Sewn With Love-A Lined PlayDate Dress

Lining the PlayDate dress.
Its not that I don't appreciate a lined dress with bound seams. I do-really! Its just not the highest priority to me.
Along as the seams are finished and the garment is well made,I am happy.

However,a dear friend has recently had a beautiful baby girl and I wanted to make her a dress AND she does appreciate an inside as perfectly finished as the exterior.
(And she is an amazing sewer)
So I wanted it to be perfect.

So here we go.....

Here's the yoke I prepared earlier.

Cut a second dress from the lining fabric(I use a cotton rich poplin)except for the yoke.
Sew it as directed except for gathering the sleeve ends rather then tucking and sewing a narrow hem rather then making a hem facing.

Place the two dresses right sides together.
Match the side seams and the centre front and back seams and pin the yokes together.

Baste the yokes together with a large stitch and a narrow seam allowance.
Check for tucks and then sew again with a normal stitch length.

Random cuteness.

Pull the lining through.

Press the seam really really really well.

Baste the seam in place.

Unroll the folded cuff and match the lining and the sleeve edges.

Using the dress sleeve hem fold lines,fold once....

And then a second time.
Pin in place.

Pull up the gathering threads to fit the lining to the sleeve.

As before,using the pre-folded hem lines,fold and pin the hem.
Leave the loose threads for now,snip them off when the hem is finished.
Tugging on them may cause the hem to be wonky(that is a technical term,on my blog anyway)!

Hem the sleeve.
I chose to hand sew.

Finish the hem facing.
I hand sewed that as well.

Isn't it neat?
Very proud of my self!

The dress so far....

No seams visible.

Now to attach the yoke.....

Pin the yoke to the dress at the shoulder seams and centre front and back.
I tapped the seams with my little hammer to soften them.

Continue pinning and easing,this was fiddly and took some time but was not that hard!

I didn't seem to take a photo of the pinned yoke.....I think I was too excited to be so close to finishing!

This is the pinned inside.
Topstitch the yoke in place s l o w l y lift the foot if you encounter tucks.
I sewed the complete yoke with out using the pedal,I just turned the hand wheel. (But my machine is industrial and very fast)!

The yoke stitched in place.
Hurrah!

All the seams inclosed.

The finished dress.

Zara and Elsa designed the dress.
I would have sewn a white yoke with ruffles and little buttons.
The Twins declared Claire far groovier then that!
The yoke of choice is natural linen piped with a blue linen(that I soaked for 2 hours in salt water to set the colour) and finished with a faux tab and a painted mother-of-pearl button.
The button has a little bird to match the blue bird in the print.

The fabric is a Japanese linen that I purchased especially for this little girl.
It was lovely to sew but frayed terribly.

This dress was sewn with so much love.
I imagined the little girl wearing it and I hope she will often.


I struggle sewing for others. I second guess myself and fret about my choices.


I enjoyed fussing with my finishing on this dress and I may line it again if I used a fine fabric.


But I am not a convert
Well,not completely.....


Thanks for stopping by


x N