How to sew ruffles on a formal dress?

I am trying to make/sew my own formal dress. I would like to try something different. I have had absolutely no luck in finding a pattern for this type of bodice. The bodice on the dress below looks ruffled or pleated. Im wondering how the ruffles are sewn on the dress to cover bust and not reveal too much cleavage.Please help!!!





Thanks to all you wonderful sewing gurus!!








Heres the dress:


http://www.onlygowns.com/dresses/strapless-satin-evening-dress-526.aspHow to sew ruffles on a formal dress?
Well, you are in for a difficult time - trying to reproduce that effect - but it can be done! Not only is the fabric pleated - but its cut on an Radius to fit at the belt line. I can tell you how - but you must use your imagination - One - find the material -- Made a pattern of how high your belt is to the top of the pleated area. Use a piece of cardboard - shape it like a FAN - rounded at the top and square at the bottom. Now take your material and make a pleat (you do know how to do that?) if not get a basic sewing book to show you how - your picture shows about a two inch pleat - make your pleats two inches wide, and sew them straight (at the bottom of the cardboard)


NOT ON THE CARDBOARD - we'll just use that a gage of how big you want your detail - Make your pleats square to the fabric - now you'll put a hem at the top using your cardboard as a guide for the shape of the round top. You may want to use a thinner cardboard within your pleats in order to maintain the stiffness shown.How to sew ruffles on a formal dress?
That dress is built on a bustier... a firmly fitting ';corset'; with boning that the dress you see is then made over. The pleats here are just soft pleats, concealing the underlying bustier.





If you watch episode 11 of Project Runway, starting with ';chapter 2'; here:


http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-鈥?/a> you'll see Emilio (the taller black guy) and Seth Aaron (the rocker) building bustiers that will underpin their finished designs. In the judging at the end, the judges comment on the smooth fit of Emilio's dress, and he explains the bustier is doing the work.





If you'd like to know more about building a dress over a bustier, some sources include the chapter on bustiers in Crawford's Patternmaking Made Easy, the construction chapter in Khalje's book Bridal Couture, and Kenneth King's dvd, Birth of a Bustier. The best are built over a zero-ease princess-seamed bodice custom fitted to the wearer.





Although the bustier is princess-seamed, the shell fabric (the ';public'; fabric'; can be cut with any style of seaming, and the shell fabric can be pleated, ruched, gathered, or any other fanciful thing you'd like to do.