Party Dress part 1

Let me start off by saying I am in no way a professional seamstress.  I learned to sew through trial and error and my techniques may not always be "correct".  Feel free to correct me if I am wrong or you have a better suggestion.  I promise I won't be offended and I'm always down for learning new things.  I guess first off you need a pattern, there are plenty available all over the internet but for this tutorial you can use this one from Puchi Collective , download it from their site don't use the one I have here it is not to scale. 

The top of the dress is called the bodice.  I like to cut this out and trace it on a piece of sturdy card stock.  See that fold line?  I don't like folding so I flip the cut out bodice and trace the other side.  That is the bodice outline.  Then I cut out the sewing lines (see the dotted lines 1,3,6) that creates the sewing lines.

My sewing lines are a little different because I'm using my own pattern but I promise it's the same process.

Now you will need to trace your cardboard pattern onto your lining fabric.  I always use white kona cotton but you can use whatever makes your boat float.

Now onto the fun part... pick your fabrics!

Here are my outside and lining fabric pieces

Put your lining fabric on top of your outside fabric. (the pattern sides facing each other)

Now place the pattern you made from the sewing lines on top.

Trace it onto your lining fabric.  I use this mark-b-gone pen, you just dab a damp paper towel on it and it disappears.

Now onto the sewing.  

The most important tip I can give is #1 use sharp new needles.  I change mine out all the time, it makes a huge difference especially when you are making things so small.  I have a jar full of new needles because you can never have too many.

Tip #2 use a small stitch.  I have a digital machine so I set mine to about 1.6 if you have a dial turn it down to a small stitch, I'm sure it's different for each machine.  

After you sew you will need to cut off all that extra.

Tip #3 Use as much seam allowance as possible.  Especially if your machine has a tendency to eat your fabric.  This is where you might need to modify your patterns to give yourself some more wiggle room.  See where you are suppose to sew?  The back, neck, and armpit area.  Don't sew the lines on the sides of the arm hold just the where I cut it.. see it looks like a little hill.

Now you need to turn it right side out.  I use tweezers.  The thinner you make the shoulder area (it's between the armpit and the neck in the pic above) the harder this thing will be to turn.  Don't rush it, you don't want to rip the fabric and start over right?

Once it's right side out it will look like this:

Fold one side down

Now sew down the side.  You can kinda see the blue line in the photo above.

And now onto the other side.  I like to trim the excess with a pair of piking shears, you can also add some fray check too.

Flip it right side out and you have a bodice.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'll try and get part 2 up tomorrow.  We'll make the skirt portion, attach it to the bodice, and finish the whole thing off.

Mull all this over... give it a try...practice makes perfect...Ask your questions

There is also a GIVEAWAY for a FREE DRESS, just click this link

Here is Part 2

We make these tutorials in hopes they help people.  They are free to use for whatever you want, you can link back to them but don't steal them and pass them off as your own...that's just not nice.  

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