Finally! I'm posting the tutorial! I think you will really enjoy this pattern. It is SO girly and springy and summery. Love it! If you have not purchased your supplies you can still hop over to
Banberry Place and buy the pattern and fabric. I think what I like best about this pattern and the fabric is I feel like I made my daughter a dress you could easily find at Nordstrom's for almost half the price. Okay on to the tutorial. It's a bit of a novel so hold on to your hats! .
Supplies
First make sure you have all of your basic sewing supplies. In addition to those supplies you will need 2 pencils, a rubber band and tracing paper. I use freezer paper for the tracing paper because its always available at my grocery store and its fairly cheap. As for the dress you will need the yardage of fabric indicated on the pattern, matching thread, an invisible zipper and elastic. I used 1/4 inch wide elastic.
Tracing and Cutting
For the straps and dangling strips of fabric you will need to cut 3-4 long strips of 1.5 inch wide fabric. For accuracy I used my rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
Trace all the pattern pieces. I used two pencils rubber-banded together to trace all my pieces because as you trace the pattern with one pencil you are also adding the seam allowance with the other. It's approximately a 3/8 inch seam allowance. With that said I highly recommend you trace the bodice with some extra seam allowance. The bodice is fitted and you will be totally annoyed if you find it is smaller than you anticipated and you have to chunk your work. I would recommend making a muslin of just the 8 bodice pieces to check for sizing on your little one. I didn't do that and traced the 3/8 inch seam allowance with my two pencils and had a close call. Phew glad it worked out! So trace the pattern pieces with extra seam allowance, 5/8 inch or so instead of 3/8 inch, and make a muslin for the 8 bodice pieces after you complete all your cutting.
Once all your tracing is completed cut out all your pieces. You might notice some funny names or phrasings on the pieces where translation didn't quite work. The bodice pieces are straightforward enough, just a couple of them have the names switched around. The skirt tier pieces are called flounces but that conjures up images of gentle ruffles to me. The flounces on this dress ARE ruffles technically and I kept them named as flounces on my pattern pieces pictured above for tracing continuity, but I think the word tier might be more familiar so that will be the name I use for the flounces in my written description. I traced the skirt tiers on freezer paper but actually used my rotary cutter and mat with ruler over the pattern pieces for the skirt to have cleaner edges on the skirt tier pieces. It's not necessary but I find it nice to work with clean cut edges. I am not a straight cutter or tracer for that matter! For the bottom tier, you may want to add an extra 1/4 or 3/8 inch seam allowance if you plan to turn it under 2 times to finish the edge. I rolled my hem so I did not add seam allowance. So finish cutting all your pieces and ***
transfer all the markings*** from the pattern pieces to your cut fabric pieces and get ready to sew! Yay!
Finish the Edges of the Fabric Strips
For the 3 strips finish the edges all the way around, then cut one in half and finish the ends. If you want them to be longer you will need to sew four strips together and cut into 3 strips and finish the edges all the way around, cut one of them in half, then finish the ends. I rolled the hems on my serger. You can also use your rolled hem foot on your sewing machine. If you do not have those two options you can cut the strips wider and turn the edges twice to cover up the raw edges. You will now have 4 strips of fabric with finished edges - 2 long and two short. Set aside.
Assemble the Bodice
Starting with your muslin assemble the 4 bodice pieces in the front and the 4 bodice pieces in the back. Be sure to use your markings to line up the pieces and pin in place. Your pieces for the front once assembled should be ordered: side front, center front, center front, side front. Your pieces for the back once assembled should be ordered: side back, center back, center back, side back. Use your facing pieces to compare the bodice front and back to be sure you assembled them in the right order. Attach the bodice piece front to the bodice piece back on one side. It really doesn't matter which side. Leave the other side open for the zipper you are going to assemble. Stop hyperventilating -- it's not that hard to install a zipper. I promise. Check for accuracy on your little model. If all is well, cut and sew the bodice pieces of your actual dress fabric. Complete the front and back bodice. Make the tie straps by folding the tie fabric in half with right sides together. Sew 2 long and one short edge on each tie. Clip the corners at an angle on the short sewn ends and turn the ties right side out. Attach the ties to the front of the bodice using the marked spots on the front of the bodice. Attach front and back bodice on one side. Set aside. Assemble the facing pieces along the same side you assembled the front and bodice pieces. Attach the facing to the bodice at the top, trim the seam allowance along the peaks and clip the seam allowance toward the seam in the valleys. Flip the facing to the inside of the bodice, iron and top stitch.
Zipper Installment and Tier Assembly
Assemble the first tier of the skirt by sewing it together on one side of the short ends, sewing a gathering stitch (the pattern calls this wrinkling) and gathering the strip. Attach it to the bodice and sew in place. Sew the tier starting from the bottom edge up 3 inches or so toward the bodice but do not sew all the way to the bodice. Use your zipper to gauge if you have sewn far enough. Close enough is really okay. Now being 2 inches away from the zipper is not okay -- you need to get closer than that but if you are off a quarter inch or so it's really okay.
Now I have tried several instruction sets on installing zippers and I really just had to come up with my own method of installing a zipper. If this does not make sense by all means use the instructions in your sewing machine's sewing manual, the instructions on the zipper packet, or whatever source you can find that makes better sense. I am a novice at sewing clothing so I do not have perfect methodology or all the answers. I am just sharing what works for me.
Before sewing your zipper in place on the bodice you need to iron the zipper open. You goal in ironing the zipper is to get the teeth not to curl in toward the attached fabric it comes on. You want to flatten it out as much as possible without melting it, ruining your iron, or your ironing board cover. Just get it to not lie down so tightly and your zipper foot should be able to do the rest. Don't do this on your highest heat setting -- turn it down quite a bit and play with increasing the heat from there. Okay so that's my non scientific method anyway! After preparing your zipper, lay the zipper right side up next to the right side up bodice edge. Do this only to orient yourself with the zipper. Now look at your zipper and consider that side the 'right side' just like you would fabric. You want those touching edges to be the first side of the zipper you install. You want to flip the zipper over the bodice edge 'right sides' together. Pin the zipper in place, making sure you using the top of the zipper teeth as your matching top edge, not the top edge of the fabric on the zipper. In other words, the zipper comes with a tail -- don't use the tail as your matching edge for the bodice. Locate the top of the zipper teeth and use that as your guide. You can take care of the tail later. My picture shows the pins running more or less parallel to the zipper teeth -- you really should pin the pins perpendicular to the zipper teeth. You will have an easier time sewing. Now some like to hand-baste the zipper in place. I have never done that, but you are welcome to do that as well. Using your zipper foot, sew down the side of the zipper. I press the zipper foot against the zipper to open up whatever I could not get opened with my iron and I try to get the needle as close as possible to the zipper teeth. Be careful not to sew over the zipper teeth or you will have to rip out stitches. Once you get to the end, tie down your stitch and remove the bodice from the machine. Pin the zipper to the other side of you bodice and really take care to have the teeth match up or you will have to rip out your zipper on the second side. Sew down your zipper on the second side. Once finished sew across your zipper perpendicularly at the very end of the zipper opening to tie down the zipper tail. You can trim off the excess zipper if you want, then trim or tack or sew down the zipper tail at the top of the bodice. I tend to sew it down a few stitches to keep the point where the bodice lining and seam allowance and zipper all come together. The stitches are not noticeable and it keeps that intersection of fabrics lying down flat.
Assemble the remaining 3 tiers. Each tier should be assembled by attaching them at the short ends to form a circle and then gathering them on the top edge. The final tier is really a ruffle because it is gathered tighter than the other tiers and of course because it is only attached on one side, not both. Finish the bottom edge of the ruffle before gathering it by turning it under 2 times or by rolling the hem on your serger or sewing machine. I rolled the hem on my sewing machine using my rolled hem foot. Attach the tiers in order to the dress. Almost done!
Attach and Gather the Straps and Strips of Fabric
Before you get started, a note about the dangling fabric strips. These fabric strips can get caught and pull and rip off your dress and rip your dress fabric. Two sewists who have sewn up this pattern let me know this had happened on their little girls' dresses. One suggested putting clear elastic all the way down the fabric strips and I think that is a great idea. I could not find clear elastic in my local stores though so I went ahead and followed the pattern's instructions. My daughter has only worn it a couple of times and so far so good. I just wanted you to be aware of their experiences. Another option you could consider is just completely sew down the strips to the dress all together. It would look very cute and be less precarious. I will give you the original design instructions in case you want to go for it like I did. Just don't say I didn't warn you! =D Now pull out the ruffle strips.The two long ruffled strips are going to be gathered with elastic to serve as the straps and the dangling strips on left and right sides of the bodice center on the front and back. The two short strips will be the strips down the center of the front and back of the dress. Fold the long strips in half and find the center. Cut two pieces of elastic about 4 inches long. Find the center of the elastic pieces. Take one long strip and one piece of elastic and pin the centers together. Then take one end of the elastic, stretch it as far as it will go (they suggest 20 cm but my elastic would not stretch that far) and pin to the straightened fabric strip. Repeat for the other end of elastic. Repeat for the other strap. With the elastic stretched, sew the elastic to each fabric strip. Gather the remaining ends of the strips as well as the short strips with a gathering stitch. Attach the long gather strips to the bodice taking care to measure on your model how long the should straps straps need to be. I attached my strips to the bodice right at the elastic ends. Sew down your gathered strips along the seams of the bodice. It's really up to you how far you want to sew them down -- I stopped at the bottom of the bodice.
Your dress is now finished and ready for your undoubtedly very excited little girl who has been watching your progress. Enjoy!
This tutorial can also be found on Banberry Place's blog as well in a link in my sidebar.
Jenny Fish
www.sewprettydresses.blogspot.com
.
