The Penguin Bodice

I don’t know how creative I am when it comes to naming different outfits that I make but, this is what happens when a spur-of-the-moment nickname sticks. It should really be called something like, ‘The Riding Habit Inspired Bodice’ because, as long and rather dull as it sounds is the truth of it. This bodice was inspired by, and by the idea of riding habits and the possible opportunity of having a photoshoot with the horses that I met in June.

I wanted to mimic the shirtwaist and jacket look and had planned to use the Truly Victorian Alexandra Bodice pattern. The only problem with that was that it still hadn’t arrived despite having ordered it two months prior. I had given it up for lost and thought that I wouldn’t actually be able to make the bodice after all.

But, when we did organise to have the photoshoot with the horses I decided to do something utterly crazy and make a new bodice based on the idea within a week. Still without the Alexandra Bodice pattern (which has vanished off the face of the earth and never arrived in my letterbox), I decided to make my own frankenpattern. I had given Liane the TV 423 1877 Two Tone Bodice pattern for her birthday and asked her if it would be okay to trace off it.

I blended the front pieces of the Two Tone Bodice pattern with the French Vest Bodice pattern to get the length right and to make sure that the pieces would fit together properly. I had some pintucked voile leftover from my latest bustle petticoat and flatlined that with broadcloth for the ‘shirtwaist’ portion and flatlined the black taffeta for the rest of the bodice.

I never took any construction photos as I was too busy racing the clock to try and actually complete it. I didn’t really do anything else all week apart from going to work and working on the bodice. On the Friday night, the weather was absolutely terrible and the forecast for the weekend wasn’t much better – plus, where we would have been shooting was now a giant mess of mud so we called a raincheck on the photoshoot. In a way, that was a good thing because it meant that I didn’t have to stay up until midnight sewing on all of the buttons.

While that photo shoot hasn’t gone ahead yet (hopefully it still will one day because how amazing would that be, to take photos with horses), I ended up with another bodice in my wardrobe. You might have seen it in Oamaru when I wore it twice, but I didn’t get a lot of photos of it.

Last weekend when I was photographing my Tartan Trim Dress I decided to also have a mini shoot with the Penguin Bodice as well. So, without any further ado, my official introduction of the Penguin Suit…

And… how about an outtake? Or two…