Community Blog | Star Struck Dress for Bust Support with Nicole
Anyone who has connected with me on my sewing journey knows that I absolutely love unique pieces and that my most used patterns come from George + Ginger. The first time I ever browsed their collections, I was blown away. It was a mix of excitement over how each piece was so different, overwhelm at how intricate all the little details were, and sheer terror at the idea of trying to jam my top half into these risque pieces. Would I be able to manage it? Would there be enough support? Or would I end up with way more chest exposed than planned?
The Star Struck was no exception. Stunning, unique, and with enough straps that I had hope for rigging it up to be supportive. I dove in and made my first one. It turned out to be ALMOST everything I had ever dreamed… Except for the supportive bit. Even after taking it in quite a bit, I was still left feeling like my bust was trying to meet my knees. Not quite what I had envisioned.
When I was given the opportunity to work with a beautiful Halloween panel I just knew it was destined to be another Star Struck. Do you ever get those prints that are just screaming at you? This panel was so loud and so perfect that I just knew I needed to give this pattern another go, and this time I was going to hack it to be everything I wanted.
I started out by taking the front bodice piece and the front waistband piece and lining up the center edge. I overlapped them by ⅜” and traced the pieces this way onto another sheet of paper, blending the right edge from bodice corner to waistband corner. I cut this out, traced it to create a second piece, and then overlapped both pieces to create one solid bodice.
Check it out:
This left me with two options. You can cut your fabric exactly as this piece looks, or you can omit the notch in the center, cutting straight across to make one solid bodice piece. Since I was using a panel I chose to cut straight across. Doing things this way also gives an opportunity to play with different fabric bases. My panel was bamboo spandex. My lining was cotton spandex, to give the bodice a bit more structure and support. You can also add power mesh or power net between the lining and the main to give even more support!
From there, it’s just a matter of lining up your straps. Instead of binding on the inside edge, the center straps meet at the center of the bodice and they end up a bit shorter.
All in all, I will definitely be making myself more of these using this hack! It’s been the most requested sew I’ve made so far!
Nicole got back into sewing after her young daughter couldn’t find clothes that paired her unique style with her off-beat interests. In the process, she realized she could finally make clothes that fit her own body shape and started hacking every pattern in sight!
