Making my final garment

To start off cutting my patterns, I decided to lay down my satin fabric and taping the edges of the table to prevent movement when placing the patterns down shown below. I also gently pulled onto the fabric to make sure the fabric was laying flat. In addition, I used a tape measure to make sure the grainline on the patterns and the selvedge were parallel.

To begin sewing the leotard I started by sewing the panels for the front and back and then attached the lining only on the cut-out areas right sides together. After this, I turned out the lining through the cut-outs and sewn the lining panels together for both front and back.

Next, I started to create the stretch under piece. I obtained the tanned jersey from a scrap box found in my university as well as the bamboo cotton jersey to be more sustainable since I knew I was not going to use a large amount of jersey. The bamboo cotton jersey itself is sustainable as the fibres come from a renewable resource.

I sewed all the layers of jersey together by sewing the sides and then turned out the layers so that the seam allowance would be inside. The bamboo cotton will now be facing upwards for the comfort of the wearer. This under piece was then sewn to the back of the bodysuit.

Before making my final garment I decided to prepare and do research on which type of elastic I would be using for my neckline, armhole and leg holes. I came across three options that could the best for my garment as shown below, but I ended up deciding on using regular elastic. The fold-over elastic would mean there would be binding on the edges which would have been unnecessary as I am already lining the garment, and swim elastic also would not be suitable as I am using satin and swim elastic is more suited for polyester and Lycra.

I wanted to attach elastic around the neckline, armhole and leg holes to provide a level of comfort a swimsuit would provide where the fabric will hold onto the wearer. Before adding the elastic I had to sew close those areas with the lining. I then used a small width elastic for the armhole, a medium width for the leg holes and a thicker width for the neckline which were sewn close to the seam edge. I differentiated the stretch when it came to sewing it to gauge the stretch at different points where it was most needed.

I then sewed the under piece together then attached it to the bodysuit. The fabrics used for the under piece were sustainable as the previously brown fabric was obtained from a fabric bin and the originally white fabric is bamboo cotton.

Next, I dyed the under piece with turmeric for the bodysuit as shown below in a TikTok video which turned out very successful.

I sewed on the dyed twill tape and then hand sew the poppers on top of that to the front and back of the under piece which was simple.

Lastly, I topstitched the leg holes, neckline and armhole to keep the lining inside the bodysuit using a zigzag stitch as I had elastic in these areas.

For the next part of my outfit, I attached fresh pearl beads onto invisible thread and created a sequence of beads that I designed. the original idea that I wanted for my sequence did not work out because I tried to attached invisible thread horizontally over the vertical threads so that all the threads would be connected, however, the thread was slipping when attached to the other invisible threads making the ensemble distort in shape. I, therefore, had to make the pattern simpler using only vertical lines.

To create the pattern I taped down the invisible thread onto the table to stop them from tangling and used a marker to indicate where I would want the beads to be placed.

After completing the bodysuit, I decided to hem the raw edge of the chiffon fabric to prepare it for the scarf shape I wanted to create.

I then draped the fabric onto the stand to complete the look.

[Evaluation of the outfit on the design report]