First things first, press bodice pieces, sleeve pieces, and those two little 3x10 strips nice and flat. Then take one of the bodice pieces, fold it in half, and press a sharp crease down the center. You will use this crease as a guide later to lay your ruffle on. We want to make it centered!
Let me take a minute to go over my sewing ground rules before we fire up that machine! I will not say these every time, but they need to be done unless otherwise noted.
1. Always leave a 3/8" seam allowance (about the width of your presser foot)
2. Always backstitch at the beginning and end of a seam to hold it in place.
***The only time you DO NOT backstitch is when sewing a gathering stitch.
3. I am always using a straight stitch, unless you are sealing an edge with a zig-zag, or otherwise noted.
4. I am always using a basic foot (or sometimes a walking foot) unless otherwise noted.
5. Always follow up a stitched seam by pressing with a hot iron. It makes it look so much nicer!
Now, let's get busy! Put those two strips right sides together and stitch down both of the 10" sides leaving the 3" sides open.
Flip the whole thing inside out, so the right sides face out and press it flat.
Fold in a little bit (1/4 to 1/2 inch or so) on one side of the strip and press. Sew it shut. You only need to do this on one side, the other side will get shut when we sew the skirt part on.
Now we are going to sew the first of many GATHERING STITCHES. Here's the play by play:
1. Set a long stitch length on your sewing machine (4.5 to 5.0)
2. DO NOT BACKSTICH at the beginning OR the end of this seam.
3. Make sure you have a little extra thread through the needle and the bobbin before beginning your stitch (4 inches or so)
4. Align your needle right down the center of your strip and sew a straight line down from the very top to the very bottom.
5. Pull out the fabric from the machine leaving a long tail of thread hanging from the fabric (about 4 inches.
6. MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER which thread came from the needle (top thread) and which came from the bobbin (bottom thread). You'll want to keep a firm grip on that top thread.
Now, holding firmly to your top thread in your right hand (try not to pull on your bottom thread if at all possible), start to slowly tug the top thread to the right, while pushing the fabric to the left. The fabric should start to gather up. You can pull your top thread from both ends to gather your strip.
Next, set your sewing machine back to regular stitch length (2.0/2.5ish).
Get the front bodice piece that you pressed a crease into earlier. Lay your gathered strip down that crease and adjust the gathers as needed to fit the length of the crease. Pin the enclosed end of the gathered strip down about 3/4 inch from the bodice neckline. You will need to leave that part open for the elastic encasement tomorrow. Following the gathering stitch seam, sew the strip down the crease of the bodice.
Lastly, cut a piece of ric rac the length of the ruffle and briefly run a lighter flame over the cut edges to seal them. Using matching thread, sew your ric rac right down the center, hiding the ruffle seam. While making my dress, I forgot about this little step and had to go back and do it later. That is why my pictures might not look exactly like your project at this point, so don't worry.
Next we will attach the sleeves to the bodice. Lay out the piece of the bodice that you just added the ruffle to, and lay one of the contrasting sleeve pieces on it, right sides facing, so that the arm holes align. Pin, and sew the two together along the arm holes.
Open up that sleeve to pull it out of the way and align the second sleeve with the other side of the bodice and stitch along the arm hole.
Don't forget to press your seams!
Now get the other bodice piece, the back. Align it, right sides together, with the sleeves, one at a time, and sew along the arm holes.
When you finish both sides, it should look like this:
Almost done! Hang in there! Lastly, we need to seal up the frayed edges of the fabric on the seams that we just sewed so it doesn't start to unravel and look messy. If you have a serger, lucky you, just serge the seams. If you do not have a serger, like me, you will need to use a zig zag stitch to seal them, like this:
If you have never used a zig zag stitch to seal up the edges of a seam, you are in luck, I will teach you right now! It isn't too terribly difficult really, but it is necessary for making your projects clean and pretty.
Start by setting your sewing machine to a zig zag stitch, and if you can figure it out, set your stitch length pretty short (0.6-0.9) and your stitch width fairly wide (4.5-5.0). Some sewing machines are computerized and you can select these numbers by pushing a button. Other machines are mechanical and you may need to use the screwdriver that came with your machine to turn a little knob. If in doubt, check your owners manual. If you don't have the manual, there is always Google! It would be advantageous to figure it out one way or another, it is a very useful stitch.
Moving forward, you are going to start at the top, backstitch like usual, and sew along the outside of the seam that you already made. Your needle will first "zig" to hit the fabric outside of the seam previously sewed, and then it will "zag." Ideally, you want the "zag" to hit just off of the fabric so that it will seal the raw edge. As you are sewing, you may even see the fabric folding up under itself inside the zig zag stitch. Great! It is sealing well.
Once you have all 4 of the arm hole seams sealed up you are done for today! Yay! You are on your way to a cute new dress for your sweet girl! I hope you will be back tomorrow for day 3, bodice part two.
P.S. I am still very new at this, so if there is something that is not clear to you, please leave a comment and I'll try and answer your questions as best as I can!
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