Welcome back! This is the second tutorial about how to make this fun summer dress using Vogue 1348. In the last tutorial I showed you how to make a partial fit sample, do some pattern alterations, and add a twist at the shoulder. Now I should be ready to cut and sew, but I’m just not feeling confident about this pattern!!!
I decided to make another mock-up (in softer fabric than the muslin) with the alterations I did last week, and found that the twist I had planned just wasn’t working for me. It wasn’t sitting where I wanted it to and with all of the seams in there it was too bulky, so I tried a few things and decided to do a little criss-cross instead. It still looks twisted and it’s laying a LOT nicer than an actual twist.
So I have to make a few more little pattern adjustments. Remember how I slashed and spread the back shoulders to get rid of the little bubble in the twist? I want to do that on the front now too, at the spot that the princess seam opens.
So I’m drawing a line, cutting just up to the seam edge, and then through the seam allowance. Now I can pivot and close it up about an eighth of an inch. Then blend the lines.
I also need to make the front facing piece two separate pieces like I did on the back. The facing placement is already marked so I just have to trace each of them out.
The last thing I’ll do is notch where the princess seams split apart for the twist.
Okay, NOW I’m feeling good and I’m ready to cut 🙂
I have this amazing floral satin burnout fabric…
…and I’m going to line it with this crepe satin.
If I was using cotton I would have washed and dried it to get any shrinkage out of the way prior to cutting. But this seems to be rayon on a polyester base, and I always hand wash cold and line dry clothes that I make so I’m not too worried about shrinkage. I also test a small area with a hot iron and steam, and then a spray of water and the hot iron, to see if it has any effects. This fabric doesn’t seem to care, so neither do I!
I’m cutting the self or shell or fashion fabric, it has so many names. I like to cut from the face, or the right side, so I can check the fabric for defects as I spread it out. This fabric is too narrow for the pattern so I’m cutting on the cross grain. It drapes about the same in either direction, so it doesn’t really matter to cut it this way, just as long as I’m consistent and cut all the pieces in the same direction.
Since this is a delicate fabric I don’t want to cut the notches. Instead I’m going to mark the notches and drill holes with tailor’s tacks. I use a contrasting thread and make a tiny little stitch through the fabric and just let the threads hang out there loose.
I marked the center front with pins so there wouldn’t be a chalk line to try to rub away later. I didn’t fold the center front because I want to make sure my cutting is accurate. This fabric is easy to go off-grain, so I’m only cutting one layer at a time.
I have an idea for the facing pieces. To eliminate some of the bulk at the shoulder seam I’m going to tape the front and back facings together at the shoulder and get rid of that seam all together.
I marked the 5/8” seam allowance on all of the facings, then folding the front seam allowances back. I’m checking my sample to make sure I’m taping the correct sides together. The front center needs to attach to the back side, and the front side needs to attach to the back center. If I messed that all up I do have extra lining fabric so I can re-cut if needed!
I cut the bodice and facings out of the lining satin, and now I need to cut the pieces that I didn’t make patterns for. The pocket bags and the petticoat.
I’m using transfer paper for the pocket bags.
And the petticoat layer is just a long rectangle so I’m measuring and cutting that out with straight edges. I’m not cutting the second layer of the petticoat yet.
Since I’m not underlining the bodice, I’m going to stay-stitch all the seams. This is a sheer, delicate fabric so I switched to the smallest needle I have for my machine, I shortened the stitch length to about 2mm, and loosened the tension until I was getting a nice stitch line that doesn’t pucker. Test on scrap fabrics until you’re happy with the settings.
I’m sewing slowly around all of the bodice pieces just shy of the stitch line. Then I give them a quick press to set the stitches and get them perfectly smooth.
Then I can pin the front and back princess seams starting at the shoulder notch that I made for the split, to the two bust notches, and ending at the upper thread mark for the pleats.
I put a piece of blue painter’s tape on my machine to mark a 5/8” stitch guide.
Sew from the shoulder down, then press the seams flat.
To form the pleats I’m going to pin baste from the second thread mark. This might leave a wavy line in your fabrics after pressing – if that’s the case you’ll want to hand-baste instead.
Press the seams open, and the pleat flat. Then pin the pleat in place with the thread marks matched up, and sew one side of the pleat edge, then the other.
At this point I like to stop and check the fit one last time. I quickly pin together the remaining seams, leaving the side seam open to pin on myself once I’m in it. If you need to make any adjustments, now is a good time!
I’m going to sew the shoulder seams now, so I’m criss-crossing them. The front center goes to the back sides, and the back center goes to the front sides. This is going to look like a jumbled mess for a while 🙂
I want the center front shoulders to be on top, so I’m making sure to pin them the same on both sides.
Then I can sew and press them open. A tailor’s point comes in handy for this!
This fabric frays like crazy and I don’t want to leave it like that inside the garment so I’m using these big, ugly looking scissors called pinking sheers. They cut a little zig zag that staggers the yarns and reduces the amount that the fabric will fray!
Now the tricky part. To get the facing pieces into the little shoulders. I’m going to sew just the front facings princess seam up to this notch…
Yeah that’s the one!
Now snip the seam allowance at the notch. Then press it flat and pink the edges. I don’t pink the edges until after it’s sewn because otherwise I won’t know where the stitch line is supposed to be.
I pinned the facing onto the front neckline up to the notches where the princess seams split. When I sew I’m starting right at the notch where the other stitching ended.
I’m not back-tacking, instead I’m leaving long tails and sewing around the neck, and stopping right at the other notch on the other shoulder. I leave long tails again, then I can check to make sure I didn’t catch anything I wasn’t supposed to.
Then tie the thread tails in a knot.
I’m doing the same thing to the front armscye. Then pink the edge. The seam still felt thick to me so I graded the facing satin down even farther.
Now I’ll under-stitch the facing as far as I can.
There’s a little opening at the shoulder so I flipped the facing over the shell and pulled the back pieces through the opening so it’s all right-side-out.
Line up the facing and the shell fabrics on the back, make sure nothing’s twisted that’s not supposed to be, and then flip the facing over and pin to the shell at the back neck and back armscye. The shoulder straps are too small to pin all the way up, so there’s going to be a few inches of a gap that I’ll hand-sew later.
Sew the back facings and then trim them like the front. Cut the facing down to about 3/16″ and pink the shell fabric. Then snip the curves if needed and under-stitch the facing.
Now pin the back facings princess seam and sew from just shy of the notch / other stitches.
When you pin a tricky spot like this, try to flip the seam allowances down to where they would be as if they’re sewn. Then reach in from the best access point and grab the pretend-seam. Now flip the rest of the fabric back, and pin from where you’re holding. This should help keep you from sewing something that can’t be flipped right-side-out later!
Press it open and pink the edges.
I pinked the princess seams and tops of the formed pleats of the shell fabric, and the little spaces in the shoulders that aren’t sewn yet too. I also carefully pressed the neckline and armscye of the dress.
I trimmed the seam allowances at the shoulder openings, folded them under and pinned the edge so the facing was slightly smaller than the shell fabric. Now I can slip-stitch the shoulders closed.
Give it a good press and the shoulder twists are done. Whew! That’s all for today, let’s finish this dress next week 🙂
I have a confession to make – it took me YEARS of sewing before I started using an iron! I thought ironing was too bourgeois when I was a teen. How foolish I was! Luckily I (eventually) realized that ironing is essential to a good looking garment, and then further realized that you spend just as much time ironing as you do sewing. Maybe even more time in fact!
Do you use anything now that took you a long time to warm up to?
