How To Make A Little Girl's Dress

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

 

How To Make A Little Girl's Dress

 

This little dress made for a lovely 1st birthday present. Here is how I made it.

What you will need:


1/2 - 1 meter cotton depending on the pattern size you make for your dress (available HERE)
Elastic Ribbon (also known as fold over elastic, from HERE) - enough to fit around the waist twice without stretching, and the length of 2 straps.


How to make it:


Firstly comes drafting your pattern. The fit on it doesn't have to be perfect, as it can be quite forgiving so err on the side of caution and make it a little bigger if you like. You will need to measure the waist, the waist to where you want the dress to come up to on the top at the front, and waist to where you want the dress to go down to on the legs.


There are 3 sections to this dress.

For the skirt section, you want the top measurement to be half the waist, plus 10cm. For the bottom, make it 1 1/2 - 2 times that measurement depending on how full you want the skirt to be. Simply draw a line diagonally from top to bottom, spacing them apart as long as you want your skirt part to be (plus 2cm for seam / hem allowance).


The top front should be a rectangle approximately half the waist plus 6cm, with the depth being how far up from the waist you want it to sit near the neck line (plus 1cm for seam allowance). At each end, curve off from 8cm near the edge to reach a depth of 5cm at the edge. This is to curve under the arms. You can adjust your neckline to make a shape if you want. I like a gentle curve inwards in the centre, but straight across looks great too.


The final piece is the back body part. This is simply half the waist plus 6cm by the same depth as the underarm edge of the front piece.


If you have a fabric like mine with obvious patterns or stripes, just be aware of it when you are cutting your pieces. If you can match the patterns up along the seams it will make any dress look far more professional.


 

How to put it together:


First, hem your 2 skirt pieces, so turn up the bottom edge to fold , then fold again so the raw edge is completely enclosed then sew it down in place. I like to use my quarter inch quilting foot on my sewing machine to guarantee a nice straight line of stitching along the edge (see our sewing machine feet HERE).

Next you want to attach the top pieces to a skirt piece each. They are deliberately different widths. This is so you can pin a few little pleats in to give the skirt a bit more shape and movement. The easiest way is to fold the top piece downwards over the top of the skirt with right sides together and the top underneath. Pin the 2 sides together at the top, then make little bunches of gathered fabric evenly along the top as you pin them down together. Sew in place with a quarter inch seam then stitch over the edge (or a zigzag near the edge to stop the edge from fraying.).

Next you will need to attach the front to back sections. You will only be sewing down one side for now. So place them right sides together, pin then again sew a quarter inch seam then an overlock stitch or zigzag at the edge.

Next comes your elastic ribbon. Fold it over the top edge of your dress at the open edge. Sew a few stitches of a straight stitch with backstitching to anchor the elastic in place, then with a gentle stretch and ideally a 3 step zigzag stitch (which allows the most movement of elastic without stitches breaking). I find that a sewing machine binding foot helps me feed this on really quickly. You can do it by hand too, just go slowly to make sure you keep your edge in the centre of the fold over elastic. Keep going until the whole top edge is covered, then again a few straight stitches at the end to help secure it.

Next you want to put elastic ribbon in the centre to cover your seam between the body and dress pieces, only this time use your elastic ribbon laid flat instead of folded over the edge and on full stretch as you sew. You may want to sew along the top and bottom edges of the ribbon to secure in place otherwise the edges can curl in with use. I used my over edge stitch as a guide and used a long stitch length on zigzag.

Now you have your ribbon attached to the dress, you can sew up the other side. This way, the ribbon ends will be hidden in your seam. Repeat this side exactly as you did the other with quarter inch seam allowance and an over edge stitch to finish.
Lastly you just need you straps. I find the easiest way is to try the dress on and using a few safety pins, just pin your 2 elastic ribbon straps where you want them. Fold up the bottom of the elastic so the raw edge is hidden between the elastic and dress and sew on just inside the dress. If you attach these by machine it is more obvious than a hand stitch, so weigh up speed versus appearance!

And as simple as that, your dress is ready!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk
Happy Sewing!

 

How To Convert Any Bra To A Nursing Bra

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

How To Convert Any Bra To A Nursing Bra

 

 

  

Nursing bras are often pricey and unflattering so I thought I would show you just how quick and easy it is to convert a standard bra in to a gorgeous nursing bra. Be careful though. Underwire and nursing is controversial because especially in the early stages of establishing feeding, if the bra doesn't fit correctly then the underwire can press in to the breast tissue which can increase the risk of blocked ducts and therefore mastitis, which anyone who has had wouldn't wish on anyone else!


What you will need:


2 nursing clips - Available HERE
approx half a meter of elastic ribbon - Available HERE


How to make it:
On most bras you can simply unpick the front bra strap attachment but every bra is slightly different so you may have to snip instead - just leave yourself a little loose bit of strap fabric attached to the bra.

Next, cut off any strap trimmings that were attaching the strap

Attach the completely flat part of the clip by folding down the part you unpicked (or curling the bit of strap that is left around the fastening)

Then fold the free end of the strap around the other half of the clip with the hooked part facing forwards and upwards towards the strap.

Attach enough elastic ribbon to comfortably sit between the nursing bra clip and the base of the bra. This is so that once you unclip the nursing clip that the other part of your strap wont ping off somewhere irretrievable in public! Simply curl one end around the hooked clip part, and the other to the base of the bra and sew in place. Hint here - Look at where the elastic lines up. You will probably need to take it diagonally inwards so it doesn't show when the cup is done up.

And your done! How easy was that!

And compared to the other side, there is hardly any difference in how the bra looks

 

Lastly, just do the same thing to the other side and your maternity bra collection is suddenly looking far more fabulous!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk
Happy Sewing!

Remember you can access our index of sewing tutorials easily at http://www.sewingbeefabrics.co.uk/free-tutorials

How to use a side cutter (cut and hem) sewing machine foot

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

How To Use A Side Cutter (Cut and Hem) Sewing Machine Foot

The cut and hem sewing machine foot is a brilliant little gadget. It converts your standard sewing machine into a basic overlocker for a fraction of the price and storage space. You can buy one of these HERE

To use the side cutter, first you need to unscrew your standard sewing machine foot.

Line the prong part up to cradle your needle screw so the cut and hem is able to move as your needle does. It is easiest to line it up if you sneak up on your sewing machine from behind!

Now pivot the foot so that the claw looking part lines up with the screw hole, and screw into place.

Pull your thread into the gap in the centre of the side cutter then out behind.

You need to make a snip of a couple of centimetres in the fabric to get started. This is because the material needs to pass through far enough inside the foot for the needle to pierce the fabric next to a raw edge to begin an overlocking action.

To feed your fabric into the side cutter, pass your material over the plate closest to you, but under the part that looks like a standard foot. The bumped out black section in the centre is the blade, so be careful not to get your fingers too close to this as you sew. Push the cut edge of the fabric gently up to the the edge of the blade.

Most sewing machines come with a couple of stitches designed to be sewn over the edge, so either select one of these, or a wide zigzag. Double check that the stitch you picked avoids the centre bar by manually moving the needle up and down first.


Now your ready to start sewing like you own an overlocker! I would however recommend that you have a practice on some scraps before you attack your favourite expensive material, as once fabric is cut off, it is very difficult to undo any mistakes. For that same reason, I would also suggest that marking a line on the wrong side of the fabric and sewing this way up will limit your chance of errors too.


As you sew, you will notice that the blade cuts at the same speed as your stitches are sewn, and the stitches wrap around the centre bar. It does this to maintain the perfect tension before sliding them off and around the edge of your fabric. This stops the edge getting pulled out of place.

Once you are finished, you need to slide any remaining stitches off the centre bar, so gently pull the fabric backwards before pulling away.

You can leave your edge like this, but for most projects, you will want to turn the edge up out of sight, so I rolled up the bottom, pinned in place, and with a quarter inch quilting foot that has a handy little guide for lining the fabric edge up against (also available from our SHOP), I quickly can stitch a perfect line 1/4 inch from the bottom.

The finished result looks neat and professional and took me all of 5 minutes!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk

Draft your own strappy top

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

How To Draft Your Own Strappy Top

 

What you will need:

Approx 1 metre of cotton and some thread
(Don't forget to browse our SHOP, for your supplies!)

How to make it:

First, you need to take a few measurements so you can draft your own pattern. You want to know your hip or bust measurement - measurement 'A' (use the largest of the 2). The distance between your bra straps at the front - measurement 'B', the distance between the highest point on your bra and the under bust band going over the cup - measurement 'C' , and the length of your bra strap.

Your dart size will depend on your bust size. I would recommend somewhere between about 2-5cm with a 'C' cup about 3cm, so scale up or down as required. Dart height should be approx. under bust to just under nipple. Plot your measurements on some wrapping paper or parcel paper or similar to draft your own pattern like so (back piece on the left side on, and front pieces on the right):

You will be using your left over material for your straps and bias binding later.


How to sew it together:
First you need to transfer your markings for your darts on to the wrong side of your fabric. To sew the darts on your front top section, simply fold the fabric right sides together down the center of your dart markings. Place a pin or 2 diagonally to mark your line to sew from your bottom mark to your top mark. Sew with a running stitch then press your seams as you go. Depending on the size you made your dart you may want to leave the extra fabric and just press it to the outside, or trim and sew an over-edge stitch (a zigzag stitch very near to the edge will work too). Your top section should now be the same with as your middle front section. 

Sew the bottom of your top front section to the top of the front middle section by putting them right side together. Sew together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance and over stitch the edge.

This piece should now be the same length as your back piece (If it isn't quite then just trim them so they are level - a good tip here is to place one on top of the other so you will get the edges to exactly to same height. There is nothing worse here than trimming it only to find you took too much off).

Leaving them right side together, sew only 1 side seam to join your front and back pieces.

Next you want your long strip to make a slightly ruffled base. To give a neat finish to the bottom hem of the top, I folded the hem up, then folded again to conceal the raw edges inside the hem and pressed in to place before sewing.

On the raw edge, you want to make a slight ruffle. I passed mine through a ruffler foot quickly on the sewing machine with it set to ruffle every 6th stitch at a depth of 2.5 and a stitch length of 2.5.

I then joined it to the base of the top with right sides together, quarter inch allowance running stitch just below the line created by adding ruffles, followed by an overlock stitch. If your brave, you can pass the top under the ruffler as you ruffle to stitch them together, but I prefer to do them separately for more control as it is such a large piece. Without a ruffler foot for your sewing machine, you could always pin your seam, creating the ruffles as you go by bunching and folding small segments of fabric evenly along the length.

 

I like a bias binding finish to the top edge, so with your remaining fabric, cut strips 5cm wide on a 45 degree angle to the grain on the fabric. For a smooth attachment, join your pieces so they sit with 1 horizontal and 1 vertical, and your stich at a 45 degree angle so that the join lies across the fabric. For more details on how to make bias binding, check out the tutorial link HERE

I like to attach bias binding quickly and easily with a bias binding foot (available in our SHOP). If you are attaching it by hand I would recommend pressing a centre fold in it to help make sure you are keeping it perfectly central as you sew. Simply push your fabric up inside the edges. I like to reinforce mine with a zigzag stitch over the edge.

To make you straps, decide how wide you want them, double it and add enough to allow for a tuck under of the edges. The length will be the same as you bra strap length plus 2cm. Press the raw edges in, then fold in half. Press again then sew down both sides of the strap with a zigzag stitch. I like to do this over the edge to make sure it is fully enclosed. Do the open edge first to make sure it doesn't slip out of place. Overlap slightly and sew over the base of the strap as well as level with the top edge of the top. If you want your stitches not to show, you can always sew this part by hand.

To make the back sit close, you either need to add a small length of elastic or pleats. I added 3 pleats after my bias binding in the centre to make a more decorative look but if you'd like it to look more subtle, just do it before adding your bias binding.

Sew up the second side seam in a straight line down the body part but flare out a little at the ruffle to hold it's shape. Then try it on inside out. You will find it probably gapes a little bit around the armpits. To sort that, simply pin diagonally at the top to your desired fit on both sides. Sew then trim the excess before fixing with your over edge stitch.

Turn it the right way around. Press any seams you haven't already done, then go enjoy showing it off!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk. Don't forget to visit our SHOP for all your project supplies.
Happy Sewing!