A Christmas Fairy Tale Tutorial-Part 2

Lets keep sewing,sewing,sewing
On with the skirt!
Rather then cutting a front and backs I cut the skirt in one panel.
I had plenty of fabric so I could do this.

 When sewing an embossed or sequinned fabric its best to remove the embellishments from the seam allowance.
They are sewn back on after the garment is finished.

Sew the centre back seam from the zipper notch down.
I neatened the edge with a narrow zigzag.

Press the seam flat and the zipper seam allowance into place.

This allowed me to see that I needed to unpick more flowers.

I then turned and pressed then hem making sure the flowers were kept flat.

This involved flicking from the right to wrong side constantly checking the flowers were even-sigh!
I then hand sewed the hem.

Back to you!
Mark the centre front of the skirt panel.
I neatened the top edge with a zigzag stitch.

Gather the top of the skirt with two rows of stitching,I set my stitch length to 4.
I didn't want any flatness at the side seam so I gather the skirt in one go. This required gentle gathering so I didn't break the threads.

Gather the skirt to fit the bodice matching the front notch and evenly spacing the gathers.
Pin it to the front bodice only not the lining.

Stitch,check for tucks and remove those.

Zara wasn't keen on the tulle crinoline as she worried it would be scratchy.
I decided to try folding the wide tulle in half so that there was not a raw edge,I figured I could snip it open at a later date if it didn't work.

Make the lining as you made the skirt. I neaten the raw edges to prevent fraying.
I then used the tulle length as a hemming guide for the lining.

I like a deep hem on my lining to keep it in place and Zara was adamant that she didn't want visible tulle.

I machined sewed the lining hem.

I sewed the tulle as I did the lining,leaving a zipper opening and pressing the seam open.

Next,place the tulle over the lining and pin the together at the zipper opening.

Pin the lining and tulle together at the skirt top.

Attach the two together.
I used a narrow zigzag to prevent fraying.
Stitch along the skirt top and zipper opening.

Mark the centre front of the skirt.

Gather the skirt to fit the bodice.
Kiss goodbye to your finger meat!

Pin the tulle/ling to the skirt/front bodice matching the centre front notch.
Make sure the tulle is sandwiched between the lining and skirt.

Consider pinning and sewing from the inside.
Take your time and watch out for pins!

Once sewed consider neatening the edge with a zigzag stitch.

This seam is bulky,very bulky. I used my 'new' hammer (some begger has pinched my Liberty one)to tap all the seams and and reduce 'poofiness'.
It worked well!

Press the seam towards the bodice.
Turn under the seam allowance at the bottom of the bodice.
I tend to press 4/8 ths to allow for creepage.
Matching the darts and side seams,pin the lining over the seam enclosing all the raw edges.

Pin the zipper opening edges together.

Hand sew the bodice lining in place.
Then zigzag the zipper edges together.

Lovely and neat.
Tidy Heidi.

Pin the zipper opening together raw edges on the outside!

Baste the seam and press it open.

Press the raw edges of the zipper top and bottom underneath.
Pin the zipper to the edge of the seam NOT to the dress.
I have since made another and stitched it straight to dress after basting it in place. It was quicker but possibly not as neat.....I will link from here when I have finished that post. xx N

Some light music.

Make sure the seam is behind the zipper edge,trim the seam back if you need to.

Baste the zipper to the dress.

Try turning the dress inside out and stitching on the inside.
I found that a lot easier.

Before machine sewing I hand sewed the turned over zipper ends in place.

Slowly and C a r e f u l l y stitch the zipper in place.
Remove the basting.

I then hand sewed the missing petals back in place.

Layer 'pon layer 'pon layer Just like Sara Lee!

Tis done!
I must apologise for my grammar(or lack of it)in this post. I made this dress a month ago at a very stressful time and I have had trouble remembering a lot of the steps.
I know you will forgive me-Thank you
xx N

PS I will be blogging Zara's vintage Fairy Tale dress next which is far more straight forward.
I hope you can bear to read it after all this guff.
xx N