The Zebra Dress Tutorial Part 2

First, I need to apologize for not basically disappearing for a few days. Sometimes something has to give and sadly, it was the blog. But, I'm back and doing my best to catch up by posting the second tutorial on the zebra dress. You can find the first tutorial here, http://www.rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-zebra-dress-tutorial-begins.html

Just in case you are just finding this dress, we began with the Butterick pattern, 5678, just a basic shirt pattern. 

And this is what I created.

 In the first tutorial I went over how important it is to get a good fit before you begin with any of the design details. My bodice has been fitted and I have also drafted the raised collar as well as the cap sleeves. For the tutorial on the raised collar, you can find that here, http://www.sewnews.com/blogs/sewing/2013/05/28/rhonda-buss-the-raised-collar-neckline-tutorial/, and for the cap sleeves, you can find that tutorial here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2012/07/sleeves-on-saturdays_26.html  Take note the you will only be using the first part of the tutorial for the sleeve since we will not be adding a long sleeve to this design. Once you have drafted the sleeve, you will probably need to round off the shoulder seam as it comes down on the arm.
At this point, the design would lend itself to a blouse or a dress, but we want to take it a little further.

Begin by rounding the raised collar on the right side of the garment.

Now draw in a style line. This will actually become a yoke. The black wax line is approximately 2" below the armpit. Note that this line does not continue to the back, but stops at the side seam. The first line that I drew wasn't exactly what I wanted so I drew in a second line. Now I just have to remember which line I like!

 In the picture below I have placed a mark at my waistline.

Now draw in a line from the collar, rounding the front edge of the collar. The line will intersect the princess line seam and end at the waistline.  

The style lines have been drawn in and you can see what they look like from the front.

Now for the lines that create the wow factor. The line that will come under the bust line begins approximately 2" from the princess line seam and angels down under the bust.

 The picture below shows the line going across the front of the garment.

 This line will intersect the line we drew from the neckline on the left side of the garment.

 I'm happy with my lines and I will now cut out the area that should no longer be there.

 The piece has now been removed.

You can see that the garment gaps a bit at the princess line seams. This could be because I am not exactly the same size as my dress form or it may be that I need to tweak my fitting just a bit. Sometimes once changes are made, the fitting will change just a bit as well.

Remember that we want a very well fitting garment. If the garment does not fit well, it will gape open once it is finished and spoil the look.

At this point try the garment on and make any necessary adjustments.

 Below is the original dress with the center cut out.

And how it looks with the bustier underneath.

The next step will be to take the pattern pieces apart and add the length and the flare to the hem. As you can see, once the dress is broken down into steps, it really isn't difficult to do.
I will be making the dress once again for this tutorial series. I bought a piece of denim and a great zipper. I'm just a little undecided about what to make the bustier out of. Any ideas?