Disco Suit
TWRP makes electrofunk music from the future/the 1980's/space/Toronto — appropriate dance attire is a must! (Source: TWRP's Facebook)
This suit was literally made for dancing! My friends and I are always there whenever TWRP makes their way into town, and we’re usually dressing up to fit the occasion. I first threw together a simple black velour disco suit back in 2018 when some friends and I went to see Trixie Mattel and I’ve been wanting to make a new and improved version for a while now.
Surprising nobody, I jumped headfirst into this with no real plan in mind. I didn’t know what kind of fabric or silhouette I wanted — I was taking the vibes approach instead. A friend came with me to the fabric store and I simply told them “I’ll know it when I see it.” This ended up working out well, as the above sequined fabric immediately jumped out as The One. I grabbed some black stretch velour for the top and some zippers for the pockets (okay, maybe I did have a little bit of a plan) and headed home to figure out a pattern.
I had made view A on Simplicity’s S8635 right before this for a wedding, so I pulled out the pants pattern for view C to get me started. I altered the pattern slightly to make the legs wider and a bit more hemming length, just in case. After shooing Louise away from my fabric, I cut out my leg pieces.
My 1 yard of fabric was close, but not quite enough for my pants. I considered running back to the fabric store for another half yard, but it felt unnecessarily wasteful with all the excess fabric around my pattern pieces, so I decided to piece together the rest of the crotch seam like Annika Victoria did in their video here. It might have been a bit janky, but I figured between the sequins and the fact that nobody should be that close to my crotch anyway, it wouldn’t be noticeable.
After cutting, I tacked the included pleats on the front and back to give some shape, then added my side seam pockets. I’m already a big believer in putting pockets in every garment ever, but I went a step further and added zippers into my pockets as well. If I know I’ll be dancing all night, I prefer to not bring a bag with me, since it’s just something else for me to keep up with. Zippered pockets mean I can just zip up my phone and wallet and know they’ll stay in place all night! If you’re familiar enough with inseam pockets and lined zipper pouches, this upgrade is easy, only takes a little extra time, and is 100% worth it.
Pockets installed, I finished sewing up the pants, then threw together a pair of hot pants with my stretch velour using a pattern I made off an existing pair of bike shorts. Since this fabric was slightly transparent and full of sequins, I knew some undershorts would make everything much more comfortable.
Now that the pants were finished, I had to figure out what I wanted for the top. I knew I wanted something with a deep V, and to maybe use the metal garment ring that’s been in my stash forever. My first attempt was…not great. It looked more like I was trying to style a blanket into a top, and felt like my chest was one misstep away from flying out. To salvage this, I hand stitched the front pieces together, and used a rectangle of scrap fabric to fashion an actual back to it. Major improvement in both aesthetics and security!
TWRP was the perfect place to test this bad boy out, and I’ve happy to report that it’s great for dancing, hopping up onstage after the show to steal a setlist, and subsequently getting kicked out of the Variety Playhouse!
