The Hobbit Bodice, Pt. 1

I really think that I am very bad at scheduling, organizing and carrying through with my sewing projects. Lately it seems nothing gets done unless I have a deadline. Deadlines always motivate me. There is some sort of adrenaline-pumping pleasure I get out of beating a deadline. But when there is no deadline, unless I am really, really, really in love with a project, it usually lingers on my sewing table for a long, long time. I'm especially bad about finishing details. Like sewing on hook and eyes. Or doing a hem. It's like I get almost done with something and then my steam runs out. And besides, I have a very cute distraction from the sewing room. Sometimes it's a lot more fun to sit and cuddle a baby, trying to coax out a smile, than it is to work on stitchery.

7 weeks old!

So that is why the hobbit bodice still isn't done. Last week I half heartedly cut out two woolen 14th century style cotes for the older boys. I pulled out David's 1840's fall front trousers (which should have been finished before Christmas last year and lack only a waistband and hem and buttons to be complete) and I spent a day or two going through my stash, organizing things and trying to get inspired. Then I found out about the soon-upcoming Second Breakfast day and I got inspired. Not to finish the cotes or the 1840's trousers, but to make the hobbit bodice!

So far all I have been able to do is to make a mock up and refine it and make a second mock up. The second mock up works pretty well but I need to add a little bit of length around the sides and back, I think. Just an inch or inch and a half.

I started with my 1780's bodice pattern and cut the point off the front. It fit okay, but since I am not wearing stays with the bodice I had to take in the front under the bustline. This actually improved the look a lot and made the bodice look more like the ones in the movies since it created some princess seam shaping. Then I had to take in the waist a bit (since my stays actually make my waist bigger when I wear them!) and take out some extra flappy material at the front armscye. The cut of the neckline is a lot lower than the bodices in the movie but this is for nursing purposes. I can do my usual "lift, flop, feed" method with a lower neckline and that is a lot easier than having to make a tight fitting, front-opening garment.

I added a side seam and eliminated the curved side back seam. The fit is tight. It is a "negative ease" garment, because I want this to be a supportive garment. I don't want to have to wear modern undergarments underneath it since I don't think hobbits had bras. ;) The cut of the bodice and the fabric will shape my body and the boning will support the fabric so it won't buckle (the wrinkles you see here are, I think, mostly stress lines, not a result of fitting problems). I will lightly bone the bodice at each seam and then at the center back to support the lacing.

The back looks pretty messy here. Mainly because I automatically cut the bodice to have a few inches of gap in the back because of the lacing. (corseting habit). Then I realized that the bodice ought to lace shut in the back, so I sewed on an extra strip of cloth to close the gap. I left the bodice unsewn for a few inches at the back waist so I could wiggle into it to check the fit, thus the messy look. . .I know that when the bodice is finished and laced properly there will be no gap.

My plan is to create a stiffened interlining using quilted fabric that is boned at the seams. I will probably quilt the interlining with cotton flannel and cotton twill. Then the outer layer will be mounted on top and then the lining stitched to the inside before the top and bottom is bound off and finished. That at least is the plan at the moment. It may change as I make progress. We'll see! It must be finished before Second Breakfast day so I hope to make good progress on it this week.

Love,
Sarah