Wednesday 19 March 2014

A Tip from an Old Pattern


This is one of the old dress patterns that I have stored away in my cupboard.  I made a dress from it a few years ago, and learnt a very handy tip from it.  The bodice has a seam allowance of over an inch - I can't remember how wide exactly - and the instructions say that when sewing the skirt to the bodice, the edge of the skirt should be well below the edge of the bodice.

This explains why on my last post about the little red dress that I am making, the skirt and bodice are not tacked edge to edge.



Once the seam has been machine stitched, all you need to do is fold over the bodice seam allowance and enclose the raw edges.  It is much less fuss and less bulky than using bias binding.

All I have left to do on the dress now are the buttonholes, buttons and hem...

Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday

5 comments:

  1. That's clever! You not only learned something from the past but now I learned from you from the past! Cool as always you
    Leeanna Paylor
    lapaylor.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great idea!! I'll have to remember this. :)

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  3. I have seen this tip in the Singer Sewing book, if you read about ruffles. It is also in more detail (with other methods) in the book they did for sewing students, but I don't have that one.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Anonymous,

      Yes, you are right. I have checked my copy of the book, a 1972 edition, and found the illustrations relating to frills applied to an edge, where this method of neatening is used. It seems they have missed a trick in not showing this method being used on a waist seam. To neaten the edge of seam where a gathered skirt is attached to a bodice, they suggest an extra line of stitching and pinking (so fraying will be inevitable) or overcasting by hand, or a line of zigzagging. None of these methods would do the job half so well.

      Love, Muv

      Delete

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