Last weekend started out as a busy weekend and turned into a challenging week, but let me show you what I did!
I am still working on my sister’s dress – part of my “Sister’s Sewing Project”. She would like this dress, in this 100% cotton border print and I am using this pattern, Butterick B6089 (sorry for the flash glare).
I got the fabric cut out. First I cut a large piece, double thickness, of the border print and pinned the two layers together perfectly, matching up the stripes of the border at the bottom of both layers very carefully. Then I placed my skirt piece on top, lining up the grain line of the pattern piece at a 90 degree angle to the stripes of the border print. The skirt pattern piece curved up at the bottom hem, but I didn’t cut off the salvage at all. I didn’t want to chance losing any of the border print and I can always adjust this when hemming later.
The skirt pattern piece was too long, but I didn’t want to lose any of the lovely border print design at the bottom so I cut off the fabric at the top of the skirt instead – just a couple of inches – still making sure I was measuring consistently from the stripes of the border to the new cutting line.
Box pleats are always fun. This pattern had them marked out on the skirt pieces. I transferred the markings to my fabric with a Chalk-o-liner. Sewed the pleat stitching line and pressed it.
Then I opened the pleat and matched my pleat fold line with my pleat stitching line and pressed it again. The box pleats were all basted down along the top edge of the skirt.
The right side looks lovely!
Side seams of my sister’s skirt were basted together for fitting. I pinned at every stripe through both layers to ensure my border print stripes would match at the sides.
The bodice pieces were easy to put together, as well as the sleeves. Here I stopped sewing and when my sister came to visit I had her try on all the pieces. We had fun pinning her into every piece and pinning every piece together, but we managed, and we decided that the skirt waistband needed to be taken in two inches to match the bodice waistband (obviously!). The fit was checked and I was free to blaze ahead!
While my sister was visiting we also browsed the 2nd hand clothing shops for bag zippers and fittings. I was lucky! I managed to strip 2 straps, a set of swivel hooks, 4 zippers, 4 belt buckles, 2 tassels and a magnetic snap off of these bags, plus some salvaged fabric! All for $10!
My other sister joined us on Sunday to run/walk the 5km CIBC Run for the Cure for Breast Cancer. Straight from their website: “85,000 Canadians in 56 communities across the country united to raise an astounding $17 million.”
Before I even got started in the Run though, I knew there was trouble. Feeling chilled and sluggish, I walked probably only half the course with my sister, then I fell asleep for a few days. (The diagnosis was a throat infection.) No sewing (sob!), no nothing! I empathize though with those who suffer a fate far worse than my simple curable throat infection.
Happily this long weekend is a healthier weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I see sewing and turkey eating in my immediate future! What about you?
So tell us … do you have any tips to share when it comes to layout, cutting and sewing border prints?
Happy Sewing!
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