Junebug dress remix tutorial - part 2 (english version)

To see how to get the pieces of the pattern go here.

Now we're going to cut and sew the dress.

These are the pieces that we have to cut and how they  should look like:
1 flap
1 flap facing 

1 bodice front sides
1 back

2 sleeves
1 back facing
1 front sides facing

You also need:

• bias tape to finish the edges of the sleeves and bottom edge of the dress and to make the piping of the flap and pockets. I bought  ready made bias tape, but MADE has a great tutorial to make it and another on how to sew it. 
• piping. Here is a tutorial  explaining step by step how to make it (when you have a bit of practice pins are completely unnecessary and the process is fast). And here another that explains how to sew it in.
• buttons. I sewed  10 buttons but the size and quantity is completely optional.
• tape (optional).
• zipper foot.
• foot for sewing buttons (optional but highly recommended)
• foot to make buttonholes (optional but highly recommended)
• Basic sewing tools.

Let's start the fun part!

• Sewing the flap

First make your piping following the tutorial mentioned above (in case you bought ready made piping you can skip this step, of course) .

Then sew the  piping to the  flap piece. You can follow this tutorial.

As explained  in the  tutorial,  you will sew the piping aligning the raw  edges  of  both the  piping  and  the  flap piece. Then clip the  seam allowances of the  curved edges (where  indicated with arrows in the photo below).

Of course, you can skip the piping  if you preffer so.

Then place the flap facing on top of the  plap piece, right sides together. 

Sew along  the  side edges and top (neckline), as close  to the  piping  as possible. Begin with the curved area (where you inserted the piping) (it is important not to sew the sides of the dress, which will be attached to the back of the dress), continue sewing the neckline (with no piping) and go down to the other curved side of the flap. See the green line in the picture:

Now  clip the corners of the seam allowances of the top seam of the flap and make notches to the curved seam allowances  previously indicated with arrows:

Turn right side  out and  press well.

Back view

Front view

• Sewing the shoulders

Lay the back piece  flat with right side up. Take your bodice  front sides piece and lay it flat  on top of the  back piece, right  sides together, and aligning the edges of the shoulders. 

Pin  shoulder edges and sew.

Iron the seams open. As this seams will be hidden under  the facings, I did not bother to finish the edges, but if you chose a smaller facing width than  indicated in this tutorial and part of this seam is showing, it would be better to finish the edges somehow.

• preparing the facings

Take the pieces for the front and  back facings and place one on  top of the other by matching the edges of the shoulders, with the right sides together.  Pin shoulder edges:

Sew shoulder seams and iron them open. Again, this seams will be hidden  so there's no need to finish the edges. The  finished facings should  look  as follows:

Now, finish all the outer edge with a zigzag stitch or overlock.

• sewing the facing  to the dress

Lay the  dress open flat, with right side  up, and  lay the facing you've sewn before on top of  it with right sides together. Try to match as better as possible the inner edges of the facing and dress opening:

Pin well and sew.

Clip seam allowances at corners and rounded edges, such as back neckline:

Turn right side  out and  press well. Pay special atterntion to the corners to get sharp edges.

• preparing the sleeves

Sew the bias tape to the straight edge of sleeves. This step can be done, and the results are much better, once the sleeves and  dress sideseams are done. I like to do it this  way because it is faster and easier(and  I'm a  VERY impatient  sewer!).

now gather the top of the sleeves, just the central part, as in the picture:

• sewing  the sleeves  in

place one sleeve  on top of the open dress, right  sides together. You have to match the raw edges of both the sleeve and  the dress as better as possible and pin them together. I  like to start pinning at both ends of the sleeves (where they match the  armscye) towards the center until there are about 1" left  to every side of  the shoulder seam. Then  I adjust the gathers of the sleeve to fit in those 2". By doing  it  this  way you obtain a sleeve which is deeply gathered in a small spot. If you preffer to have  your gathers evenly  spaced all around  the sleeve, then you have  to gather the  edge of your sleeve  evenly prior to pinning  it to the  dress. Does that  make  sense?

Sew and  repeat  for the  other  sleeve.

• sewing  the  flap and  the  bodice  front  sides together

Place the dress pieces as in the photo, with the right sides of the fabric out and matching the sides of both front and  back and the armscye seams.

Place the  flap piece on top, matching both side edges and  paying special attention to the  position of the  neckline. It  must  be centered and even with the  front sides piece neckline. Pin the  upper part  of the  flap to the  bodice  sides to prevent  it from moving while sewing  the  sides. We  want  it  in the  right  position!

Now  pin the  sides between the armscye up to about 2" under the piping, leaving  the  bottom part unpinned.

Lift  the  bottom part  of the flap piece and  match the  bottom edge of  the  flap facing with the  bottom edge of  the  front sides  piece (see the arrows in the  picture   below to understand what  I mean). Pin. This is  going to be  the  bottom of  the  pockets, so don't  worry if  it  doesn't  match perfect. You can even trim it  to make  it  match if  you preffer.

Sew  the bottom of the  pocket and  finish the  seam allowances as  you preffer (zig-zag,   overlock, bias tape).

Now pin and baste the sides of the flap piece and  the  front sides  piece  together, just  to make  sure  they are in the  right  position while  sewing the side seams. Be  careful not  to baste the  back piece to the  front  pieces!

You should  have  something  similar  to this:

• sewing the  side  seams

Fold  the  dress to match back and  front  pieces, with right  sides  together.  Pin both side  edges from bottom up to the sleeve edges, matching front and  back armscye  seams.

Sew the sides from bottom edge up to the end  of the sleeves, pivoting when you reach the armscye seams. Repeat with the  other  side  of the dress. Press the seams open and finish your seam allowances with a zig-zag stitch or a serger.

Turn your dress right side  out. You should  have  something  similar to the  photo below. Yeah, that  looks  like a dress!

• binding the  bottom edge

Maybe your  front  or  back of the  dress is  longer, now it's  time  to solve  it. Trim the  longer side to match the  lenght of the shorter  one, so both, front and  back, are the same  length. 

Now sew in the  bias tape  to the bottom edge  of the  dress. If you don't  like the look of the binding, you can also hem the  bottom as  usual by folding the edge 1/2" towards  the  wrong  side, and  then fold  another 1/2", press well and  sew.

I forgot to take a photo for  this  step, sorry!

• sewing the sleeve pleat and  button (optional).

Try the  dress on your girl. If  you like  the sleeves you can skip this step. Since I didn't like how full looked  the sleeves, I decided to reduce the  bulk of  them.

I'm very lazy so I wanted  a quick fix for the sleeve  problem so I simply added a  pleat at  the  bottom edge  of it, and sewed a button to hold  it. Let's see it step by step.

wWth the dress on your girl, pinch the sleeve to be the width you like  and trying to make it look centered on her arm; see the  photo below to understand  what I mean (the following  photos are  from a different dress, but they'll work to show the  process):

hold  it  with a safety pin and  take  the  dress off your model.

Have a close look at the photo below; see how  the  pleat is  not centered? Now we  have  to mark the  same  location and  width for the pleat  on the  other  sleeve. 

To make  it, lay the shortest part of the sleeve  flat (with wrong  side  of  the  dress out). Replace the  safety  pin with a pin. This  is  where  you're  going  to sew your  pleat later. Now, lay the  other  sleeve flat next to the  first  one  and  mark the  fold of the  pleat  and  the  location of  the pin, that  is,   the point where you have  to  stitch to make  the  pleat. This is not  a  very accurate  method, but  it works, and  is  easy and  fast!

Sew your  pleats.

I did a  very short  seam, but  you can make  it  longer  if  you preffer. The  pleat  will look different  depending  on the  length of  this seam.

Turn the  dress right  side  out. 

Now  lay the  fabric inside  of the  pleat   flat and centered. 

Pin

Sew a decorative  button on top of the  seam ( that  also holds the  inside  pleat  fabric in place).

I know, it would  be  better  to hold  the  inside  pleat  fabric stitching  it  in place, but as  I told  you before, I'm lazy and  love  easy and  fast solutions!

perhaps you've  noticed in the  photo above that holding the button is a piece of tape. I tried a technique I read somewhere  (sorry, but I do not remember where) that consists in  holding the button with some tape and then sewing it with your  machine. Once the stitching is done, remove the tape and you're done! I recommend it!  The button stays in place while you sew it and once  finished the tape is removed without any problem. No more slipping buttons under  your presser foot! No more buttons  out  of  place!

• Making  buttonholes and  sewing the buttons

Next, place the buttons on the dress the way you like it. Try different  arrangements and  different amount  of buttons  before  you decide. I used 10 buttons, evenly distributed along  the  edge of the  flap. Only the 4 on the top make its function as a button and have a buttonhole, the rest are merely decorative (but also help to hold  the  facing in place). As you can see in the  photo below I used  again some tape to hold  the  buttons  in place.

with a disappearing  ink pen or  chalk mark the  placement of the  buttonholes for the top 4 buttons.

Remove the  top 4  buttons and  make  the  buttonholes.

Now go and  sew the buttons!

Pay attention to where you sew them . If you plan to place them like  mine take  into account that the 2 buttons that are at the height of the pocket curve have only been sewed  to the flap fabric, the four top buttons, obviously, are only  sewed  to the the bodice  front sides fabric and the  intermediate 4 buttons are sewed to both  the  flap and  the bodice front sides fabrics (I mean that when you sew the  button your  needle must go through both the  flap and  the  bodice  front  sides fabrics; this way the flap is  held in place). We thus obtain an opening wide  enough for the head.

FINISSSSSSHED!

I hope you enjoyed it!

If someone needs help and / or clarification, you know: just make a cyber shout! (= Leave a comment or write me an email to mj.bestard @ gmail.com)

HAVE A NICE SUMMER! (or what's left  of it...)