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.
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.
__________________
Jayme ~ mama to Nathan (10/98) and Lauren (6/02)
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.
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.
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.
When I get to the curved area, I gently pull it straight while sewing.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Linear Mode
