Workroom Session #5a: Gusset practice

As I was waiting for my mom today, I realized something.  If I was to make the changes I wanted to make, I was going to have to sew in triangular gussets into a striped fabric.  Yikes!

I have never done any sort of gusset, gore, or godet.  The closest I have come is setting a sleeve placket, which is a strange sort of fabric magic.  It's right up there with zipper flys, which come out nicely every time but I couldn't really tell you how or why.  I had an idea of how to do it, but wasn't sure.  I looked in a few of the sewing resource books I have around, and didn't find anything useful.  So, being the sensible creature that I am (and also too lazy  to paw through all the back-issues of Threads on my shelf), I immediately sought out help on the Internets.  I found a very nice tutorial on machine-sewing gores posted to a blog by a local costumer.  Or well, at least someone who says they are a member of the region's SCA chapter, An Tir.  Thank you so much for the help, Internet!

More, including photos, of my self-taught gore lesson behind the cut.

Little practice gore

I immediately cut some scrap into a little V-shaped bit and a square with a slit in it, and followed the directions.  It came out okay, but I would need to practice a bit before hoping to do this in fashion fabric!  I cut fabric for a couple more samples, in sizes that I estimated to be approximately the size the new insets would be based on the width and height of the in-seam gore from last week.  I did not sew them immediately, though, as my mother had arrived to give me a hand with refitting the canvas mockup.

After the fitting session and a bit of free time, I did go back and sew the samples I had cut.  The first was okay, though I was not entirely happy with the tip of the gore.  The next one came out better.

Practice makes perfect!

Then I decided that I should try one more, and flat-fell the seams as I am planning to do on my next mockup.  I sewed the gusset as normal, then trimmed the slit's seam allowance.  I rolled the raw edges under, and restitched close to the edges.

Flat-felled gore

That came out looking nice, so it was time to add one more step - stripes.  I cut a bit of my ticking, making sure that the point of the inset and the slash were both centered between two stripes.  I sat down at the Mercury and had at, using the white thread I already had on the machine.

Flat-felled gore in striped fabric

It looks good, but I would like to do one more sample, using all the construction items that will be used in the finished corset - underlining of muslin and heavyweight topstitching thread.  I will also experiment a bit with the flat-felled seams and boning, to be sure that the seams are adequate for inserting the featherweight boning into.  However, I need to wind a bobbin to do this and the industrial machine is VERY noisy when doing this; it's just after midnight, so I am going to wait until tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I will also be redoing the pattern updates, and hopefully getting started on cutting and sewing the next iteration.  I'm making great progress!