Sunday, August 28, 2011

Roller Derby Stagette!

I was invited to a stagette last weekend.  These were my instructions in the invite: The theme is roller derby (fishnets, short shorts, knee high socks) and the colours are black, white, and pink.  I thought, awesome!  I love stagettes!  Especially the ones where you get to dress up, cuz that means I get to make a new outfit!
Burda 8179
I've had a hankering to try out this pattern for a while.  I figured not a lot of people would be wearing white shorts, so I copied view B almost exactly, except for the overall bib.  I'll have to try that some other time, cuz I love overalls!
I was almost thinking about making these shorts a bit longer, but I thought, aw heck, it's just a stagette!  Besides, I absolutely love how the back pockets go right into the hem.  So, I decided to sew them as is.
I cut a straight size 18.  For reference, these shorts have about 2" of ease in the hips.  They fit perfectly!  Burda does it again!  


For fun, I used 2 strands of slinky, shiny hot pink thread for my topstitching.  I love me some topstitching!
Here is my test fit before the buttons and the hem.  The back hem of this pattern was too short by 1/2".  The side seams, inseam, and the pocket placement lines didn't match up.  I just moved the pocket up, and sewed the seams without adjusting.  I ended up cutting off the extra 1/2" from the front, and I hemmed them 1".  
I managed to find 6 funky white buttons in the button jar my mom gave me.  Score!  I decided to be safe and sew the buttons and buttonholes with white thread.  When I make these again, I'll use contrasting thread.  
Here are the finished shorts.  They really are very short, but you know what?  I like them!  My problem with short shorts is that they tend to ride up.  These ones are so short, that they just kinda stay there.  Also, the only fitting issue I have is that the center front needs to be cut down by at least 1/2".  Again, this is a normal alteration for me.  
These shorts took me exactly 4 hours to make.  It seems like a lot for such a small garment, but there are a lot of nice details on them.  I'm sure it wouldn't take any more time to make longer capris or pants.  It usually takes me about 6 hours to make pants, so this is pretty good!


I love the buttons.  And look at that fit!  I love these!  They're so awesome!  
I love the back pockets.  I guess I love anything with a different design element.   Plus, they're so easy to topstitch!  You don't have to worry about getting your corners straight, cuz there are no corners!
I don't think they look terribly short.  Maybe it's because they fit and they're not skin tight, but as you can see here, heck yes, they're short!  I think that inseam is about 1 1/2".  Surprisingly, I don't mind!  And I like the fake fly topstitching on the front.
Wouldn't these be so boring if they didn't have contrasting topstitching?  I can't wait to make more shorts, capris, and pants out of this pattern.  I really like the button plackets.  It's kinda nice not to have to fiddle with a fly zipper.
To finish off my outfit, I made a tank top.  I picked out some awesome plaid spandex from the dancewear section at Davey Fabrics.  I love everything about this!  It was $18/m, so I measured exactly and figured I only needed 0.7m.  Saved me $5!
I used my tailored racer back tank top pattern from Simplicity 5000.  I made a few adjustments.  I added an inch to each strap to drop the neckline and bust down a bit, I shortened the torso an inch below the bust, and I added an inch to the hip.  I whipped this thing together in 38 minutes, because I was running out of time.  I didn't hem it or finish the armholes and neckline.  I figured nobody would notice, and they didn't.


I sewed this whole outfit the day of the stagette.  I snapped this picture right before I dashed out of the house.  I stopped at an accessories store on my way to the stagette.
And here she is in all her glory!  All I need now are knee pads, elbow pads, a helmet, and some rollerskates!  
My roller derby name is THE SCREAMSTRESS!  I didn't even think it up myself, it was one of the other girls!  Fantastic, hey?
The bride, Amy, is on a roller derby team, hence the theme.  She's wearing my stagette veil!  It's been passed on a few times, and I'm happy to say that Amy finally managed to break it!  It's had a good life.  :)
The bride and bridesmaids made these incredible t-shirts.  They screen printed Amy's roller derby picture on the front, then they spray-painted them with hot pink and black.
This is the coolest part.  They wrote out their roller derby names on the back in masking tape and sprayed over them.  I love how they turned out!  Their names were: BRIDE ZILLA, JULIE JAW BREAKER, KATIE KARNAGE, ALIKATRAZ, and ANITA NOTHER SHOT!  I love it!!!
We went to a big country bar later that night and had a blast on the dance floor.  This is all of us dancing on the speakers.  All the white we were wearing looked great under the black lights!
A few of us also got to ride the mechanical bull!  I thought I would do really good, but I only managed to stay on for 8 seconds!  I guess that's appropriate, right?  So much fun!!!

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for your review. My daughter is making up this pattern and has found the same problem with the shorts. Your review was extremely timely.

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