This additional week has been spent bringing the tutu to a display worthy state, sewing smaller pieces I didn’t have time to before, and fixing the bodice decoration.
The big issue with the bodice decoration was that the layers below shrunk as the piping was sewn between the seams. To account for this, I added 5cm seam allowance to the outer edge of the pieces as I remade the decoration.
Surprisingly, the bodice decoration didn’t shrink as much as it had previously but it still didn’t fully tack down flat. The backing fabric has bubbled a little bit but that shouldn’t be noticeable when it is sewn to the bodice.
With the bodice decoration looking better than it had before, I just needed to hem the edges and secure it to the bodice. I haven’t perfectly centred the bottom of the decoration and it annoys me that it looks a little wonky but I don’t think there’s an easy way to fix it.
After fixing the bodice, the next two days were spent properly stitching the decorations to the top plate so it would all lie flat. I had expected them to keep some three-dimensionality to them but when sewn properly, all the decorative elements seemed to blend together and lay almost flat with the top plate. From there, I also attached the fastenings up the left side of the centre back decoration so it could be closed.
With everything else done, the final steps to completing the tutu were securing the bodice to the tutu plate and adding elastic to the leg channels in the knickers that I didn’t have time to do beforehand.
With everything finished, here is the complete tutu!