FINAL PROJECT: PROCESS OF CREATING - THE TOP

 This post will be fully dedicated to the top part of my final 3D design.

It is based on the pattern I created showed in one of the previous posts. (link)

I started by pinning the pieces of the pattern to the plain black fabric and cutting them out with 1 cm extra for seams.

I picked up my pieces and tried to pin them on the mannequin to see if they fit well.

To get the perfect form of a cup and be sure that it is going to fit me I decided to use my bra. I pinned the fabric to it and made the tabs.

The next step was to cut out the exact same shape from the shimmery fabric.

And do the same thing with the tabs. I sewed them with a straight stitch.

Then, I pinned these two layers together. Sew them together over the tab. And left this part to be continued.

I then started to work on the corset. I firstly pinned the pieces together for an overlap of 1 cm and then sewed them together with the straight stitch.

Another part was to make tunnels for an underwire. To do that I used satin trimming. Cut the pieces in needed lengths and sewed them to the fabric.

Then, I came back to the cups and pinned them to the corset. And sew these parts together.

Next, trimming again. This time on the underbust line.

Then, underwire. Firstly, under the bust.

I also reminded myself to sew the remaining edges to prevent them from fraying.

Then, I cut the needed lengths of the underwire and filled the tunnels in the corset.

To finish up the edges, I had to trim them again. I started from the middle because I wanted to add more underwire to the cups. To stiffen them and give them a clearer shape. 

I then continued with the remaining edges. 

I decided to finish the ends of the corset with this shimmery material.

I then had to work on the holes for lacing (rivets). I needed a little help from my dad as we had to get through 6 layers of fabric and it was not easy. We used a nail and a hammer to make holes, and a leather press to attach the rivets.

I laced up the corset with a velvet ribbon - I burned the ends to prevent fraying.

The last thing I have done was shoulder straps. I have not wanted them before but the top, unfortunately, started to stick out a lot because of its weight. So I decided to add them for safety. I used the same ribbon as for the lacing.

And this is how the top of my final 3D design was created.

How it exactly turned out will be presented later.