V1348 Dress with a Twist pt 3 of 3

Hi everyone, here is the final tutorial about making this breezy summer dress using a Vogue 1348 pattern. I’ve cut a lot of corners to lighten up the dress, and then I added on a complicated twist at the shoulder 🙂 But it should be easy from here out, so let me show you how to finish it up!

I have a 22” invisible zipper that I’ve unzipped and I’m rolling out the teeth and pressing it flat. This makes it easier to get close to the coil when I’m sewing.

I pinned the zipper onto the dress with the stop about 1/4” from where the top edge will finish. The head of the zipper will extend a bit past the stops, so I like to give it a little room up there.

I’m using an invisible zipper foot to sew it at 5/8”. I’m keeping tension on the fabric and zipper in front of and behind the feed dogs. This way the burnout satin will feed smoothly. I’m not pulling it through the machine, I’m just holding the fabric stead and letting the feed dogs do their job.

I’ve sewn as far as I can, about 1/4” from the back notch. I’ll mark the zipper where it should meet the notch on the other side, and where I need to stop sewing so it’s even on both sides.

Now I lay the dress out to pin the zipper to the other side. This way I don’t end up with an unintentional twist anywhere.

I put another piece of blue painter’s tape on my machine to mark the 5/8” seam allowance on the other side. I used my ruler with the 5/8″ mark lined up to the needle.

I’m sewing the zipper in from the neck down just like I did on the other side. And ending at the first mark.

I’m also going to sew the seam allowance to the very edge of the zipper tape to keep to nice and tidy.

Then switch to a zipper foot and sew right up next to the zipper stitch line for just a short distance to clear the edge of the zipper (see this post about sewing invisible zippers if you want more clarification). Then I can switch back to a regular foot to finish sewing the center back seam.

I pinked the edges and pressed the back seam open, and the zipper flat. I’m getting pretty excited about this dress. I had a lot of doubts in the beginning!

Alright, let’s get the pockets in there. I’m sewing the pocket bags with 1/4” seam allowance, at 1/2” seam allowance on the dress sides (so there will be 1/8″ fold-over at the pocket edge).

Once all 4 pocket bags are sewn I can press them all flat, and then toward the pocket. Now pin the side seams together with the pocket bags and seams pushed out of the way.

Sew the side seam at 5/8″, leaving the space between the notches open.

I pinked the edges and then pressed the side seam open, making sure the pocket opening is butted together.

Then fold the back pocket bag to the front and press again.

Pin the pocket in place, making sure the opening is still butted together and the seam allowances are smooth.

Then pin around the edge of the pocket bag. There’s a little bit of overhang because the back pocket is offset a bit. I do this so I don’t have to snip the seam allowance under the pocket bag like the directions show. That’s just asking for trouble on this delicate of fabric. Plus I like that the side seam stays balanced with the seam allowance open on both sides at the top 🙂

I stitched around the edge of the pocket bag just up to where it meets the stitching of the shell fabric. Then I sewed one more line of stitches near the edge for safety and then pinked the edge. Our pockets are done!

Now I can pin the side seams of the bodice and a little into the facing side seams. I’m sewing about an inch into the facing and down the side seam to the upper thread mark.

Press the seam flat, then use a pin or hand baste the pleat closed down to the lower thread mark.

I snipped into the seam allowance for the side seam curve just up to the stay stitching – I don’t want to snip too far because the fabric will continue to unravel.

Then press the seam open and form the pleat, centered over the side seam. Pin the pleat edges and sew them down on each side of the seam. Then pink the raw edges that are fraying everywhere!

Now all of the pleats are formed so I should make the stays for the pleats since I don’t have an underlining to sew them to. I want something really thin that won’t fray (so I don’t have to finish the edges) and isn’t too stretchy (so the pleats don’t sag).

I have this super light weight mesh that should work perfectly. I cut a 2 3/4” strip and hand-sewed one edge to the zipper tape.

I spread the dress and pleats so they were flat and shaped correctly, then pinned the mesh onto the seam allowances and top of the pleat. Then I back-stitched the mesh in place (only through the seam allowance).

Then trim the extra mesh so there’s no overlap at the seams. Repeat this for all of the sections then try it on and make sure it’s not pulling anywhere.

It should hold the pleats up smoothly without adding extra bulk.

Now on to the lining.

Stay stitch the center front lining above the notch, then increase your stitch length a little and ease stitch the bust curve of the front side linings above the notch.

I’m pinning the princess seams on the front and pulling the bobbin thread of the ease stitch until the side bust curve fits nicely into the center front piece.

I also pinned the back princess seams, and I’m sewing them all at 5/8”. Then pink the edges and press them open.

Pin the front and back lining to the facings. These are both on curves, so you’ll want to follow the stitch line, not the edge of the fabric, as you’re pinning.

Sew and then pink the edges. Then press them down. You can see the seams don’t line up. Although it looks funny, it’s actually a good thing! The seams are offset from each other so there’s not a big lump of seam allowances.

Now pin and sew the side seams. Then pink and press open.

I have only one panel of the petticoat cut. I’m sewing just part of the short ends together to be the center back below the zipper. Only sew the longer side of the notch, leave the shorter part open for now.

Then I increase my stitch length to about 3.5mm and sew the top edge without backtacking. The bobbin thread is usually easier to pull, so I’m pulling that and evening out the gathers across the petticoat layer.

Then pin to the dress lining and continue evening out the gathers until they look pretty balanced.

Sew the ruffle, and then press just a little past the seam allowance to flatten the gathers so there’s a smoother transition into the fullness of the petticoat.

I ran it through my serger to finish the edge, then top-stitched at the lining.

I’m deviating from the pattern instructions just a bit for the last two ruffles of the petticoat and the dress hem.

I cut another layer of satin for the petticoat that’s 7” long and the same width as the first layer. And for the bottom layer I cut two pieces of chiffon that are 6” tall by the width of the fabric. For the satin layer I serged the short edges since I’m not worried about bulkiness anymore (it’s a ruffly petticoat after all!), and I sewed them together into a circle.

For the chiffon pieces I don’t want to serge the edges, so I’m doing French seams. To do that I sew one seam back to back (this fabric is the same on both sides, but if it was satin, I would be sewing with the satin facing out for the first stitch).

Press it open, then trim the seam allowance down to about 1/8”.

Fold it along the seam and sew again at about 1/4” to enclose the edge (so the fabric is face-to-face now). Then press it to one side.

I’m going to hem the chiffon ruffle, so I’m doing one stitch about 1/4” from the edge keeping tension on the fabric behind and in front of the needle. I’m not pulling it, just keeping it taught.

Then I can fold it twice using that stitch as a guide and stabilizer, and make a tight little rolled hem. Give it a good press.

Now to ruffle the chiffon. This is super easy because it’s so light weight. I just set my machine at its longest stitch length and increase the tension. It pretty much ruffles on its own!

Then I can pin that into the satin circle, spreading the ruffles evenly, and then sew it down. Press the gathers at the seam allowance and then run it through a serger to clean the edge. Top stitch the seam allowance up so the gathers hang freely.

Now I can pin the petticoat into my dress. My satin lining is facing toward my body so it’s nicer to wear, but for the lower petticoat ruffle I want the satin facing out. So I’m pinning the ruffle face onto the back of the lining satin.

These layers are the same size, so no gathering stitch needed. Just sew, serge, and top-stitch the seam allowance up. Then give it a good press.

I want a little bitty hem on the dress just like I did on the chiffon ruffle. So I’m sewing close to the raw edge to stabilize it.

My fabric frayed a lot so I’m trimming the extra yarns down.

And then fold it over twice to enclose the raw edge and stitch close to the folded edge.

Then press.

The back lining is open at the zipper still, so I marked the 5/8” seam allowance at center back and pressed it back

Use pinking sheers to trim down the raw edge. Then pin the lining onto the zipper tape. Check to make sure it’s not pulling anywhere before sewing it in place by hand.

And your dress is done!

This dress ended up very nice but the fit was a challenge since everything was connected at the skirt! If you’re going to make this dress one thing I’d recommend is to make the pocket bags and openings an inch longer. They’re a little snug.