Alrighty, today we are going to be sinking our teeth into assembling our bodice, which involves a decent number of steps. Be sure to take your time moving through each one and take as many breaks as needed 😊
Before I sew my darts, I like to mark them out with some tailors chalk or another marking medium safe for fabric. It makes the entire process of sewing a straight line on a angle sooooo much easier than eyeballing it.
Once you've got your darts marked out, sew your front bodice darts by pinching the right sides of your fabric together, matching up the dart legs and sewing to a tapered point, creating a triangle using a straight stitch. Do not backstitch at the end points.
Tie off the ends of your threads at the dart points.
Press your darts down towards the waist.
I am showing the lining portion of the top for this step as I felt it might be easier to see what I am doing as opposed to the orange linen fabric.
Baste your dart in place.
Note: If you are sewing the DD-Cup bodice, you will have an additional set of bust darts to complete! Once you have completed your waist darts, press them towards your side seams and baste into place.
If you want to add a cute little tag to the inside of your jumpsuit, now is the perfect time. Make sure that your tag is at least 3/4" (1,9 cm) from the raw edge of your Center Back point.
The tag I am using is from Pink Coat Club!
Grab your back bodice and, with Right Sides Together (RST), attach your front bodice to your back bodice at the side seams.
Press your seams open.
Repeat all of the above steps with your bodice lining pieces. Set your lining to the side once you have completed these steps.
With your main bodice, align your straps to the center of the strap opening of your front bodice piece. Baste both straps in place.
Working with one strap at a time -- and making sure not to twist your straps! -- align the un-basted edge of your strap to the center of the strap opening on your back bodice. Baste in place and then repeat with your second strap.
Now is the perfect time to pause and try on your bodice, just to see how the straps fit. I intentionally kept the straps all one length because every person has different preferences when it comes to strap length + bodice placement! If you find they are too long, shorten them until they feel comfortable and re-baste into place. If they seem too short, un-pick them and see how much length you need to add to get a perfect fit! Keep in mind that when you add your pants to your top, the weight will bring your bodice piece a bit lower, and if you shorten your straps the bodice will raise the waistline and pant rise a bit.
With RST, attach your bodice lining to your main bodice along the neckline, strap opening, and under arm seams.
I tried to capture as many photos of this process as I could, but it's quite tricky to photograph. Basically, I just pinned my bodice in sections, moving the straps as I needed, until I wound up where I started pinning at the beginning.
Note that you will be sandwiching your straps between the lining and main bodice and may have to wriggle it about when you sew that area.
I I like to reinforce any corners that I feel might get a lot of extra pulling done to them or may be weaker from future clipping. These corners include the strap openings, under the arms, and the neckline points.
Now it is time to clip, clip, clip! Clip little triangles out around any curves, the strap points, and your neckline points. Be careful not to clip through your stitching line!
Turn your bodice right side out and check to see that you haven’t accidentally caught your straps in a funny way to your bodice (as I have done countless times!).
Understitch your necklines and underarms as far as you can.
Press your entire bodice along the necklines and underarms for a clean and crisp edge. Doesn't that look and feel awesome? I always love pressing my necklines!
Finally, with wrong sides together (WST), pin your lining to your main bodice at the waist. Baste along the bottom edge. This will ensure that your bodice and lining don’t shift on you in future steps!
Whew, what a day! I hope you are feeling super accomplished (I know I am!). Give yourself a pat on the back or a super high five cuz your bodice is DONE! Next up, we will be working on Part 4 - Inseam Pockets. If you happen to be sewing up the Patch Pockets you will want to jump on over to the Low Back Olive Sewalong for Part 4 and Part 5.