"Free-hand" Sewing Series: Post#3: Putting It All Together

Don't miss the previous parts of this series, Designing Your Dress and Measuring and Cutting.

 

 You've designed your dress and cut it out. Now it's time to sew it together!

 

We'll start with the neckline facing. 

Match your facing to the neckline and stitch ~5/8" around it.

I cut the sides of the facing to keep them out of the way of the armhole.

 

Next, snip the curves of the neckline like this. Be careful not to snip your stitches, though! This will really help with the next step...

Turn your facing over into the inside of your dress.

If you have an iron, press it.

Next, top-stitch around your neckline. I did a ~3/8" top-stitch, but you can do narrower if you like.

 

 If you're doing a jumper, fold the armhole edge over twice and sew it down, as shown below:

 Next, sew the side seams...from the bottom of the armhole to the skirt.

Next, lay your dress out on the table or floor and position it where the folds are at the front and back instead of the side seams. The side seam will be in the middle now. The skirt should look like this:

Cut across the bottom in a gentle curve...

This will make sure that the sides of your dress don't hang down further than the middle of your dress.

Fold the hem of the skirt twice and sew it down. (The dress is now folded at the side seams again.)

For the sleeve option...

We'll start with a casing for elastic on the bottom of the sleeve. Remember to make your casing wider than your elastic. If you're using 1/4" elastic, make a 3/8" or 1/2" casing, and if you're using 1/2" elastic, consider a 5/8" or 3/4" casing, or whatever looks right to you. Remember to leave room for your seam, too!

 

 

You can do this next step on the machine, but I did it by hand. Baste (or make big stitches) along the top of your sleeve, and do not tie the end of your thread off.

Now gather...

 

Put your sleeve over the shoulder of your dress, like this:

The wrong side of the sleeve should be on the outside. Sew the sleeve on.

(I realize I should have removed the T-shirt on my dress form before doing this sleeve demonstration. Hopefully it will not be too confusing)

 Now you can turn it right-side out again...

 

Measure your upper arm (or wherever the hem of the sleeve will fall) with elastic, and add 1" to that measurement. Cut 2 pieces this length.

 

 Attach a safety pin to one end of your elastic and feed it into your sleeve hem/casing. Use the safety pin to guide your elastic through it, but

just before the other end of your elastic disappears into the casing, sew it down:

 

 

 When you've pulled it all the way through, sew the end down. 

 

Now you want to sew the bottom of the sleeve together. Make sure the seam is on the inside and that there's no gap between the armhole and the sleeve seam. This may be easiest done by hand.

 

 

The grand comparison...

 

 

This is the design I started sewing freehand dresses with. 

Nowadays I like to make 2 piece designs and circle dresses, which I may do some tutorials on in the future.

Hopefully you enjoyed this series and found it easy to follow. I realize this isn't the conventional sewing method, and that is why I call it "Freehand Sewing!"

Enjoy your Christmas!