Showing posts with label
Dress a Girl Around the World.
Show all posts
Showing posts with label
Dress a Girl Around the World.
Show all posts
The straps are on...
... they are made from bias cut strips, each 36 inches long. I could have used broad bias binding, but I hadn't got any, so I had to cut my own strips. Each strip is 2 inches wide and folded in half, a double thickness binding. I could have cut them a bit broader, to measure say an inch and a half when folded, but any narrower than an inch would have been too fiddly.
The middle point of the strip needs to be lined up with the side seam, and I attached it to the inside of the dress on the underarm edge, with about a quarter of an inch seam allowance.
The side seam was pressed towards the back.
Then it was time to rethread the machine with thread to match the binding, and fold the binding over for the second line of stitching. Where the binding extends beyond the seam to form the shoulder strap, it is best to iron the fold down the centre of the strap before doing the stitching.
The second line of stitching is worked on the outside of the dress...
...and continues on along the edge of the strap.
Because the strap is cut on the bias, it can have a tendency to twist if it only has one line of stitching. For this reason I do a line of stitching along the folded edge also, and stitch across the end to prevent the raw edges fraying.
So all the dress needs now is a narrow hem around the bottom,
and it's finished.
Let's hope that somewhere in the world a little girl will be thrilled to wear it!
This time last year I had a great time at Cordial and Grace making dresses the charity Dress A Girl. This Friday it's all happening again.
Today I started a dress so I can post some instructions. This is the pattern I have used, which I have adapted from the pattern that can be printed off at LBG Studio. What I have done is added a bit of flare, and a curve to the hem, so the dress isn't so straight and a little girl can have more room for running.
Here are the dimensions for the top part of the pattern.
And here is the lower part of the pattern, showing the curve at the bottom edge.
And here are the measurements of the two vertical lines.
The pattern is placed on the fold of the material, and two pieces need to be cut out. The front and back of the dress are identical.
The first step was the two side seams. These need to be French seams, totally enclosing the raw edges and giving a hard wearing seam.
The seams need to be sewn from the top, the underarm, to the hem. If the pieces are not an exact match, then they can be cut and evened off at the hem edge.
The next bit to do is the top edges, which will have elastic inserted. First fold over and iron down just under a quarter of an inch.
Then fold over again to give a turning of three quarters of an inch.
The turning is then stitched down by machine, and I like to add an extra line of machining about an eighth of an inch from the folded edge.
Next, cut two lengths of elastic, each six inches long, and put a small safety pin at one end.
Insert the elastic, feeding the safety pin through the turning, until the end of the elastic is level with the edge of the turning. Machine stitch it in place. I always do three lines of stitching to be sure - elastic can fray and pull itself off the stitches if there is only a single line close to the end.
Now the fun starts at the other end. This is how to prevent the elastic pinging back and losing itself inside the turning. Pull the safety pin until the end of the elastic is level with the end of the turning, and hold the elastic in place with a large pin.
Now secure the elastic again with a safety pin. This means the first safety pin and the straight pin can be taken out, and the elastic stitched in place in the same way as the other end.
This is how the elasticated top edge looks when finished.
That's all for today! Tomorrow the shoulder straps will go on...
Welcome to Barbara, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
The first little dress for Dress-a-Girl is finished, and the second one only needs the shoulder straps to be added.
It's the dress I was making in the French seam video.
The pink straps look lovely with the turquoise. Shame I can't get away with those colours, they would be truly horrendous on me, but will be really sweet on a little girl.
A little while before Christmas Sew Scrumptious Louise nipped round here with a big bag of material. I chose these four lengths so I can play mix and match for the next dresses I make for Dress a Girl. I think I will start with the turquoise batik. There is a pattern on the LBG Studio website which I printed out last night. Somewhere I have elastic, it's still hiding, but soon enough I will be all set to start.
Don't get distracted by the giant sized strawberries. My husband got me a new ironing board cover for Christmas, a last minute purchase on impulse. Very loud, very girly, very funny that he chose it, I just had to show you.
A big welcome to Samantha, Alcea Rosea 31, Elizabeth Johnson and Karen Black. Thank you for following!
Karen is my latest doll quilt swap partner... while I am making the little dress I will be dreaming up a little quilt for her...
This morning Maria hung up a selection of the dresses that were made at Cordial and Grace yesterday. Here is the jolly little pink and green number I made on the Jones CS.
Next to it is a lovely dress with hand printed butterflies.
Some were decorated with appliqué flowers or butterflies.
It was a fantastic event for such a worthwhile cause. Louise of Sew Scrumptious was there, looking delighted at all the dresses being produced. She is the co-ordinator in this country for Dress a Girl Around the World. It's great to know that somewhere in the world little girls will be thrilled when they receive these dresses.
If you have been following the story about Maria's machine at the sewing café Cordial and Grace, you will remember that after cleaning it, the only needles I had for trying out the stitch were blunt.
Duncan has been following this blog for a while now, and very kindly sent Maria a couple of needles that he had spare, and also a photocopy of a manual for the Jones CS. It was a lovely surprise. Thank you, Duncan!
Anybody who needs replacement needles for a Jones machine can get them from Helen Howes. She has a fantastic website with all sorts of bits and pieces for vintage machines - I have put a link for her website on the sidebar so she is easy to find. Maria was going to get in touch with her, but running a cafe keeps her well occupied, and Duncan sent the needles before Maria had got round to contacting Helen.
The café was a hive of activity today for the first anniversary celebrations. Maria hosted a special event, making dresses for the Dress a Girl charity. All her electric machines were in use throughout the day, and for a couple of hours or so I gave the Jones CS a share of the action too. I took my friend Lily with me, who is nearly 10, and she helped me make a lovely little pink and green flowered dress.
I must nip in tomorrow for tea and cake and get some pictures of the fabulous dresses...
