How you handle the edges of a doll dress can change the look of the dress. I am going to cover several basic ways to finish edges on a doll dress beyond the basic fold over a quarter inch and machine hem, otherwise known as a single fold hem. Very basic, (a word my older daughter uses as an insult).
This is a blog post on how to line a garment. You may have notice that in some of the garments I make it is lined. Like this post on how to sew tweed skirt and making a kick pleat Lining a garment can be quite easy and can be tricky as well. The basic […]
Find online sewing businesses based in the UK, plus hundreds of free sewing projects, technique guides and features on the Sewing Directory. The site for people who love to sew.
The Todea Dress free sewing pattern can be made with a variety of fabrics to suit your style. Try a silk charmeuse to hop on the lingerie-inspired trend, or opt for a bamboo jersey for chic comfort!
Modern & Mindful Quilting Taking time to enjoy the process of quilting. Combine slow stitching, different techniques and modern designs to make quilts and accessories that can be used in everyday life. If you love
Buy Washed Corduroy 4.5 wale. Jumbo cord in Olive 43. Sold by the metre by trusted UK retailer with free samples available.
Instead of getting rid of a pair of jeans that is too small in the waist, make them comfortable again by altering the waistband to fit.
As the weather begins to turn and our creativity begins to thaw, The Beaufort Peplum Ensemble free sewing pattern comes to us like a dream, taking its name
Melange Knit Fabric - now available at the UK's lowest price! A medium-weight melange knit fabric which stretches greater in one direction. This soft and stretchy fabric would be ideal for all sorts of dressmaking projects including cardigans, dresses, skirts and more! Available in 14 colours. The Ivory variant of this fabric does not have a noticeable melange effect, however, it features the same stretch and texture as all other variants. Composition: 95% Polyester 5% Elastane Weight: 200gsm Width: 59 inches (150cm) Stretch: 4 way stretch (greater stretch across the width) This fabric has a minimum order quantity of 2 metres UK’S BEST PRICE GUARANTEE!
Who doesn't love wide-leg printed pants? I know I do! Check out Mood's newest pattern, the Liv Pants. Add these to your transitional wardrobe with a bright
Stitch up Mood's free sewing pattern, The Cory Jacket, when you need to stay cute and covered up during spring rain showers!
Pt. I: The A B C of dress. -- Pt. II: A B C of dressmaking
Neckline binding is my favourite neckline finish for knits. In today's Briar sewalong, we'll be showing you our method for creating a neckline binding.
Our 4.5 Wale corduroy refers to the pile, this fabric has a chunky distinctive pile often referred to as the nap. This corduroy is a non stretch, velvet soft feel woven cotton fabric, suitable for lots of dressmaking garments, like trousers, jumpsuits, jackets and shirts. This fabric is also great for upholstery projects, very durable for decorative cushions and furniture covering! The 'Wale' of the corduroy refers to the column of loops that run lengthwise and corresponds to the warp of the fabric. 4.5 Wale Corduroy - Navy Composition: 100% Cotton Width: 142cm/ 56'' Weight: 280gsm Drape: Structured Project: Worker Trousers, Harlene Dungarees, The grove homeware patterns
Don't stress over the tension dials on your sewing machine. Find out when and how to set and adjust thread tension.
This White Frilled Nylon Lace Trim is a delicately gathered, scalloped edge buttercup lace. This trim is ideal for circular items as the gathers give the lace a natural curve that is perfect for hems.
Neckline binding is my favourite neckline finish for knits. In today's Briar sewalong, we'll be showing you our method for creating a neckline binding.
I've had quite a few emails asking for fitting help so I'm going to delve into some common fitting adjustments here on the blog. If you have a question that isn't covered, throw it into the comments so other people can benefit from the hive mind! It's clearly your lucky day as I turned pictures of me in my bathing suit into drawings for illustrative purposes. This shows my underbust line, high waist line, low waist line, and an entirely accurate belly button. Although I am slimmer towards my underbust, the intended seam line of the pattern (The Zone) falls around the high waist (if it was at the underbust it would become empire line which might indeed be cute but is not how I designed it). Like a lot of people that may or may not have had children, things become 'less streamlined' below my high waist so the seam falling above and the drape of the skirt should skim over that and be more flattering. How do you find your Zone? When drafting for grown-ups, there's no way to make a golden pattern that will fit everyone without adjustments. Not only are people different heights and sizes, but the distribution of their body parts varies wildly. The good news is that the Skater Dress only has one really important horizontal seam- the bodice / skirt seam. I am very short-waisted (that's actual me to the left), but I manipulated the pictures to show different torso builds for a proportional waist and a long waist. This is nothing to do with your overall height, but proportions. Although the busts are identical and the underbust lines even, the high waists and low waists shift incrementally. The standard pattern pieces for the Lady Skater are for the proportional waist in the middle, which means that even I have to make changes to my own pattern to fit me better! If you have experience of making adult clothes for yourself, you probably have a good idea of your body type but if you're new to this a really useful exercise is to do just as I have: take a photo of yourself in your bathing suit or tight fitting clothes and trace around it. Find your underbust, high waist, low waist, and hip lines and look at how they are distributed. If you're still having having trouble conceptionalising, here are some (fast and loose) indications that you might have to tinker with your bodice length: Your overall height. The pattern is graded for a 5'5" woman. If you are shorter than 5'5" or taller than 5'5" you will probably need to utilise the lengthen / shorten line on the bodice. Your torso proportions. Again, this takes some body awareness and experience, but if you are short or long waisted you will need to adjust the bodice piece to remove or add height. Bust size. This is the least important factor of the three but if you are of the small to average bust you might need to shorten your bodice as less of the fabric is being used to go up and over the breasts. Equally, very large busts might need to add length to the front bodice piece / remove length from the back bodice to have an evenly hanging hemline. Bodice length adjustments might be something that you're able to do to the pattern before sewing, but you might find that locating your Zone is only achievable after muslining the bodice. If you've made the bodice and tried it on, is it hitting you at your high (natural) waist? Is it too close to your underbust? Is it clinging or pooling somewhere closer to your low waist because it's too long? Lengthening your bodice This is probably the most straight-forward change to make! All you need to do is split the pattern all the way across the lengthen line, add height with a piece of paper underneath, and smooth your side seams. The grey section is what you've added. Make sure you do the same change to your front and back bodice. Shortening your bodice Split your bodice along the shorten line, pull the bottom section up so that it overlaps with the top section (keeping the fold line aligned), and then smooth out your side seam. The grey section shows the overlap. Make sure you do the same change to your front and back bodice. I'm happy with my front bodice length but my back bodice is hanging lower / I'm having pooling centre back: As per my tutorial instructions, I highly recommend that you muslin the bodice before cutting precious hoarded fabric. When you make the bodice to ascertain if the waistline is hitting 'The Zone', you might notice when turning sideways that the back bodice is hanging lower than the front. Or- you might not notice until your final dress is finished and you want to know how to fix it. Uneven hems can be very common, particularly if you're busty. Now, I did a sway back adjustment to every size of the master pattern to try to counteract this but your own proportions might mean that you need to make further adjustments. Like the lengthen and shorten instructions above, what you need to do is slash your pattern along the lengthen / shorten line but do not cut through your size line on the side seam, only cut very close to it. Swing the lower section upwards so that you are overlapping the upper section at the centre back. This probably won't need to be a huge overlap (3/4" to 1"), and tape in place. The centre edge of the lower section will swing over the vertical fold line. Return this line to vertical and (if required) add the same amount of width that you removed at the centre vertical to the side seam. The sway back adjustment is essentially taking a wedge out of centre back to reduce pooling, nothing else is changing in a major way. Depending on how much you removed, you might need to smooth your bottom seam line so it's convex rather than a harsh angle. If you only found this pooling after your entire dress was complete, try it on inside out and with the help of a friend pull the back bodice / skirt seam up until the hem is even and pin in place. Seam-rip along the centre back (the side seams should be unaffected), remove the excess to the back bodice piece and re-sew. If you find pooling both at the front and the back your bodice is too long. My high bust and waist aren't the same sizes: When you are measuring your high bust and high waist, you might find that your high bust corresponds to a different size than your waist. The above picture shows smoothing the side seam between smaller bust / larger waist and larger bust / smaller waist. When blending sizes, the majority of the extra room happens in the bust where its needed. Depending on your fabric choice and your cup size, you might find that you need more room in the bust only. Using a fabric with less stretch capacity like interlock or jersey without lycra might result in a drag line across the full bust. Fixing this is almost the same as blending a larger bust to smaller waist except you're doing it to the front bodice only. Adding extra width to the armhole and upper bodice means that you'll have to also add the same amount to the front sleeve so it fits. If the front bodice side seam becomes slightly longer than the back bodice side seam, ease the extra length into the top half of the seam where the bust is. **EDITED TO ADD ANOTHER ONE BASED ON COMMENTS** Shortening the shoulder height / Upper bust height: If you find that after making a bodice muslin that there is pooling above your bust towards the sleeve hole, or that the sleeve cap is sitting funky off your shoulder cap, you might need to shorten your shoulder height or shoulder width. With your bodice muslin on inside out, pinch the shoulder seam to bring it up and pin out the excess. On your paper pattern, match the amount you pinned out to the corresponding smaller size (for example, if you pinned 1/4" below the shoulder seam you would go down one size to both the front and back bodices, 1/2" goes down two sizes, etc). Use that armscye / sleeve hole but when you get to the side seam increase the width to your original size. In the picture above (as per Lyn's adjustments in the comments!), I'm showing how to use the upper bust and shoulder of a size 3 with the width of the size 6 in the lower bodice. Use the sleeve of the smaller size but add the extra width at the front and back corners to reflect the size of your lower bodice. I hope all of this helps! If you have a question about fitting that I haven't covered, chuck it in the comments. Pin It Tweet
Don't stress over the tension dials on your sewing machine. Find out when and how to set and adjust thread tension.
Liz Haywood shares how to add a Dior pleat to your next garment What is a Dior Pleat? A Dior pleat looks like an inverted pleat. It’s mainly used on pencil skirts instead of a back split or vent and looks very stylish. It’s easy to add one to a skirt pattern you already have or to convert a regular back vent to a Dior
Create the perfect look with The Vixen Slip Dress Free Sewing Pattern: a meticulous masterpiece that perfectly embodies sustainable luxury. As prom season
Adorably oversized, this new free jumpsuit sewing pattern can easily bring you from spring to summer to fall!
These steamy movies on Prime Video are as hot as they come, and they're all free if you have a Prime account. Stream them as soon as tonight, here.
Simple 6-piece sun hat, many students know how to do at a glance, the most important thing is the paper pattern, the following special to provide you
Learn how to sew a zipper with these 6 helpful tips. Sewing in a zipper will be easy on your next sewing project.
Mood Fabrics offers free sewing patterns for men and women. Begin creating your own stylish clothing, accessories, and home decor.
Sew these vintage sewing patterns and recreate 100 years of fashion. Remember fashion history with these real vintage sewing patterns!
It’s time to redefine relaxation and home apparel with our new free sewing pattern: The Missoni Inspired Tamera Loungewear Set. With cozy season just around
Welcome the summer in easy, breezy style with The Tundra Shirt Dress Free Sewing Pattern!
The spaghetti straps, grommet closures, and tie-up back are feminine and sultry; however, you can choose to go strapless or use a zipper, if desired.
We're so excited to debut the highly requested Anthea Milkmaid Dress free sewing pattern, perfect for cottagecore sewing projects!
Meet Lois – our newest pattern and pretty much my dream dress. We’ve been saving this one for a September release because it’s everything a spring dress should be – floaty, flirty and just a little bit sexy. Lois was...
The Myrtle Shorts sewing pattern features a high, pleated waist and an inseam that could be easily shortened or lengthened to suit your style!
