Tres Chic Sundress

I know  it's hard to imagine a sundress in the middle of December!! I made this dress in May of 2011 and wanted to share it with you!!

I saw this cute Eiffel Tower fabric and I just couldn't pass it up. So quickly, while in the sewing store, I came up with an idea for a sundress. I purchased extra wide elastic to sew a skirt onto a tank top.

Eiffel Tower Dress

To assemble the dress:

1. Decide where you want the elastic waistband to fall. Mark the tank after adding a 1/2 inch for the seam allowance. Surge the bottom edge of the tank being careful not to stretch the knit fabric too much. If you don't have a surger, turn up and hem the bottom of the tank or just make the skirt and don't attach it to the tank. Mark center front, center back and right and left sides (if your tank doesn't have side seams).

2. Cut your fabric to the desired skirt length leaving enough for a hem and top seam allowance. Place right sides together and sew a side seam. Surge the seam if desired. Press seam open. Mark the top of the skirt in quarters to use later to match up to side seams and center front and back.

3. Take elastic and cut to desired waist measurement adding about a 3/4 inch overlap. Sew elastic together by lapping one end over the top of the other. Sew a zig zag stitch to secure. Mark center front, center back and sides with a fabric marking pencil or use pins.

4. Sew two lines of basting gathering stitches at the top of the skirt. For a more finished look, I surged the top of my skirt first or you can use a wide zig zag stitch if you don't have a surger. Pin right side of skirt to wrong side of elastic. Gather fabric matching centers and sides. Use a basting stitch to sew fabric to elastic removing pins as you go. Use "stretch stitch" setting on sewing machine to secure skirt fabric to elastic. This stitch should allow you to stretch the elastic without breaking the threads. You may need to stretch the elastic a tiny bit while sewing. Test this using scraps. Ripping out stretch stitches from elastic is quite challenging. Remove basting stitches.

5. Repeat this technique for attaching the elastic to the tank.

6. Hem bottom of skirt.

Happy sewing!!

Seam Allowance

When sewing up a garment from a pattern, be sure to know the suggested seam allowance. Some patterns have a 5/8 seam allowance while others have a 3/8 seam allowance. It can make a huge difference in the size of the finished garment.

I speak from experience!

Happy sewing!

Marking and Sewing Pleats and Darts

Have you ever wondered how to transfer the pleat marks from your pattern to the fabric. Well, for me it has always posed a bit of a challenge until I discovered this trick. That funny little tracing wheel and tracing paper never worked for me. I always had a difficult time seeing my markings.

For this, you'll need a small ruler and a fabric marking pencil. I have red fabric, so I'm using a light gray pencil. You can also use a washable or erasable fabric marker. Just be sure you carefully follow the directions on how to remove the temporary markings.

Take the tip of your pencil and place it on the tracing line. Take your ruler and butt it up against the pencil making sure to align the ruler with the marking. Your ruler will be slightly off-set from the pattern's marking line. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. I haven't mastered taking photos with one hand yet!

Now, hold your pencil tip at the farthest left edge of the pattern pleat marking. While holding your pencil and ruler steady yet loose, slide the pattern away and draw your line along the ruler to the edge of the fabric.

Continue this for each pleat marking needed.

What I like to do is to flip the fabric over and mark the other side too. You can push the tip of a pin through the fabric to help you line up your markings. It doesn't have to be perfect either, but it's important that they lines are very close to matching on both sides of the fabric. Marking both sides of the fabric will give you a guide in which to sew.

Now pin the pleats one at a time and sew. (My pattern shows three pleats.)

To match up the pleat marking lines. Push your pin through one side, pinch the fabric and then push the pin through the line on the other side. These lines are the sewing lines.

Although my lines are a little faint in the above photo, you can see I've got my sewing machine needle lined up right on the pleat marking line. I always sew pleats and darts from the raw edge of the fabric towards the fold. On this particular type of pleat, the pattern had me stop just before reaching the end of the fabric. Other types of pleats or darts will have you sew to the edge. Make sure you read the directions on your pattern carefully.

When you are finished, remove the temporary marks before pressing the pleats with your iron.

Great job!!

This sewing demonstration is the bust pleat from the Simplicity Pattern 2217.

Please leave a comment if you need additional help or have another way to mark and sew pleats or darts!

Happy sewing!!