How to Make a Dress Part 12: How to Make and Insert the Inset and Hem the Dress

This is the last post in this series. All that is left now is to make and insert the inset and to hem the dress.

How to Make the Inset

Get your two inset pieces and put them RS together. Sew along the top edge (in this case the one with the slightly concave curve). Press flat then open.

The piece without the interfacing is the facing in this case. (For blouse fronts etc. the interfacing goes on the facing.)

Clip into the seam allowances. Press the seam allowances to the facing side (the one without interfacing).

Sew the seam allowances to the facing. This is called machine understitching.

Fold the pieces into the finished position (see below).

This is what it looks like facing side up.

And this is what it looks like front side up.

I haven't done so in this photo, but it helps with the next step if you baste the layers of the inset together.

Also, you should zigzag the raw edges to stop them from fraying.



How to insert the inset

This is where it gets tricky.

Pin the inset in place by lifting the collar up as in this photo and pinning through all the layers.

Now firmly baste in place by hand with cross stitches and then stitch one side by machine under the collar so that it's inconspicuous. If you think the inset is in place, repeat for the other side.

Note: You won't be able to stitch all the way down, so just go as far as your judgement suggests.


How to Hem the Dress

This dress has a 3cm (1 1/4") hem allowance. I pinned the hem level.

Clip into the seam allowances at the hem level to give a better edge.

When you have pinned all around, turn up the hem so that the pins are right on the edge. Then, holding the fold in place, remove the pin and pin the hem allowance down.

Now hand sew running stitches in the hem allowance only, and pull so that the hem allowance lies flush with the dress.

Baste the hem allowance to the dress.

This is what I call a hand coverstitch. It's basically an overcasting stitch where you catch one thread of the dress. Then you just repeat all the way around. If you need to start a new thread, secure both your old thread and your new one on the hem allowance.

Press.

Congratulations! Your dress is finished!

Until next time, happy sewing and Merry Christmas!
Sabrina Wharton-Brown
The Sewing Corner, 41 Market Place, Hornsea, HU18 1AP, UK

How to Make a Dress Part 11: Attaching the Collar and the Bow

This week we will attach the collar and bow.


How to Attach the Collar and Neck-line Facing

Get your collar halves that you made earlier and place them on the RS out dress. Pin and baste along the seam line, or maybe a little inside the seam allowance if you prefer

Then get your neckline facing and place it RS down on top of the collar. Pin and baste. Then sew along the neckline taking the stated seam allowance (in most cases 1.5mm or 5/8").

Grade and notch the seam allowance. Trim the corner near the zip to reduce bulk. Turn the facing to the WS and pin and baste. Press.

With the back seam lines even (along the zip), hand-stitch the facing to the zip tape.

Pin the facing to the dress inside as shown (the sticky-up thing is the collar).

Now hand under-stitch the facing to the seam allowance. A hand under-stitch is basically a backstitch that has a tiny stitch on top and a long stitch underneath. It helps keep the facing in place. Do this all along the neck-line. Press.

Match up the shoulder seams on the facing and the dress. Pin, keeping the facing smooth against the dress.

Now invisibly hem the facing to the dress, with fairly loose stitches, taking up only one thread of the dress fabric at a time.

Turn the dress RS out. As you can see, it is not very neat at the CF of the neckline. That is because of the way I made the collar (see one of the previous posts). It's okay because we're going to cover that up with the bow.

Just overcast the edges by hand to keep them from fraying. You'll probably have to trim them down first.










How to Make and Attach the Bow

Get your two "bow" pieces which were cut on the bias. Place them RS together and sew around from dot to dot. Then trim and notch the edges. Turn RS out.

Tuck the opening's seam allowance in and hand stitch closed.

Top-stitch all around the edge of the bow-to-be.

Fold the bow in half. The fold the long edges over again so that it's kind of like a fan. Then with your sewing machine on a 0 length zigzag stitch, sew in the centre to secure it.

To make the tie get a rectangle of fabric, your pattern will either include the paper pattern or tell the size. I made the paper pattern to go with this pattern (which I made, in case you just found this blog). Stitch along one short end and along the long end.

Now, using a pencil, turn the tie RS out.

Put it in the dress, so that the raw edge is against the point of the neckline and sew it by hand to the facing.

Now place the bow on the dress and wrap the tie around it, tucking it under at the front. Hand stitch securely all around the tie, as invisibly as you can.

I'd have included the photo but the Blogger software decided to hide those buttons. : )

I think that will have to do this week, because I have run out of time. Next week we'll make and sew the inset, and hem the dress. Then we're done!

Hope that helps!

Until next time, happy sewing!
Sabrina Wharton-Brown
The Sewing Corner Haberdashery, Hornsea, HU18 1AP, UK

How to Make A Dress Part 10: Sewing the Front to the Back and Setting the Sleeves

Now that you have the back half of the dress made you can attach it to the front.

How to Sew the Shoulder Seams
First we'll start with the shoulder seams. Sometimes the back shoulder seam allowance is longer than the front one. It is so that the fabric shapes better to the curve of the upper back. The extra is taken up with a dart or with easing. In this example we shall use easing; it is less noticeable than a dart.

On the back shoulder seam allowance, right next to the stitching line, sew some hand running stitches. Make sure that you don't sew gathering stitches in the armscye and neckline seam allowances.

Pin the Back to the Front at the start and end of the running stitches, keeping the raw edges even. Then pull up the running stitches so that the back shoulder is flat against the front shoulder. Wrap the thread end in a figure 8 around the nearest pin to hold it drawn.

Even out the easing and pin. It is a good idea to baste as well. Now sew the seam with the eased fabric against the feed dogs. Press flat, then press open and neaten the raw edges with a zigzag stitch or with your serger/overlocker if you have one. If you neaten the seam allowances together, press them towards the front of the garment so that the seam will be less conspicuous when the garment is worn. Repeat for the other shoulder.

How to Sew the Side Seams
This bit is easy. Just match the raw edges and sew from the bottom to the armscye. Press flat, press open, and neaten. If you neaten the seam allowances together, press them towards the front of the dress so that the seam won't show as much when the dress is worn.

How to Ease the Sleeve Caps the Easy Way
When I was doing my first course in dressmaking I had to set a sleeve. I had printed the pattern out and it had no notches which didn't help. I passed, but I would have preferred to get a Distinction rather than a Merit. If I had known the technique I'm going to show you now, easing in the sleeve caps evenly (i.e. without puckers) would have been a lot easier and a lot quicker. : ) (BTW. I got this from Sandra Betzina's book POWER SEWING, available in my Amazon Store.)

It is easier if you do it before sewing up the sleeve seams, i.e. work with the sleeve flat. I didn't, as you can see in the video of machine ease-stitching, or as Sandra Betzina calls it, super-staystitching:

Starting at the first notch, put the sleeve under the presser foot. Backstitch to secure. Put your finger behind the presser foot and push it towards you as you sew.When there is to much fabric (and you will know when) bunched up behind it, let that fabric go and start pushing again. Do this until you get to the other notch. Then backstitch and remove your fabric. As you can see at the end of the video this shapes the sleeve somewhat.

Now you can sew the sleeve seam, keeping the raw edges even. Press and neaten as for the rest of the dress (see above). Repeat for the other sleeve.

How to Hem the Sleeves

The sleeve in this pattern has a 1 1/4" (3cm) hem allowance. First fold up the hem allowance the full amount (3cm) and pin. Then turn under the raw edge 1/4" (6mm), leaving 1" visible. Check as you go with your sewing gauge or ruler. Pin.

On the seam allowance, secure your thread with a few backstitches on top of each other, as in the top photo. Then take a stitch in the hem allowance about 1/4" long. Bring the needle through, then take a stitch of only one thread in the sleeve. Repeat until you have gone full circle. Then secure your thread as you did at the beginning. Repeat for the other sleeve. Now you can set the sleeves.

How to Set (insert) the Sleeves
With the dress inside-out and the sleeve RS-out, put one sleeve into it's armhole, matching the notches and matching the top of the sleeve which is also indicated by a notch with the top of the armhole, which is usually the shoulder seam, but sometimes a notch. (This is why the front has one notch, and the back has two notches: so that you get the sleeve in the right armhole.)

If the armhole is quite small, you will have to sew it in without using the free-arm because you won't fit the sleeve over the free-arm (unless perhaps you're using a Bernina which look to have nice narrow free-arms). If you are sewing baby clothes you will have to insert the sleeve in the flat (like they do with T-shirts) or by hand because the armhole is just too small.

The photo shows what it will look like when it is pinned in. It is a good idea to baste as well as this saves your pricking yourself too much. When you have done that, starting at the underarm seam (which you can see I have trimmed at an angle to reduce bulk) put the armscye under the presser foot with the bodice fabric against the feed-dogs (if you can use the free-arm, do - then you can have the sleeve fabric against the feed-dogs). Sew the seam, then sew again about 2mm or less away from the seam and in the seam allowance to strengthen the seam. Press. Do not press open. Trim the seam allowances to roughly 1/8" from the second line of stitching. Neaten the raw edge. I haven't done so yet in this photo, but used hand overcasting to neaten the edges.

Now turn the dress RS out with the sleeve sticking out of the armhole as it will look when you have finished. Press the seam with the seam allowance towards the sleeve. Repeat for the other sleeve and you are done!

Next week we'll apply the collar and the neckline facing. If there is time we may even add the bow as well.

I hope that helps!

Until next time, Happy Sewing!
Sabrina Wharton-Brown
The Sewing Corner Haberdashery, 41 Market Place, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, HU18 1AP, UK

How to Make a Dress: Part 9 - How to Insert an Invisible Zip with an Adjustable Zipper Foot

I only just remembered that I am supposed to write this post today! Nearly all day I've been putting together a TV cabinet (flat-pack). What hard work that was!

Anyway, onto the invisible zip...

In case you don't know the difference between a regular zip and and invisible one, an invisible zip's teeth curl inwards so that when you zip the zip up you can't see them from the RS. When you have sewn an invisible zip into the garment properly, all you can see is the zip pull, whereas with a regular zip you would see topstitching and a sort of pleat under which you have the zip.

An Invisible zip is sewn in differently to a regular zip. You insert the zip before you sew the seam. Also, you can't sew all the way down it so you need a zip that is at least about 2" (5cm) longer than the opening. You can easily shorten the zip if you have to.

First, neaten the seam allowances all the way down and mark them off. Here, they are 1.5cm and the same width as my tape measure which I used as a guide). Press them to the WS.

Open the zip and, keeping the edge of the coil even with the folded edge of the seam allowance, pin the zip to the seam allowance only. It is a good idea to baste as well.

Remove your zigzag foot and replace it with your adjustable zipper foot. Have the needle fall right at the edge of the foot; you want to get as close to the teeth as possible without having the needle hit them.

TIP: If you sew at an angle so that it looks like you're going to sew diagonally through the teeth, it will be easier to stitch in the groove of the zip. You still have to open the coil far though, so that the teeth are perpendicular to the tape. In this photo I haven't got them pushed back far enough, but if you get them right, the results are better. It will be easier to sew the zip in properly if you machine baste it in first. Yes, it takes more thread, but it is worth it.

You will have to stop stitching about 1/2" to 1" above the zip pull. When you sew an invisible zip you will see why. Backstitch and tie off. Repeat for the other side, keeping the notches on the seam allowances matched.

Now fasten the zip and have the garment parts RS together, tucking the zip as far out of the way as possible. Sew, starting from where you stopped sewing in the zip, past the end and then back stitch. Change to your regular foot and sew the rest of the seam.

Note: It may be easier or better to sew below the bottom of the zip by hand with doubled thread if you can't get it just right. (It is very hard.) Then sew the rest of the seam by machine.

And there you have it! Just press. Doesn't it look neat? Yes, you can see my zip's pull, but you can get zips in different colours, or you can use nail varnish/polish to colour the pull. (Mum can't stand the smell of nail varnish/polish, so we don't have it in the house.)


After that you sew the rest of the dress.

Next week, we'll sew the front of the dress to the back of it and insert or "set" the sleeves. Plus, assuming the Blogger thing works right, I'll post a little video on ease-stitching the easy way (if only I had know about this when I did my first course!). It is my first online video and I felt almost nervous, so there is no speaking in it : ).

Until next time, Happy Sewing!
Sabrina Wharton-Brown
The Sewing Corner, 41 Market Place, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, HU18 1AP

P.S. You can sew an invisible zip in like a regular zip if you like. They are actually easier than regular zips that way. I know because on my first dress, I sewed one in using a centred zip application. You can get quite a narrow finish that way. : )

How to Make a Dress Part 8: The Pocket Flaps

This week, as the title of this post suggests, we'll make the pocket flaps. They're optional, but are a nice touch. You can embroider them or add appliqués or buttons etc. as you see fit. You can make them in a contrasting colour, or if you're using a striped or plaid fabric, you can cut the top-flap (the part you will see) on the bias for interest. You don't have to use the shape that was supplied in your pattern; you can easily draft your own by drawing a horizontal line the width of the pocket, drawing the shape you want below it (and above it if you like) and then adding seam allowances.

What I have learned from making these pocket flaps is that, as with collars, the bottom piece should probably be slightly smaller than the top one to make sure the seams are not seen from the RS when the garment is worn. (I didn't, so don't be concerned if your pocket flap doesn't look exactly like mine. : ))

So, let's get on with making the pocket flap!

How to Make a Pocket Flap

If you have only one pattern piece for the pocket flap, use it to cut all four pieces, and then trim about 1/8" (3mm) off the outside edge of the under-flap (or flap facing, whatever you would like to call it). In this case, it would be the round edge because the pocket flaps are almost semi-circles.

Interface the top pocket flap if you haven't already.

Then, keeping the raw edges even (and this may be a little fiddly) pin and baste the top pocket flap to the under-flap and stitch around the curved edge, leaving the straight edge unsewn so that you can turn the flap RS out in a minute. Press flat to set the stitches.

Grade the seam allowances as shown above (you don't have to pink them) and notch them so that the curve will work out. Turn the pocket flap RS out and push the seam out as far as it will go. You can use a knitting needle for this. Press.

Now you can apply the pocket to the dress. We are doing this before we sew the dress parts together because it's easier to sew "flat".

Fold down the seam allowance of the pocket flap. Trim to half and press. Neaten the raw edge. Now put the flap on the dress above the pocket so that the raw edge is about 1/8" to 1/4" above the top of the pocket. Stitch along the pressed fold. Press.

Flap the flap down to its finished position and stitch down, encasing the seam-allowance.

Repeat for the other pocket flap et Voilá! Your pockets now have flaps!

Next week we'll put in the invisible zip with an adjustable zip foot and then sew up the centre back (CB) seam.

Until next time, happy sewing!

Sabrina Wharton-Brown

The Sewing Corner Haberdashery, 41 Market Place, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, HU18 1AP, UK.

P.S. Last week we got some new stock in the shop so I bought a sewing gauge. (They're only £1.85!) It's nice for measuring hems, and you can even draw circles with it! It also has a point-turner on one end and an adjustable button sewing shank thing on the other. We sell Hemline brand products. We could have got the Nancy Zieman sewing gauge, but they're so much more expensive and I don't know that they're that much better. What do you think? Do you have one? Please comment below. : )

How to Make a Dress: Part 7 - How to Make A Patch Pocket

Hello! : )
My cold is almost gone now and I'm feeling much better.

The next thing we are going to do is make the patch pockets. This stage is optional, but the dress looks better with them. Besides pockets are very handy.

How to Make a Pocket

Get your pocket piece and if you haven't already, interface the WS of the hem (the top bit of the pocket). Turn 1/4 inch (6mm) along the top edge to the WS.

I did it wrong when I was making the dress and I turned it to the RS so I have "corrected" it on the photo with the red rectangle and drawn-in stitches.

Then you grade the seam allowances as shown and trim the edges like you did for the collar. Then you just neaten the raw edges with a zigzag stitch.

The next bit is a good idea. I'm not sure whether I thought of it or whether I got it from somewhere else. Anyway, get the pattern piece for the pocket, put it on top of a piece of cardboard such as you get from used cereal packets, and using your tracing wheel, trace the stitching lines. Cut out the cardboard shape and trim about 1 - 2mm) off the edges (otherwise it won't fit into the pocket).

Turn the pocket RS out and poke the corners out with a knitting needle or something. If they need trimming to a sharper point you should do that now. Now insert the square into the pocket hem and press. Fold the raw edges over the cardboard and press. You probably can't do the corners so leave them.

Take the cardboard out. Now it's time to mitre the corners. As you have folded the straight edges, you now have creases as a guide. Fold the corner in as shown so that the creases line up. Press. Trim the corner as needed to get a flatter corner. Fold the straight edges down so that the corners look neat like the left-hand one below. Then just hand stitch the corner closed, sewing only the seam allowances.

Now it's time to hem the top of the pocket in the same way as you hemmed the sleeve. Your pocket's hem will have the little fold going under, so you should be happy if it doesn't look like mine. : )

Secure your thread in the seam allowance at one side of the pocket. Take a stitch about 1/4" (6mm) long inside the fold of the hem, then take a stitch of one thread only in the pocket. Repeat until you reach the end. Then secure your thread in the seam allowance and cut it off.

Now you can place your pocket on your dress. There may be markings such as Tailor's tacks or dressmaker's pencil to help you match it up, or you may like to put the pocket wherever you want. Pin and baste. Then topstitch in place by machine. I have tried hand sewing pockets in place, but my hand stitching is never strong enough for something like a pocket, so I machine stitch.

I tried topstitching one of the pockets on using my blindhem foot as a guide, but the results were terrible. Thank goodness for my quick-unpick. It's better to topstitch with your regular presser foot.

And that's it. Just repeat for the other pocket.

Next week we'll make and apply the pocket flaps.

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

Sabrina Wharton-Brown

The Sewing Corner Haberdashery, 41 Market Place, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, HU18 1AP

Tel. +44 (0)1964 537901

P.S. Are you watching Kristie's Homemade Britain on Channel 4? I especially liked last week's episode because it was mostly sewing. On my mental wishlist is now a Free-motion embroidery foot. : )

P.P.S. Sorry for any typos; I don't have much time for checking today. : )