...dressmaking class no 2

Class no2 was jam packed and we managed to squeeze all of this into just 3 hours

• What the triangles mean on patterns - they are markers to help you line up your pattern pieces.  I have always added little triangles to the cutting line, but tonight we were advised that a small snip into the V of the triangle will do the same job, it takes less time, is neater and more accurate.

• We also used the snip method at the ends of our bust darts even though there aren't any markers to help us line up the two outer edges when we come to create the dart.

• We added marks for our darts with tailors chalk, we pushed a pin through the centre of the little circles marked on our pattern pieces and marked them on the wrong side of the fabric.

• We created our bust darts by lining up the snips and making a triangle down to the point of our tailors chalk mark. Using a ruler we drew a line to sew down, the dart is sewn from the cut edge to the bust point and we slightly rounded/let the needle run off the edge so as not to get pointy bust syndrome!

• The darts are gently pressed to face downwards and the point of the dart is gently massaged with the tip of the iron to help round the point a little more.

• We put diamond shaped darts in our back panels, we did this by putting a pin through the two marks in the centre and the pinned the other two end marks.  We drew lines from the centre to the outward points and slightly rounded the centre line so it was very slightly curved rather than a hard V shape. The darts were sewn in two halves each setting out from the centre point. The darts are then pressed towards the straight edge of the back panel.

• We added the neck pieces with the interfacing on to the back panels, it looks as if the two pieces will not fit together but you start at the straight edges and pin like a mad thing offering up the next centimeter of the neckline until you reach the end.  We were advised that there is a fault on the pattern and it is normal for there to be a small excess which can be cut off later.

• This was sewn at only 1cm rather than the advised 1.5cm seam allowance to reduce the bulk.  The seam is then snipped at approximately 1cm gaps around the curves and approximately 1inch gaps on the straight and the seam is the pressed up. the snipping helps the seam lie flat as the snipped pieces can overlap to allow the fabric to sit better once completed. Cut very close to your sewing line but not through it.

• The interfaced piece was then added to the front, we folded both the edge piece and the front piece in half and put a small marking snip in the centre of both of them and used this to line up the two pieces. We pinned from the centre outwards and as before offered up the fabric bit by bit, before sewing at 1cm  and snipping and pressing as with the back panels.

Our 3 hours flew by and there is certainly some shape beginning to appear in our pieces of fabric. 

 Next week we will be tackling one of my big sewing fears zips!!!

Do you suffer from zip fear or do you have any top tips to help zip fear sufferers like me ?