Finally, the last instalment showing the steps in making Meg's dress. Here it is, finished, before I delivered it to her and she proudly tried it on for size.
The last thing to do before the hem was the buttons and buttonholes. On this photo you can see how the gathers of the skirt are kept clear of the overlap.
To stiffen and strengthen the overlap I use a strip of calico, which fits snugly into the fold down the front edges. The edge of the dress fabric is then folded about a quarter of an inch over the calico and machine stitched into place.
The seam attaching the skirt to the bodice has been constructed so that the raw edges are enclosed. This gives a certain amount of bulk, which needs to be trimmed , as shown here. There are a few tacking stitches to hold the raw seam allowances together.
When the overlap is folded down and ironed the raw edges are hidden.
The next step is to mark where the buttons are buttonholes are to be placed. Because the buttons are five eighths of an inch wide, I have done a line of machine stitching, with the longest stitch length, five eighths of an inch from the folded edge. This needs to be done down both sides of the dress so that both the buttons and the buttonholes are the same distance from the folded edge.
I started with the top buttonhole, placed at right angles to the edge. To plot the position of the buttonhole, I pinned a button through one its holes so that the pin went through the line of stitching. This gave me the reference point for the buttonhole, the pin marking where the end of the inside of the buttonhole needed to be.
Then it was time to get busy with the buttonholer.
Here is the completed buttonhole on the finished dress. The threads going through the right hand hole of the button correspond with the position of the pin in the previous photo.
All the other buttonholes were stitched parallel to the edge. Here is one of the buttonholes, shown before I had neatened the tail ends of thread. The white machine stitching runs down the middle of the buttonhole.
And here is the same buttonhole, with the white machine stitching removed and now all nicely fastened up, once the dress is completed.
Just to keep the overlap in place, after the buttonholes and buttons had all been done, I put in a few stitches by hand through the seam allowance at the bottom of the bodice.
Finally, I did the hem, gave the dress a good thorough ironing, and it was ready for Meg!
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It is ages since Meg received her dress, and I have not done any posts showing the making of it since the post showing the collar being attached.
The next stage was attaching the skirt. The skirt is made up of three rectangles, with French seams down the sides. The width of the back of the skirt is approximately double the size of the back of the bodice, to allow for gathering. The two front panels of the skirt both overlap for the buttons and buttonholes, in exactly the same way as on the bodice. The gathers for the front of the skirt start just clear of the overlap.
Before putting in the initial gathers, with bit of red cotton I marked the central, quarter and three quarters points on the back panel of the skirt to match up with the corresponding points on the bodice.
Then I set in the first line of gathers, shown above, using the ruffler.
Perhaps somewhere there are mathematical geniuses who can regulate the size of the ruffle to give the correct amount of gather. I am not one of them, so I do a second line of gathers alongside the ruffling. The seam guide is there to keep the stitching straight.
The second line of stitching is done with the maximum stitch length and with the top tension loosened so that the bobbin thread is easy to pull to ease the gathers.
Before pinning the skirt to the bodice I put two tucks at the lower edge to give a bit of fullness across the back, and kept the fold secure with a few stitches.
Next, I pinned the skirt to the bodice, matching the side seams and the red thread markers, then eased the fullness by pulling the second line of gathers...
... and tacked the seam by hand. There is a much wider seam allowance on the bodice, approximately an inch and a quarter.
Now the machine stitching could be done to finally attach the skirt to the bodice. I made the stitching run about an eighth of an inch below the gathers and tacking.
Before neatening the seam I removed the tacking thread and machine gathering stitches, but I always find that it is better to leave in the machine stitching done with the ruffler because it keeps the gathered seam allowance reasonably flat.
To neaten the raw edges, the edge of the bodice is folded over. Hair grips keep the fold down in place much more firmly than pins...
... and are easy to remove as the fold is stitched down.
Here is the finished seam, guaranteed to withstand the rigours of the washing machine!
I love this technique - I first came across it in an old pattern.
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The highlight of my week has been a trip to see Meg and her family in South Wales. Even though I finished the dress in time for her third birthday at the end of May, I haven't actually seen her until now. On her birthday she saw a photo I emailed to her mum and dad, and they told me she was thrilled, saying "I want to twy it on weally soon."
On Monday she finally twied it on, and here she is, looking all healthy and rosy cheeked after her summer holiday by the sea. The photo could be better, slightly soft focus - the light was a bit dull and I didn't want to dazzle Meg with a flash. She posed so nicely, instinctively putting her hands behind her back so we could see the front of her dress better. I was relieved to see that the size was right, with plenty of room for growth, but not swamping her.
Just a couple more posts to go, showing how I attached the skirt to the bodice and did the button down front, but this photo is too priceless to leave until the very end.
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Having prepared the collar, it is time to attach it to the bodice. This isn't a half hour job.
Before putting the collar on, the fold of the front overlap for the buttons and buttonholes has to be folded over inside out. The overlap needs to be double the width of the buttons. The buttons are half an inch wide, so the overlap is an inch. To add a layer of thickness I have inserted a strip of calico. The raw cut edge of the dress fabric is machine tacked in place down the side of the calico - I shall replace the machine tacking with machine stitching in a matching colour later.
The end of the collar needs to be placed an inch from the corner between the folded layers.
The pin is holding the collar in position.
Now the collar is pinned all the way round, to the outside of the bodice.
The pins need to be replaced with hand stitched tacking...
...and then the collar machine stitched round the neckline.
The raw edges have to be enclosed, so I have cut a bias strip from the dress fabric. It is one inch wide, with one edge folded under by a quarter of an inch. This crease has been ironed down, keeping the strip straight.
However, this strip is going to be sewn around a curve, so I make sure it is curved to fit. To do this, I dampen the folded edge with a few drops of water, pull that edge only, stretching it, and then iron the stretched edge while damp.
I do this a couple of inches at a time, working along the strip, until the whole strip holds a curve.
The strip of binding is now pinned and hand tacked along the neck edge.
The pins go in to show where the first line of machining is, so when I do the second line of machining it should end up directly next to the first line which attaches the collar.
The seam now has four layers of fabric, so to reduce bulk I have done some graded trimming.
I have used the tip of the iron to iron the seam towards the inside of the bodice, so that the binding can be pinned down ready for hand stitched tacking.
The last line of machining will be fairly easy to do if the binding has been ironed again once it has been tacked down by hand.
Now the two ends, which have been folded inside out, can be folded the right way round and pressed, and the two ends of the collar are an inch apart where the two sides of the bodice overlap.
The collar looks a bit untidy for the moment. It needs a good pressing.
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The collar is made from two identical pieces cut from the pattern piece that I drafted. The two pieces are sewn together with right sides facing each other, with the stitching about a quarter of an inch from the edge. Then the seam allowance is trimmed down to about an eighth of an inch or a fraction over.
The easiest way to turn a curved seam the right way round is with the rounded end of a spoon handle.
Next comes a bit of fuss which is well worth the effort. It is nice for the actual join of the seam to disappear out of sight to the underneath of the edge of the collar. To do this I pin alongside the seam, pulling the join just into sight.
Then I iron down the seam, initially with the tip of the iron while the pins are still in place. Here is the ironed seam showing the underneath of the collar...
... and here is the upper side of the collar.
Once the collar has been ironed the neck edges of the upper and under collar no longer lie one on top of the other. There is no need to trim it, because the seam allowance will need to be graded once it is sewn.
To stabilise the seam at the edge of the collar I like to do edge stitching. To keep the stitching even and close to the edge, I use the adjustable cording foot and the seam guide.
The stitching stays parallel to the edge, even when going round curves.
Now it is time for the narrow rick rack. Again I am using the seam guide, and feeding the rick rack through the braiding foot.
Because the rick rack is woven on the bias it curves evenly.
Here is a close-up of the edge stitching and rick rack...
... and here is the completed collar, ready to be attached to the bodice.
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Having assembled the bodice I now have to attach the sleeves. I have hemmed the sleeves and added the rick rack trim already - it is easier to do so at this stage rather than wait until they are sewn onto the bodice.
To absorb the fullness at the head of the sleeve I have decided to do tucks, arranged box pleat style. This is how I did the sleeves on the 1940s blouse, and it is much quicker and easier than doing gathers or a set in sleeve. Avid viewers of the Great British Sewing Bee will remember that this is the method used by Chinelo when the contestants had to draft a pattern piece and add sleeves to a sleeveless dress.
The tucks are held steady by tacking stitches. The centre of the tucks is at the top centre of the sleeve.
The top centre of the sleeve has to be matched with the top centre of the armhole. These points are marked on commercial patterns. Because this is a home made pattern there are no markings, but centre points are easy to find by just folding the sleeve and armhole opening in half.
The seams are matched together under the arm.
There is still a tiny bit of fullness in the curve of the sleeve, but not so much that it can't be eased flat. At this point the cut at the edge of the sleeve is on the bias of the fabric, so it can be flattened with a bit of persuasion.
Once the sleeve has been pinned into place it can then be tacked. I stitch about half an inch from the edge.
The curved sections towards the underarm are probably the trickiest bit to tack. This is where you can end up with annoying little folds because the bodice pieces want to pull taut and the sleeve has a bit of fullness.
Next I machine stitch the armhole seam, sewing about an eighth of an inch from the tacking stitches.
Now I can pull out the tacking stitches and work on enclosing the raw edges. None of the books I have show this process - I checked through them when I was making the little red daisies dress. This is a process I learnt thanks to doing needlework at school. Rather a long time ago.
I usually use one inch bias binding - this binding was actually a little wider, at an inch and a quarter. To reduce bulk where the binding begins and ends when sewn onto the seam allowance, I do a diagonal folded down edge at the end that is to be attached first.
Here is the binding machine stitched in place around the armhole seam. I aim to get this line of stitching just beside the first line of machining, just inside the seam allowance.
Next I trim down the excess from the seam allowance.
To reduce bulk I trim off a tiny fraction more from the bodice seam allowance. In this photo you can see how the two lines of machine stitching lie side by side.
Now the binding can be easily folded over. Hair grips are much handier for keeping it in place than pins. The grip on the right is keeping down the folded edge at the beginning of the binding where it overlaps the end of the binding. I do this in much the same way as when I overlap binding at the edge of a quilt - the only difference is that here I have cut the ends of the binding on the bias. I always put this join in the binding at the lower back part of the armhole, clear of the join of the seams under the arm.
Now the binding can be stitched down by machine.
Here is the bodice so far. Rubbish focus - late afternoon on a cloudy day - but who cares when you have two sleeves attached...
... and bound seams that can withstand the rigours of a washing machine? And the colour matches the dress, even though nobody will ever see it.
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