so when I sewed it on the machine some of the gathers came out, so after that I put lot more pins in. When I blasted with steam each layer before I sewed the next one I must not have done it enough because the pleats where not flat enough, so as I level off the tutu I will steam each layer again.

You can see how each layer gradually built to create my romantic tutu.