Velvet haze: a bodysuit

But… what is velvet, what is haze and what is bodysuit?

Velvet is that smooth, soft and shiny fabric you can’t resist touching again and again. And again. And again, just for good measure, because it’s so nice 😍 My personal definition would now also include this warning:

Angelic sweet dreams are made of velvet 👼 But… so are demonic nightmares! 😈

“Haze” is a word I like. To be honest, I simply wanted to use it. Thanks for not reporting me to the language police 👮‍♀️…

Bodysuit. I recently found out some of my friends are living under-the-style-and-fashion-rock! 🪨 If you too have no clue what a bodysuit is, keep reading… 👀

Wise owl time 🦉: it’s a garment that covers top & bottom together, but is very short and as a result usually a skirt/jeans/trousers/… is worn with it. You could keep on reading and see the pictures, but you are probably impatient. So here’s a visual reference right now:

Wait, but what is the point of it? Why not just wear a top?

Glad you asked 🏅Because a bodysuit is so tight fitting, it does not roll up and doesn’t create any bulk. If you tuck your top/t-shirt in your bottoms, it will probably bunch on your sides, then continue to move around and maybe even get wrinkly.

Nathalie bodysuit (by Untitled Thoughts) pattern review

If you don’t know much about sewing, firstly… thanks for reading my blog post anyway! But secondly, feel free to skip this section and jump ahead for more story time.

The pattern I used for the bodysuit can be found here.

My thoughts on the pattern:

• Very kind and wholesome sewing instructions. Includes supportive notes, recommendations to have tea, etc 🫖
• Fairly easy project, but don’t worry – you can make it much harder by picking a fussy fabric 😆
• The snap crotch lining pieces for front and back did not come out to be the same size for me 🤔 I even double checked I traced the correct size. Luckily, I caught this in time and fixed it 🔨 (not with a hammer)
• Bust darts technically were too high up for me. This isn’t strictly a problem as I suppose this pattern was simply modelled on someone with a different body than mine. A proper solution would be altering it, but as I have learnt in the previous post… it’s a danger zone for me 🚫 My solution: live with it 💆‍♀️
• You can see lots of other makers’ photos for this pattern! Absolutely superb feature, gives a much better idea of what it could look like 😻
• Sincere and sweet support: I had an issue with the ruffle piece and the darts, so I reached out to the pattern creator – Brittani – for advice. She quickly responded with a kind & helpful message 💖 thank you once again, in case you are reading this 🥰
• Overall: recommend ✅

Bodysuit #1

Disclaimer: the project described below is not made in pink. Please take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with this idea as to avoid shocking your visual system.

To check if a pattern’s size and style fit me, I make 2 of everything: the first garment is a test (called muslin or toile in sewing world) and the second one is where I put all my hopes and dreams in ✨

A test garment is typically made from some cheap to cheap-ish fabric as the goal is to verify the fit with minimal cost and effort. In practice, to me it also means cutting some corners, not finishing some seams properly, sometimes only putting in 1 sleeve instead of 2 😆

But this time… I stumbled upon some beautiful red velvet off-cut (= cheap):

Wait… no, not this one, sorry! This one:

And now I desperately want the test garment to fit perfectly 😭 🥺  I’m already picturing myself wearing this around Christmas time (preparing in February is definitely not being late. It’s being ultra early) 🎄

Something to note about all of today’s pictures 📸 There is about 0% chance of taking a picture with accurate colours. What velvet looks like depends immensely on the light available. Compare these 2 pictures (taken one after the other) where I laid out the pattern pieces:

I can tell you… In daylight, it looks like neither of them ☀️ 

Notable moments

Falling in love

The back of this bodysuit has a ruffle piece. The minute I pinned it and saw it like so… Irrevocable love. Now the project has to go seamlessly (not literally, of course, I need seams) or else I’m quitting sewing.

Sleeves

Have you ever heard a phrase “two left feet”? Well, in sewing you can have something I dubbed “two left sleeves”.

Sleeves actually aren’t symmetric (💥💣🤯), so you have to make sure you cut one and then mirror it for the second one. I will admit I actually did not make this mistake, but I was very proud of the phrase I coined, so decided to tell you about it anyway 😇

But worry not, there is a mistake to talk about. I managed to improperly set in one of the sleeves 4 times in a row. That’s 1… 2… 3… 4! After I got all excited about the ‘luxurious touch of velvet’, I spent time reading about it and discovered it will be a pain to work with. It shifts. It’s a shape-shifter. You think the pattern pieces are perfectly aligned? Do you really think so? Check again, they heard you being confident and have now shifted just to prove you wrong 🤦‍♀️ It looked something like this:

That edge where the arrow is pointing (blue) is supposed to be aligned with the edge below it (yellow). If you look closely, you can probably see my tears.

Elastic

While installing elastic tape around the legs (yes, it’s there, how else do you think you’ll get such a tight fit), these strange loops kept popping out 😒 I still don’t understand why, but:

a) they are unsightly b) I cannot try again because the velvet pile is already crushed. Much like my soul 😭

Soo… time to quit sewing then. Really? Like… really?! This elastic is gonna be what ruins my mulled wine sparkly winter dreams?! I was incredibly angry 😤 (understatement)

Ultimately, many consolations later, I conceded that I will only wear this bodysuit a few times a year anyway. And no one will see those loops when I wear trousers.

Finished…?

So, what’s next for this bodysuit? In December I will sew some tinsel on the ruffles to make it truly festive! 🎊 and that’s when I’m going to share the final pictures.

Are you thinking: “I read for so long, my eyes hurt and there’s still no picture?!” 🤔 🙈

I promise: pink and good things are coming just below! 🎀 🤞

Bodysuit #2

Yes. A pink replica of all of the pain described above has to be made ✨ Here is another colour-inaccurate picture of the fabric:

Generally, the process was very similar to bodysuit #1. You first make a mess. You may use this picture as your golden standard on how to make one:

Because of previously mentioned velvet’s desire to shift around, I had to baste (= temporarily sew together) every single seam by hand and only then stitch it down permanently with the sewing machine. Does it mean that I did 2x seams? Yes. However… I didn’t mind it. Velvet is so luxuriously pleasant to touch and hold in my hands that it felt like a fancy hand SPA 💆‍♀️

I also discovered a “cheat”: misalign the fabric edges to begin with. As you keep basting, they will shift… right into the place you wanted them to be 😂 Reverse psychology.

Could you tell this is going to be a wearable item? You can see basted neckband in the picture.

Something that was also news to me: you cannot iron velvet. Otherwise the pile will get crushed and that wonderful softness will disappear 😥 You can only steam it by hovering the iron over it.

Velvet’s also conveniently sensitive to how you store it. If you keep it folded for too long, the fold lines will remain imprinted forever. Supposedly, you should store it rolled up. But I am not a fabric store. I don’t have rolls. I don’t have space for rolls.

I… I… can roll it up to make a snail, though?

Or maybe a flower? 🌷 😂

Luckily, at least the small fabric cuts can be turned into a healthy, nutritious dinner:

Okay, excuse my silliness! I think you are now primed for the grand pink reveal of the bodysuit…

Tada 🎉:

This is giving me white chocolate & raspberry tasting notes. It’s also giving me a lot of joy 🥰 It has that bright colour pop, it’s soft and it’s even practical.

Final words

And such is my velvet haze! By the time I finished this post, I had already had a chance to wear this bodysuit to a sweet Valentine’s party ❤️ It felt appropriate: made with love to celebrate love.

See you at the next pink adventure!