After completing the bodice and skirt last night I still had topstitching, hemming and minor alterations to finish. I used my two year old as a model and started to work. First I ironed my finished seams and I ironed the serged seam where I joined the bodice to the skirt downward towards the hem of the dress.
Then, I ironed the hem. I gave myself about an inch and a half.
Once everything was ironed I started with the hem. I sewed on top of the serged edge to make sure that I got all of the unfinished edges sewn flat.
Once I had sewn the entire hem, I turned the skirt over, right side facing up. I positioned my presser foot so that the left edge of the presser foot was up against the original seam I had sewn. I topstitched the entire hem parallel to the original hem seam. (This creates a very finished double needle look and does not require any marking or added know how. It's much easier than changing out the needle and it helps with eye hand coordination.)
Once the hem was finished I moved on to topstitching the neck and armholes. I did this by positioning the presser foot so that finished edge was guided by the presser foot. This gives helps you get your stitch close to the edge, allows you to be consistent, and creates a finished look. (note: sometimes you will see double top stitching around the armholes and neck line like you saw on the hem. It's more personal preference than rule of thumb).
Finally, I moved on to the bodice joint. I wanted to topstich the seam that joined the bodice to the skirt for two reasons. The first for security and stability--after all, this is a dress for a two year old. Secondly, I wanted the serged seam to lay flat. To do this I used a zig zag stitch, but you could use two parallel straight stitches or a decorative stitch. You could even attach rick rack or ribbon a this seam to add interest.
Finally, I cut out two squares folded them in half and cut a V half way into the fabric. I took these to odd shaped pieces of fabric and sewed them right sides together so that I could turn them right side out through the flat side of the square (I know this is confusing, see photos below)
The finished pocket turned right side out.
I used a basting stitch to gather the flat side of the soon to be "pocket" and then I pinned it in place. I sewed the bottom of the pocket to the front of the skirt. Once the bottom of the pocket was sewn in place, I folded the pocket flap up and I then pinned the sides of the pocket in place and top stitched them in place. Once that was finished, I took the two triangles tops of the pocket and tied them to make a cute and unique pocket.
Above: Pocket basted and gathered
Below: Pocket pinned to dress skirt. Once sewn I folded the pocket up over the sewn edges, pinned the side seams and sewed them in place. The side seams extend from the bottom of the pocket approximately half way up the square, parallel to the V where the pocket splits. This allows you to tie the split sections into a knot as indicated below.
Once I was finished I tried it on my two year old. It was much too big so I took it in by serging from the armholes to the hem about an inch on either side. This is fine to do with a child's garment because there aren't a lot of curves to take into account, but if you're dealing with an adult garment the you'll need to invest more time taking the seams apart and adjusting various components of the dress, skirt or shirt.
And here is the finished dress...Now, keep in mind this is for a little girl, but all we make in this house are boys. Hopefully he won't remember this in therapy thirty years from now!
~M
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