Chapter 16 - Making A Dress

You have now made a skirt, and also a blouse. Constructing a dress involves very few new problems. You may finish the bodice completely, then finish the skirt completely, and join them at the waistline to make a dress. In this case, your general order of assembly for the dress would be: pattern alterations, pinning pattern on to fabric, cutting, marking the work, bodice darts and tucks, bound buttonholes or fabric loop closings, bodice side, shoulder and center seams (left side left open below notch for zipper), collar and neckline, sleeves and cuffs, finishing details for bodice, skirt darts, seams (left side open above notch for zipper), pleats. Try on the bodice and skirt for first fitting. Make necessary corrections.

To attach bodice and skirt, drop bodice, right side out, into skirt, held wrong side out. With the two right sides together, match and pin bodice and skirt at centers and side seams. Seams have been pressed open, of course. Darts and tucks at waist usually face in towards each other, that is, towards the center. Baste the waistline seam carefully by hand or machine (longest stitch). Try dress on with the shoulder pads in place and zipper opening pinned closed. Dress was previously fitted at shoulders, neckline, bust, waist, and hips. Recheck these parts, and carefully check waistline position for looks and comfort (see pp. 78, 85). Stitch waistline seam after all corrections are made.

Insert dress placket zipper, usually nine-inch or ten-inch (see pp. 42, 129-133). Allow the dress to hang in the closet for a day or two so that bias parts have a chance to sag. Finish the seams, then try on the dress and mark the hem (p. 44). Unless your dress is cotton, you will probably want to finish the hem with seam binding. Mark the hem, turn up bottom at marked places with pins, placed perpendicular to the fold, and baste close to the fold. Press. Measure the desired hem depth from the fold with a gauge all around and cut off the excess. Seam binding is applied and stitched to the raw edge. Where there is a lot of fullness in the hem, it is a good idea to run in a row of gathering and gather the hem edge to fit the straight binding. Finally, hem free edge of binding to skirt.

The newer way to assemble garments is to make the entire front, then the entire back, join them at the shoulders, fit and finish the sides. This order was used in the preceding chapter in making a blouse. The general order, after cutting and marking, would be: darts and tucks, bodice front center seams, if any; skirt front seams, bodice and skirt fronts joined at waistline and seamed; bodice back center seams; skirt back center seams; bodice and skirt backs joined at waistline and seamed; front and back joined at shoulder seam; neckline, including collar and facings finished; shoulder pads pinned in. The garment is then tried on for a fitting and the side seams are pinned in to fit. After any corrections are made, side seams are stitched leaving an opening for the zipper or placket. Make the sleeve, apply the cuff, set the sleeve into the armhole. Insert the zipper or placket. Try on for a fitting and mark the hem. Finish the last details, finish the seams, turn up the hem. Make the belt and belt carriers.

Work carefully. Make yourself a promise that you are not going to rip. That means studying what you have to do. Check your pattern guide sheet. Use the index of this book over and over again, and check instructions and illustrations. Don't get so that you don't see the forest for the trees. Each detail has to be done separately, but always know, before you begin, what the relationship of the particular detail is to the whole. Certain problems, such as bound buttonholes, fabric loop closings, monograms, should be worked out on practice fabric first. These are the details that can most quickly label your work "homemade." "Haste makes waste" may sound trite, but it is certainly true, as is, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The latter refers to sewing without thought and planning and then having to rip to correct errors.

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