Let me warn you in advance that I got a little photo happy.


Here are my cut pieces ready to be turned into a dress. Two identical bodice pieces and a few 2" tall strips. One strip will be enough to bind the tops of both bodice pieces, each of the others is more than long enough for a strap. If you're working with jersey and it's curling, don't even torture yourself by trying to cut a strip piece from the curly area ~ trust me on this, life's too short for that kind of aggravation.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank1_001.jpg


It's time to prepare the binding/strap strips. These instructions are for knits, if you are working with a woven you won't need to be quite as starch happy.

I have my trusty Magic Sizing and have already sprayed and pressed the strip so it's nice and flat.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank2.jpg

Spray more sizing on and press the strip in half

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank3.jpg


Open it up, spray a bit more, fold the ends into the middle and press

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank4.jpg

Spray, fold in half and press again. Leave one side slightly longer than the other.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank5.jpg


Grab a bodice piece and sew the binding onto the top edge.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank6.jpg

When I sew the strip on the top of the bodice, I place the longer side of the binding strip on the wrong/inside of the dress. That way I'm more likely to catch the binding with my stitches on both sides.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank6a.jpg


Getting ready to sew the strap. I tuck the bodice into the binding strip, getting the cut edge of the bodice as close to the fold of the binding as possible.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank8.jpg

Sew the binding starting at the underarm area and working toward the top of the bodice. This time the longer side of the binding strip is on top. Don't sew too close to the edge or you're likely to miss the strip on the underside.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank9.jpg


When I get to the curved area, I gently pull it straight while sewing.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank10.jpg

Now I've gotten to the top of the bodice and I'm about to sew off the edge to begin the "strap" area.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank11.jpg


For the size 2T, I leave 4.5" of strap before I start sewing onto the second bodice piece.

12-18 months = 4" strap
2T = 4.5" strap
4T = 6-6.5" of strap
size 6 = 7-7.5" of strap

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank13.jpg

When I get near the 4.5" mark, I tuck the second bodice piece into the binding strip.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank15.jpg


Here's a shot of the placement on the cut edge of the bodice within the strap.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank16.jpg

Here's the dress once the first strap is sewn on. At this point, check to make sure that you caught the back of the strap in all places with your stitching. If not, go back and sew a second row parallel to the first. Repeat for the second strap.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank18.jpg

Now my bodice has two straps. Normally, I sew both bodice side seams, but this time I thought I'd try something different and I just sewed one side so I could put the skirt on flat.

Preparing the skirt. The bottom of each bodice piece measured about 11" so I cut two skirt pieces each 22" wide by 17" tall (this is for a long skirt for size 2T). Sewed one skirt side seam and gathered the top of the skirt.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank19.jpg


Pinned the bodice and skirt right sides together adjusting the gathers to fit then sewed. I think I prefer this method to sewing both side seams together then attaching the skirt. I didn't accidentally fold and catch parts of the bodice in my stitching that aren't supposed to be there. :rolleyes:

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank20.jpg

Sew the second side seam all the way from the underarm to the bottom. Hem and you're done!

Here's the almost finished dress. I haven't hemmed it yet because I'm still deciding what to do about dyeing it.

http://www.jaymelee.com/albums/album01/tank21.sized.jpg

jayme, that must have taken FOREVER!

The cherries are adorable

That is great, thanks! Did you use a pattern for the bodice pieces or are they your own design?

Can't wait to see a pic of the finished dress!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

BTW, if it is curling for me I use the edge of my ruler to uncurl it and hold it in place while cutting. I hate wasting the curly bit.

Originally posted by Serena
That is great, thanks! Did you use a pattern for the bodice pieces or are they your own design?

I drafted the pattern for this dress myself. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the pattern if you'd like. :)

Bethan, the cherries are an old PRR print I bought from Meagan a while back. I used cotton thread so I could dye it ~ I'm leaning toward pink, what do you think?

Originally posted by Scarlet
BTW, if it is curling for me I use the edge of my ruler to uncurl it and hold it in place while cutting. I hate wasting the curly bit.

I hate wasting it too, but the one time I used the curly part it was such a PITA to try to get it flat and then folded properly for binding. I ended up tossing it and starting over with a new piece. Maybe it was that specific piece of fabric?

I put knit binding on differently from you... #1 no folding #2 no ironing LOL so perhaps that is why the curling bothers me less than you.

Personally I like it white. Twould be a shame to dye it IMO. If you had to what about yellow?