Sweet Springtime: Day 3

Day 3! Today we will finish the bodice part of the dress, making it ready to add the skirt part on tomorrow. If you have been following these posts in real time, waiting expectantly for day 3, sorry about the delay! Both my girls are battling RSV, one needs breathing treatments every 4 hours, and the other is potty training too. So, I have had my hands full! I am realizing now that it takes longer for me to write the blog posts than it does to sew the dress! Hopefully it is just because I am a beginner, I'll get it all figured out in no time(hopefully!). Anyway, let's move right along to day 3.

First, we are going to press a hem into the sleeves. We will be putting 3/8" elastic through these, so leave enough room. If you have a serger, you can serge the edges, and press it up. If you, like me, do not have a serger, you will need to press it up , fold under, and press again (a traditional hem). Just make sure you leave enough room to fit your elastic through! About 1/2" clearance is great.



Now, while your iron is hot, go ahead and press the same type of hem, also leaving room for elastic, around the neck hole of your bodice. Keep in mind that you will be turning under part of your ruffle on the front of our bodice, which will be thick and difficult to press, but it will turn out fine when it gets sewn in place. If you are big on pins, go ahead and pin it as you press. I am a bigger fan of starch, but for new cotton fabric, you can get away with nothing but a hot iron to keep your hem in place.
When you finish your pressing, your bodice should look something like this:



Okay, now that you have a beautifully pressed bodice, we are going to go ahead and completely ignore those beautiful seams that you just made as we sew shut the sleeves. You will want to open the hem up and sew the fabric flat. That way it will be shaped to fold back up when you actually do hem it, but it will make a continuous space for your elastic to pass through. Use the picture below as a reference for what I am talking about. After you sew shut the arm holes, go back and serge the raw edges. If you are like me and do not have a serger, this is when you rub your lucky penny and wish for one as you zig zag stitch the raw edge... okay, maybe not the penny part, you'll need both hands to operate your sewing machine ;) If you missed the day 2 post about zig zag stitching to seal the raw edges, read it here.



Now that the sleeves are sewn shut, go ahead and sew around the neck hole and arm holes that you already hemmed. Make sure you sew right up on the edge of your hem to allow room for your elastic to pass through. Also, leave a small opening, about a half inch, to insert the elastic. I like to start near a seam (ie the underarm area of the sleeve, the shoulder area of the neckline) and sew in a continuous seam until I see where I began, then stop short about 1/2 inch from there...does that make sense?





When you finish sewing up the hem around the neck and sleeves, your bodice should look something like this:



Now you will need to get out that 3/8 inch elastic that I keep talking about. Measure around your child's arms (or a shirt that fits well) and add 2 inches to that measurement, then cut. You will need 2 pieces that length, one for each arm. Then measure about how wide you want the neck hole to be, this measurement can vary. Some people like their peasant dresses really cinched up tight, while others leave them looser. You can always cut a long piece of elastic (for a loose neckline) and cinch it in more later when you see how it looks altogether. Okay, moving on. Fasten a small/medium sized safety pin to the end of one of your elastic pieces.



Push the end of your safety pin into the hole that you left open in the hem of your bodice, and start feeding it through, pulling the fabric down the elastic as you go. Make sure to hold onto the opposite end of your elastic so that it doesn't get lost inside the hem.



Your fabric should start bunching up around the elastic as you pull it through. When you come full circle, lead the safety pin out of the same hole that you started in. Pull both ends of elastic and tie them in a square knot, leaving about 1" on each tail to help pull it tightly.



Last step for the day! Once you have your knots tied tightly you can trim the tails, then go back and stitch up the small holes in your hem.



Now you have finished the top half, and more difficult part, of your peasant dress! It should look something like this, however, yours should have the ric rac covering the ruffle on the front. I had forgotten to add that part when I made my bodice and had to go back and put it on later.