Welcome back! This is part two in this series about how to make this vintage fall dress using Vogue 9076. All of the fabrics are cut, interfacing is fused, and we’re ready to sew!
But first, a reminder that you can try on your garment any time you want as you’re sewing. I pin along the seams and try it on constantly. If you don’t like the way something’s coming out, it’s easier to fix it now when you’re in the middle of it. Don’t save alterations until the garment’s done. Also by checking the fit when it’s pinned, you’ll start to learn how it will look after it’s sewn. Usually it looks a lot better!
I’m going to pretty much completely deviate from the pattern when it comes to sewing procedure because I want a clean finish inside. If you’re going through the trouble of making your own clothes, they might as be really nicely made!
First I’m sewing the shoulder seams of my shell fabric and lining fabric from the neck to the edge of the shoulder, which is the opposite way the pattern indicates. You want to try to sew in the direction of the grain as much as possible to reduce the amount that the fabric will stretch.
See in the photo above that the yarns of the interfacing are angled in the direction that I’m sewing? That’s sewing with the grain, and that’s what you want to try to do when possible 🙂
I press the lining open, then trim the seam down to about 1/4”, and trim the edges down to about a sixteenth of an inch away from the stitching. This way there’s less bulk when it gets folded back.
On the shell fabric I’m pressing the seams open and only trimming away that last half inch or so at the edges. I’m leaving just enough fabric to keep the stitching from falling out.
Now I want to gather the front and back bodice pieces between the notches.
So I lengthened my stitch to about 4mm, and sewed at 3/8”, so I was still inside of the 1/2” seam allowance (remember I cut my seam allowances down to 1/2″ – if you’re using the original pattern you should be using 5/8″ seam allowances).
Pull the bobbin threads to gather the fabric until it’s about the same size as the yoke. Then pin it in place, and even out the gathers. I use my fingernail to scratch at them. For some reason this seems to help even them out!
Pin those in place too, and sew at 1/2”. I like to sew with the gathers on top so I can continue evening them out. Don’t forget to change your stitch length back to the setting you like. I’m usually around 2.5mm for most fabrics.
On the front bodice pinning gets a little trickier because we also have to plan for the corner. As they say, proper planning prevents piss poor performance. So I’m marking the stitch line at the corners of the front yoke…
…and the corresponding corners of the front bodice pieces.
On this side I’m going to be sewing from the bottom, up, so I’m pinning just the straight side up to the corner. You want to pin the corners together precisely. I usually put my pin through one corner, then through the second one and push both fabrics to the head of the pin. Then pin it through the fabrics like normal to secure it.
On this side I’m going to be sewing from the outside, in and down, so I’m pinning just the part with the gathers up to the point. I leave the rest unpinned for now.
At my machine I’m sewing at a half inch and making sure the gathers are even as I go. As I get within a half inch of the corner I shorten my stitch length to about 2mm or less on very fine fabrics. I stop with the needle right through the point.
Then lift up the bodice fabric and use small scissors to snip into the corner of the yoke piece.
Here’s another angle to show how far I cut:
Now I can carefully fold the yoke back and pivot to open up that corner and continue sewing the bodice down. After a half inch or so I switch back to my normal stitch length and finish the seam.
On the other side it’s a similar approach, just reversed. I sew the long straight line first, stopping right at the point, snip the corner, pivot, and finish the seam over the gathers.
On more delicate fabrics you might want to stay-stitch the corner before sewing. You would just sew right along the sew line (where I marked with chalk) with a small stitch, maybe 1mm-1.5mm.
Now remove the gathering stitch. You should be able to pull it right out since it was sewn 1/8″ from the stitch line. Then press the seam allowance of the gathers to flatten them out a bit.
I ran those edges through my serger to get them even flatter. Press the seams toward the yoke pieces.
Same thing on the back yoke, but no corners to worry about.
Pin the bodice side seams together.
Sew them at a half inch and press them open.
Now let’s put together the waistband pieces.
Just sew the side seams of the shell and lining, then press them open.
Before I sew the waistband on I want to check the length. I pinned the waistband onto the original length of the bodice and tried it on. I was pleasantly surprised that the fit was perfect! So I removed the pins and cut off the extension I had added to my pattern. Then I marked the garment and removed the extra 1.5” there too.
I’m trimming away the seam allowances on the waistband from where the next seams will be. This is a great technique to reduce bulk at seams so the garment lies smoother. You know the huge lump of inseams at the crotch of jeans? That’s the kind of sh*t I’m trying to avoid!
I need to gather the bottoms of the bodice, so I’m increasing my stitch length to 4mm and sewing between the notches on the front and back pieces at about 3/8”.
Then pull the bobbin threads to gather…
…and pin it to the waistband. I’m using my fingernail trick again to even out the gathers.
Sew at 1/2”, keeping the gathers tidy as you go.
Then press the seam allowance to flatten the gathers. Remove the gathering stitch. I want this yoke and waistband seam to be open so the seam is less obvious, so I need to snip into the seam allowance of the yoke.
This way the yoke/waistband seam can press open, and the yoke/bodice seam can press down. This will come in handy later when the lining goes in 🙂
Then run it through a serger or just stitch near the edge to keep the gathered seam allowance flat.
Grab the left extension piece that has fusing on one side. Fold it in half and sew at 1/2” on the top and bottom.
Then trim the seam allowances like the photo below – I trimmed about a half inch out of the raw edge, a little V out of the corner, and trimmed the un-fused side down to about 1/4″. This helps keep it from bunching up at the point, and so it isn’t so bulky at the seam edge.
Flip it right-side-out and use a point turner to push the points out. Then press it in half.
Pin it to the front of the bodice at the upper notch and sew at 1/2”.
It should end a half inch above the edge of the bodice. This way it will be out of the way when we put in the skirt later.
Now the loops on the other side. I got this little elastic cord at a local craft store (which is closed now, and leaves the closest thing to a craft store in my town Walmart UGH!!!!), and it will be great to go around the little buttons I have for this dress.
I tested how big I want them and decided on only 2”, so there’s not too much room for the button to pop out while I’m wearing it.
I used a lighter to melt the ends, and marked the loop placement on the dress.
This little bitty elastic is going to be hard to sew through, so I’m using
***Get ready because this might be the best piece of advice in this tutorial***
Little pieces of fusible interfacing to attach them to the garment! I press the iron on both sides of the elastic to really snug it into place. This will hold them exactly where they need to be until I can sew them down.
This might only be exciting to those of you who have tried to sew fiddly little things down that have wriggled out of place under your machine foot.
I shortened my stitch length to about 1.2mm and stitched just shy of the 1/2” seam allowance, and again in the middle of the seam allowance. These loops aren’t going anywhere!
That’s as far as I want to go on the bodice right now. Let’s move on to the sleeves.
I’ll start with the easing stitch at the sleeve cap. I’m going to sew just between these notches using about 3mm stitch length, and sewing at 3/8”, just inside the half-inch seam allowance.
Now I don’t like the way the cuff opening is in the sleeve inseam. That will put the opening at the inside of your wrist. I’d rather have it at the back of my hand, so I’m going to make a little bound opening more in line with the back of my shoulder blade.
I drew a line directly below the back notch (see photo above)
I transferred the marks to the right and wrong side of my sleeve pieces. On the front I drew the line because I’ll need to see it later.
On the back I cut a narrow strip of interfacing, about 5/8” wide, and I’m fusing it centered over where the slit is going to be.
Now I want to sew with a short stitch length, about 2mm, in a narrow V around the future opening. See how the V is slightly rounded at the tip:
Now I need to cut that open. I’m cutting most of the way with a rotary cutter, then I use small scissors to get right up into the point of the stitches without cutting through them.
To bind the opening I’m going to use this old faithful snug hug. Now it’s just called seam binding, which is not nearly as fun, but I guess it’s a little more self-explanatory.
I cut pieces a few inches longer than I’ll need and pressed them in half.
Then nestle the sleeve opening right into the fold and slowly sew it in place.
The corner is pretty tricky. You have to kind of ease the sleeve around the corner, keeping enough of it in the binding to catch under the needle. You might want to practice on some scraps first.
Press the new opening.
Then go in and sew across the fold of the seam binding so it stays where you want it.
Here’s what it looks like after it’s sewn:
Now I can sew the entire length of the sleeve inseam. Press that open.
The last thing I want to do in this tutorial is sew the gathering stitch at the bottom edge of the sleeve, so I increased my stitch length and I stitched at 3/8” from the edge.
The video goes on to cover the cuffs, but it’s really long, and the third video covers even more so I’m splitting them into another two tutorials for the blog so it’s not so overwhelming! Plus, the 3rd video has almost 100 pictures…it’s just too much all at once. I’ll show you how to finish up the sleeves in the next tutorial 🙂
Some people will say that sewing your own clothes doesn’t save you money. It’s expensive, yes. The machines, tools, and fabrics are all very pricey. It’s incredibly time consuming too. So if you’re comparing the clothes you will make to mass-produced, budget clothes from China, then sure you’re not saving money.
BUT – the clothes you make are made for you. You get to chose the fabrics, you get to chose (or alter) the design, it’s custom made to your body shape. You’re making couture clothing!
So when you more accurately compare your hand-made clothing to buying a high end, luxury, designer garment, you actually are saving money. That’s how I look at it, and that’s why I like to incorporate fabulous tidbits wherever I can 🙂
