Preventing Fraying

If only I had thought of this years ago I might have been more adventurous in my choice of fabrics when dressmaking.

This is a dupion silk skirt in its early stages.  I know from nerve-wracking experience that silk will fray as soon as you have cut it, and I didn't want to lose great chunks of the seam allowance every time I breathed in its general direction.

The solution was to lay, rather than pin, the pattern onto the fabric, and then draw the outline of the pattern with tailor's chalk.  I used a ruler and a tailor's curves to keep the lines neat.

Then I cut a little over half an inch beyond the chalk line and ironed on a strip of fusible interfacing.  I put the inner edge of the interfacing directly alongside the chalk line.

I made sure that I marked the notches...

...and the tops of darts.

The inevitable fraying will be stopped short once it reaches the interfacing, so I can now get on and sew the darts and insert the zip at my leisure.

When the time comes to sew the side seams, waistband and hem, then I shall cut along the chalk lines immediately before sewing.

Suddenly the whole project has become a lot less stressy.

Linking up to Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

Zip Tips Please...

Fear of zips, the dreaded zipphobia, is yet to be conquered.  Earlier this month I put the zip in to the fitted dress that I am making for my daughter.  It was not a happy experience.  I have never been keen on zips would rather have buttons and buttonholes any day, but I thought I should make the effort.

So here it is.  Mrs Perfectionist isn't altogether satisfied, but greatly consoled in the knowledge that daughter couldn't care less.

As you can see, the invisible zip is visible and will probably gape when the dress is on.

Also, the stitch holes are visible on the folded edges of the opening.  That is because I machine sewed the centre back seams first, of both the outer layer and the lining, with a large stitch, and sandwiched the zip between them before sewing it to the seam allowances on the inside.  The whole thing was a total faff that took hours, not helped by the fact that I needed to hand stitch the top and bottom where the sewing machine couldn't get into the fiddly corners.

I know that there are dressmakers out there who can insert invisible zips into lined dresses at the drop of a hat.  I searched the internet for a tutorial, and found a couple that helped, but really didn't tell the whole story. 

So does anyone know where I can find the Ultimate Invisible Zip With Linings Tutorial, the one that gives all the detail and doesn't leave you cussing?  Links please.

And by way of return, here is the Pin A Rip In A Teabag Tip. 

Remember, you saw it here first.


Update

Many thanks to Maga, who has emailed me within hours of this post with links to two blogs:-


Lilacs and Lace by Laura Mae, who shows how she inserts an invisible zip;


and two posts at Sewaholic by Tasia, who shows how she inserts a standard zip in a lined dress by using hand stitching.

Accurate Darts

Until now I have made garments with four or six darts. Bad enough.  Now that I am making a fitted and lined dress for my daughter I am hitting an all time record:-

4 tiny neck darts
2 bust darts
4 waist darts in the bodice
4 waist darts in the skirt

So, fourteen darts in the dress and the same number in the lining.  Twenty eight!  I didn't realise I was such a sucker for punishment.

Because it is important to get darts straight and exactly right size so each pair are an exact match, I am making tracings on tissue paper and using them as guides.

The first picture shows the pattern piece for the back of the skirt.  There is a central back seam, so I have cut two mirror image pieces for the garment.   To the left of the picture is the guide I have traced, with the central fold line of the dart on the left and the stitching line on the right.  Because I am making four of these darts in total, two on the dress and two on the lining, I have pinned three more strips of tissue underneath the top one so I can make all four guides at once. 

Next, with no cotton in the machine and the longest stitch setting, I stitch along the stitching line to make a perforated line.  It is important not to separate the four strips from each other at this stage, and the perforations help to bond the strips together. 

Then the guide has to have a clean straight edge cut along the dart fold line for the whole length of the paper strips.

Here is the top strip laid over the dart on the pattern to show how well it duplicates the shape.  The three guides underneath have no pencil lines, just the perforated line.  When using the guides, this perforated line is all I need, but the dots could be highlighted by a pencil line drawn over them if necessary. 

To mark the end of the dart on the actual skirt, I put a pin through the material and then iron the fold to the top.

The paper guide can then be pinned on, with cut edge flush with the ironed fold and the tapered point is lined up with the pin.

Now I can sew over the paper along the perforated line.

Here is the dart with the guide still in place...

... and now with the paper removed.  It is surprising how strong the paper is and if pulled against the stitching it can actually tug at the thread.  To prevent this I hold the paper and fabric on either side of the stitching and gently stretch the fabric.  The fabric has a certain amount of give and the paper hasn't, so it tears and comes away at the stitching.

When it comes to sewing the dart on the other side of the skirt, I can be sure that I will have two nicely matching darts.  Here they are, laid side by side.

To secure the threads at the end of the dart I tie a couple of knots...

... thread the tails inside the fold of the dart...

...pull them slightly and snip them and lose them inside.  This way I can be sure that the stitching will not come undone and I have a neat finish.

Finally, a close up of the dart that ended up in the middle of a pineapple - no nasty bubble, and no juice running either. 

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

A Dress for Meg - 9 - Positioning the Buttons and Buttonholes

Finally, the last instalment showing the steps in making Meg's dress.  Here it is, finished, before I delivered it to her and she proudly tried it on for size.

The last thing to do before the hem was the buttons and buttonholes.  On this photo you can see how the gathers of the skirt are kept clear of the overlap.

To stiffen and strengthen the overlap I use a strip of calico, which fits snugly into the fold down the front edges.  The edge of the dress fabric is then folded about a quarter of an inch over the calico and machine stitched into place.

The seam attaching the skirt to the bodice has been constructed so that the raw edges are enclosed.  This gives a certain amount of bulk, which needs to be trimmed , as shown here. There are a few tacking stitches to hold the raw seam allowances together.

When the overlap is folded down and ironed the raw edges are hidden. 

The next step is to mark where the buttons are buttonholes are to be placed.  Because the buttons are five eighths of an inch wide, I have done a line of machine stitching, with the longest stitch length, five eighths of an inch from the folded edge.  This needs to be done down both sides of the dress so that both the buttons and the buttonholes are the same distance from the folded edge.

I started with the top buttonhole, placed at right angles to the edge.  To plot the position of the buttonhole, I pinned a button through one its holes so that the pin went through the line of stitching. This gave me the reference point for the buttonhole, the pin marking where the end of the inside of the buttonhole needed to be.

Then it was time to get busy with the buttonholer.

Here is the completed buttonhole on the finished dress.  The threads going through the right hand hole of the button correspond with the position of the pin in the previous photo.  

All the other buttonholes were stitched parallel to the edge.  Here is one of the buttonholes, shown before I had neatened the tail ends of thread.  The white machine stitching runs down the middle of the buttonhole. 

And here is the same buttonhole, with the white machine stitching removed and now all nicely fastened up, once the dress is completed.

Just to keep the overlap in place, after the buttonholes and buttons had all been done, I put in a few stitches by hand through the seam allowance at the bottom of the bodice.

Finally, I did the hem, gave the dress a good thorough ironing, and it was ready for Meg!

Welcome to Shannyn, the latest follower - thank you for joining! 

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

A Dress for Meg - 8 - Attaching the Skirt

It is ages since Meg received her dress, and I have not done any posts showing the making of it since the post showing the collar being attached.

The next stage was attaching the skirt.  The skirt is made up of three rectangles, with French seams down the sides.  The width of the back of the skirt is approximately double the size of the back of the bodice, to allow for gathering.  The two front panels of the skirt both overlap for the buttons and buttonholes, in exactly the same way as on the bodice.  The gathers for the front of the skirt start just clear of the overlap.

Before putting in the initial gathers, with bit of red cotton I marked the central, quarter and three quarters points on the back panel of the skirt to match up with the corresponding points on the bodice.

Then I set in the first line of gathers, shown above, using the ruffler.

Perhaps somewhere there are mathematical geniuses who can regulate the size of the ruffle to give the correct amount of gather.  I am not one of them, so I do a second line of gathers alongside the ruffling.  The seam guide is there to keep the stitching straight.

The second line of stitching is done with the maximum stitch length and with the top tension loosened so that the bobbin thread is easy to pull to ease the gathers.

Before pinning the skirt to the bodice I put two tucks at the lower edge to give a bit of fullness across the back, and kept the fold secure with a few stitches.

Next, I pinned the skirt to the bodice, matching the side seams and the red thread markers, then eased the fullness by pulling the second line of gathers...

... and tacked the seam by hand.  There is a much wider seam allowance on the bodice, approximately an inch and a quarter.

Now the machine stitching could be done to finally attach the skirt to the bodice.  I made the stitching run about an eighth of an inch below the gathers and tacking.

Before neatening the seam I removed the tacking thread and machine gathering stitches, but I always find that it is better to leave in the machine stitching done with the ruffler because it keeps the gathered seam allowance reasonably flat.

To neaten the raw edges, the edge of the bodice is folded over.  Hair grips keep the fold down in place much more firmly than pins...

... and are easy to remove as the fold is stitched down.

Here is the finished seam, guaranteed to withstand the rigours of the washing machine!

I love this technique - I first came across it in an old pattern.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

A Summer Top in Oakshott Cotton

Last week I finished not only the batik top, but also this rather smart version in pale blue.  It is made from one metre of Oakshott Calluna Herringbone in harebell blue.  The only differences between this top and the batik top are firstly that I cut the armholes a fraction lower for extra comfort - somehow the finished batik top felt a little tighter than the test in calico, probably because the finished armholes were bound - and secondly I had a little more fabric to use so I could take the pleats right to the centre front.

This was the first time I had used the Calluna Herringbone, so I was interested to see what it would be like to work with.  Before cutting out I washed and ironed it.  There was a tiny bit of shrinkage and no dye run to speak of.

The herringbone weave gives a real vintage look, and choosing the buttons and narrow ribbon for trimming was serious business.  I spent a ridiculous length of time in the shop, but it was time well spent.  The check ribbon is really delightful, and the way the buttons reflect the light gives them a two-tone appearance which goes well with the ribbon.

Because the herringbone is a twill weave, there is a definite right side and wrong side.  The paler blue warp threads give a slightly ridged effect, emphasising the paler colour on the right side.  The darker blue weft threads predominate on the wrong side, and the surface is flatter. 

Having a stripe in the weave gives all the same advantages as working with an obvious two colour stripe.  It saved time when finding the straight grain of the fabric for cutting, for folding the front overlap, for lining up the buttons and buttonholes, and even measuring the width of the pleats.  

Here is the inside, with not a raw edge in sight.

After putting in the darts, the first seams I did were the felled seams at the shoulders...

... followed by French seams at the sides.

To finish the neck and armhole edges I used narrow bias binding...

... and the seam attaching the pleated frill was finished in broader bias binding in the same shade of blue.

For all the machine stitching I used the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine, except for the buttonholes, where I used the 1936 Singer 201K treadle and the unidentified buttonholer.

The quality of this cotton is quite exceptional.  It is soft to the touch, and is a medium weight, so cool for the summer, but with sufficient texture to give a good insulating layer in winter.  From the feel of it before cutting out I knew that it would drape and gather well, so I decided to test how well it would hold a crease.  Nothing short of perfect, as you can see.

Finally, here is my in-house model very sportingly wearing a colour that doesn't really suit her.  It looks far better on her old mum - not that the colours on this photo are accurate anyway.  The joys of taking photos in natural light indoors in cloudy weather.  

Every time she moved the neckline went out of shape on her because the shoulder seams were adjusted at the calico stage to fit me exactly.  

Also there was a fair amount of Muv and Daught banter going on.  I pay her her modelling fees in cake, and she was angling for macaroons.  Not the cheap and cheerful English sort made of coconut with a glace cherry on top, no the posh French sort.  She has expensive tastes.  At her age I would have been more than happy with a sticky great slab of lardy cake.

Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday