Shift Dress Sew Along: Hemming

Guess what?! After today, you're going to have a finished shift dress! Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's get sewing!

 

The pattern calls for a 1 1/4" hem for both the sleeves and the bottom hem of the dress. Try it on to make sure you like that length. I start by sewing 1/4" from the edge. This gives me a guide for when I'm pressing. You'll see my trusty painter's tape as a guide for straight stitching. 

Press under the 1/4", using the stitch line as a guide. 

Now fold under the extra 1" and press. A sewing gauge comes in handy here to make sure it's even all the way around.

And then it's a bit more hand stitching! There are lots of different hem hand stitches, but I like the blind one best.  You're grabbing 1 or 2 threads on the dress, then a larger chunk on the hem, which won't be seen on the outside. You could also choose to do this by machine if you like.

Source

Repeat for the other sleeve, as well as the bottom hem of your dress.

Share Your Dress With Us!

Congratulations! You just sewed a shift dress! There are some decorative options as well, such as a belt and trim on the neckline that I won't be covering, which means this is the end of our sew along. I can't believe it!

Upload your dress to the Flickr pool or leave a link to a blog post in the comments to share your dress. I'd love to do a parade of everyone's garments if we get enough! I'll share mine with you next week.

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Sleeves

Today we'll be tackling the sleeves! If you've decided to go with a sleeveless version, follow the method that we used for neckline facings to stitch your armhole facings. 

First up, stitch two rows of basting stitches between the notches on your sleeves, inside the seam allowance. This will help you when you're easing the sleeve into the armscye (armhole). You can already see it's folding up a bit, just laying on the table. 

Now pin, stitch, press, and finish the sleeve seam. 

Pin the sleeve into the armscye. You want to hit all the main points before you begin the easing process. So pin, 

• The top of the sleeve cap to match the shoulder seam. Make sure to pin your shoulder seam flaps down so those stay open. 
• The side seam to the sleeve seam, lining up the seams so you get a nice tidy line. 
• The notches. 

Then, pull on the bobbin threads of your basting stitches to ease the rest of the sleeve into the armscye. When you're done pinning, you'll see a bit of wobbliness on the sleeve side. That's good, as long as you don't have folds in your fabric that you'll be stitching over.

Stitch the sleeve seam. Check to make sure that you didn't get any puckers or folds. If you do have some folds in your fabric, grab your trusty seam ripper and give it another go! And don't despair. As they song goes from Damn Yankees, "Why should we curse? We've gotta get better cause we can't get worse." Except curse if it makes you feel better. 

Once you've ensured there's no folds in your seam, press the seam allowance towards the bodice. 

Serge the sleeve seam. Repeat the whole process for your other sleeve, and then admire your handiwork. It's really looking like a dress now! 

We're almost done! All that's left is hemming.

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Attaching Facings

Today we'll be applying fusible interfacing, attaching facings to the bodice, and understitching them.

Before we get started with all this facing business, go ahead and sew front and back shoulder seams and side seams together. To see how I sew and finish seams, reference the bodice front construction.

First, iron on fusible interfacing. If you're doing a sleeveless version, do this for your armhole facings as well.

When you're done, you'll have fusible interfacing on the wrong side of each piece. 

Next, stitch together the shoulder seam of the facings. Press open the seam.

Now you can clean finish the edge of your facings. I use the serger. 

Pin the facing to the edge of the neckline, right sides together. Fold over the edge of the facing to match it up with the zipper edge. 

*Update* Several readers suggested wrapping the facing around the zipper and stitching around the top for a cleaner finish. Here's a picture of that method from The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. 

Source, p. 194

Stitch at a 5/8" seam allowance. Then clip about every inch or so, trying to get as close to the stitching as possible without cutting it. This will help you have a nice curve when you press it. Then trim and grade that seam. Press the facing, with the seam flaps going towards the facing. 

Now you'll understitch the facing down. The seam flaps should be already pressed towards the facing; take your fingers and and keep it pressed open as you sew. You're stitching the seam flaps down to the facing. This stitch will only show on the inside. It keeps your facing from flipping out.

Next, we'll be doing some hand stitching. I found this to be very challenging to photograph, so I've found some illustrations instead. 

On the zipper side, you'll be doing a slip stitch to attach the folded piece of fabric to the zipper. This stitch is almost invisible. You're catching a couple of threads on the inside of each one of the folds. 

Source

At the edges of the facing, you'll be attaching to the bodice with a catch stitch. You want to grab 1 or 2 threads when you catch the bodice front so you can barely see the stitches on the outside. So get cozy in front of the tele, and get to stitching! 

Source

Here's the inside of my bodice, with the catch stitching complete. Because I've also got a serged edge, you can barely see the stitching on the inside, too! 

It's starting to look like a real dress now! Next up, sleeves. 

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Installing a Lapped Zipper by Machine

I'm super excited about today's video tutorial. I had given up on sewing machine-stitched lapped zippers and switched to doing it by hand after so many failed attempts. When I learned this method in my pattern-making class, I was over the moon!

Here's an image to show you the difference it made in sewing lapped zippers for me. I will give you a high-level overview of the first method in the video, but here's an example of the "regular" method in more detail.

If you've had a hard time getting a consistent lap with the "regular" method, you'll want to see this! I also think it's a great method for first-timers to learn, too, since it's easier to get it right!

Watch on Vimeo | YouTube

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Video produced by Amanda Glaeser. 

Shift Dress Sew Along: Stitching Darts

In this video, I show you how to stitch the darts for Simplicity 3833. I cover how to sew the front dart in detail and then end by showing you how to sew the double point dart on the back.

Watch on Vimeo | YouTube

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Video produced by Amanda Glaeser. 

Shift Dress Sew Along: Bodice Front Seams and Topstitching

Today we'll be assembling the pieces that make up the front part of Simplicity 3833. These are marked as pieces 1 and 2 in your pattern. I'll go into more detail today on how I sew seams than any other day so you know the method I use the rest of the sew along.

Assembling the 3 Pieces of the Bodice Front 

With right sides together, pin and stitch the center front seam (piece 2). I use a piece of blue painter's tape to help me keep a consistent seam allowance as I go.

Press open the seam. 

Next, finish the edges of your seams. I serge each side of the seam flap separately so I can keep it pressed open. Don't have a serger? No problem! See alternative seam finishes from Sew Mama Sew. 

Here's what the seam looks like once finished and both sides are serged. 

Next, stitch the top of the bodice (piece 1) to the bottom of the bodice that you just sewed (piece 2). Take care to match the notches and center front. You'll see the dart legs are still open on either side when you finish. Finish the seam. Here, I've serged both sides together because I will be pressing both seam flaps the same direction. Press the seam.

Topstitching

Next you'll be top stitching the two seams that you just sewed. You can use a fancy edge foot for your topstitching that will help guide you. I like to use my regular foot. I put the edge of the foot up against the seam line, and then I adjust my needle all the way over to the left. I lengthen the stitch a little.

This is what the top stitching will look like when finished. I chose a contrasting pink thread. Go slow to make sure you stay even as you stitch.

That's it for today! Next up, stitching the darts. 

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Back, Shoulder, and Arm Adjustments

Melody of the Melody Sews just posted up a wonderful series of tutorials for Simplicity 3833 on how to do the following adjustments, and know if you need them:

• Broad Back 
• Broad Shoulder
• Square Shoulder
• Large Arm

See the post.  Thanks, Melody! This is really sensational!

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Stay Stitching and Tracing Darts

Hooray! Today is the first day of sewing for the shift dress sew along! Let's get started, shall we?

Stay Stitching

Stay stitching is stitching along a single layer of fabric on a curved area, such as the neckline. It prevents the fabric from stretching as you're constructing the garment. We'll be stay stitching in 3 places. A few items to note: 

• Stay stitching is done 1/8" from the edge of the seam allowance. So we'll be stitching at 1/2".
• Direction matters. Sew in the direction indicated in the diagrams below. 
• If you make a mistake while stay stitching, don't rip it out. That will just stretch the fabric more.
• Unlike a basting stitch, this is a permanent stitch that will stay in your garment. 

Tracing Darts

To transfer the darts, we'll be using wax tracing paper. The kind I'm using below comes from Joann's Fabrics. You want the waxy side to go onto the wrong side of your fabric, where you want the marks to show. By folding the paper in half, you can do both sides at once.

I find the wax paper from Joann's isn't very dark, so I use a ruler along with my tracing wheel and go over it a few times. There's a bit of a curve to the dart lines on the front bodice, so I used my french curve ruler. 

When you're finished, you'll see dotted lines the color of your waxed paper that show you where to stitch your darts. 

Now, repeat this process for the back darts. Also make sure you've clipped your notches as well as the top of the sleeve head. 

Next up, we'll assemble our bodice front. 

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Shift Dress Sew Along: Pattern Alterations for the Plus-Sized Figure

Today's post is from Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. Carolyn is an experienced sewist who has been blogging her sewing adventures since 2006. She is passionate about getting more fashionable plus-size sewing patterns, and has a wealth of knowledge with a wonderful wardrobe! 

The first thing I do when I get a new pattern is take out the pattern instructions and read them. This is often times done days before I actually begin any work on the garment. I need the time to think through the pattern alterations and any construction changes that I want to make to the pattern. So that was the first thing that I did with this pattern.

After reviewing the instructions, I realized that the darts incorporated into the seam of the skirt and bodice could present some challenges especially for a plus-size bustline. Lauren has already addressed the full bust adjustment on her blog with a supplies list and a wonderful gif that perfectly illustrates how the FBA should work.

When making this change, Lauren has added inches to the dress front which will also address any extra abdomen issues that you may have. There was a question about how much width that would add to the dress front. Personally, I would not take that extra width out of the side.

I would leave it alone and cut up the front piece on the side, up to but not all the way to the top, overlap the additional inches added from the hemline up. That would leave the extra space needed for the FBA and abdomen, yet reduce the amount of added inches at the hemline and sides. See pics below…

Added space in the skirt pattern for FBA alterations

Sliced part on the left side of the skirt piece

Preparing to Make the Alterations

But I'm getting ahead of myself...after I cut out my pattern pieces, I always, always, always lay them down on my TNT (tried and true) dress pattern to make sure that they will fit my body. If they don't, I work from there with this checklist ~

• Bust points do they match? Are they near each other? Do I need to move them? 
• I remove all darts except the ones pointing towards my bustline. Why? Because I personally don't like them emphasizing my derriere or my abdomen - but - and I emphasize this is my personal choice and if you're not as well endowed in those areas as I am, please feel free to use them. Because as we know, we all carry our weight differently. 
• Check length of the pattern versus my dress' length. I know that this length works for me and I don't deviate from it. 
• The sleeve's bicep width is checked and measured against my sleeve pattern to insure that I've got enough room. If not, I use this method to increase the width. 
• I will need to add inches to this dress to get it around my body. The pattern only goes up to a size 22 and it seems like a slim 22. 

I'm sure now that you're annoyed because you may not have a TNT dress pattern. If not, I highly suggest that you check those things too...especially the bust point...where the dart begins and ends is integral to the design of the dress.

My TNT dress pattern laying on the cutting table waiting 

to be used as a base for the pattern alterations.

Laying pattern pieces on top of my TNT dress pattern

My Actual Alterations

Since I'm not doing an FBA, I sliced the front of my skirt piece from hem to the lengthen/shorten line.

Spread it so that covered my TNT pattern. Added tracing paper to the pattern so that I could manually add in the inches I'm missing by using my TNT dress pattern as the base.

Traced the additional inches that I need from my pattern unto the skirt pattern.

For the bodice, I sliced it apart 4" from the bottom of the pattern piece. Then I pinned it to the top of my TNT dress pattern and swung it around until the shoulder seam matched my pattern pieces shoulder seam. This will change the neckline opening but I'm okay with that because this is a neckline that works for me. A new bodice front was made from the top by putting a new piece of tracing paper over these pieces. Then I traced the parts I needed from the Simplicity pattern and from my TNT dress pattern to get a new bodice piece.

Then both new pieces were placed on top of my TNT dress pattern to check to make sure that they worked.

I will tell you that I'm a little concerned about where the bust dart will fall. It's a little lower than I'd like so much so that I'm thinking of making a muslin of the dress front to insure that all of these alterations work. But these are the pattern alterations I've made to my pattern and where I'm at in the making of the dress.

Conclusion

These alterations are real specific to my body. I hope that between the FBA instructions that Lauren has already posted and the alterations I've made to my pattern that you as a plus size sewist will see something that clicks and works for you. It is really hard to list a bunch of general alterations for this dress. I kind of feel like a good sewing book or YouTube video could help you with that…but if you actually have a dress pattern that works for you...start there!

Start there because the ease you like will already be included in the pattern. The dress length will be where you like to wear your dress and so many decisions that need to be made when altering a pattern will already be done.

Finally here are the fabrics that I plan to use to make my version of Simplicity 3833 - a lightweight creamy ivory wool crepe for the top and the burgundy/orange acrylic tweed blend for the dress skirt.

I truly hope that these alterations have been helpful to you. If you decide to add a sleeve, and need alterations, this post should help. I didn't offer back alterations because the same alterations to the front should apply minus the dart, but I will be posting even more detailed information to my blog as I construct my dress. Please feel free to ask here or there and I will attempt to answer questions as best I can.

I look forward to seeing the bevy of completed dresses to come!

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