Sew-Along #13 - Stella Dress - Lesson #4

The Stella Dress View B by Izzy & Ivy Designs

Welcome to the Stella Dress sew-along.  If you have any questions, suggestions, or tips to share; please make sure to post them on our Facebook group.

Hopefully you have already read the Stella Dress instructions all the way through. It's probably a good idea to read through today's lesson once too before you begin.

*All seams for the Stella are ½" unless otherwise stated.

I also want to remind everyone that if you would like to see any of the images posted in this blog larger, just click on them. Let's begin now.


Day 4 - Finishing Your Dress.

Hello! Welcome to the final day of the sew along.  We are so close now; we just have a few items to finish up and then you will have your dress all complete and ready for some lucky little lady.  So let's finish it up!

The first item we need to tackle is attaching the hem band to the skirt. The first thing we will want to do is to place the band pieces right sides together and stitch the short ends together.  

***Note: If you are using a directional fabric, make sure your bands are facing the same direction before sewing them together.  

Once they are stitched together, press the seams open. 

Then you will fold the band in half, lengthwise and press it flat.

Once the band is pressed flat, match the raw edge of the band to the raw edge of the shirt and sew along the edges.  

Finish the raw edges and press the seam towards the skirt, then topstitch 1/4" and 1/8" above the hem band.  

Once the hem band is complete, we need to attach the skirt to the bodice.  I like to finish the bottom edge of the bodice and the top edge of the skirt before I attach them together, that way I am not serging through several layers of fabric.  You can always wait until the end if that is what you are more comfortable with as well.  

Once the raw edges are finished (if you are doing them now), we need to gather the skirt.  To do this, I used the string included in my kit to complete my gathers.  

Placing the string along the edge of the fabric, I used a wide and long zig-zag stitch to sew over the string.  Be careful not to sew ON the string though!

This is what the edge will look like once the string is stitched along the edge.  

Then, pulling the string and pushing the fabric in the opposite direction, gather the skirt along the string. 

Once the skirt is mostly gathered and inside out, I put the bodice inside of it. Adjusting the gathers and matching right sides together, I pinned along the edges and sewed the bodice and skirt together.  If you have not already finished your raw edges, you will need to do so now.  

The final step to the dress is to make the sash.  I didn't take pictures when I did my first one (oops!) so I made another one for my second daughters dress and took pictures of it (that's why it's a different colorway than the rest of my dress).  

I made one change from the pattern to my sash; you can follow the pattern or do it this way.  I do not like a center seam in the front of my dress, so I cut one of my sash pieces in half and attached it at each end of the remaining piece.  

***Note: If you are using a directional fabric, make sure your pieces are facing the same direction before sewing them together.  

Once the three (or two if you are following the pattern) pieces are sewn together, I pressed the seam allowance to one side.  

Then folding the sash in half lengthwise, I went ahead and cut my angled edges. If find that I sew too far and forget to angle if I don't cut them first.  

Then I stitched around the edges of the sash, leaving a 3" opening along the raw edge for turning.  I also trimmed the corners before turning.  

Then I turned the sash right sides out through the opening.  

Then I pressed it nice and flat...

And topstitched along the edges.

Lining the center of the sash up with the center front and along the waist seam, topstitch the sash along the bottom edge from side seam to side seam.

And then you are DONE!

My daughter loves hers.  My other daughter was less than thrilled when she figured out she didn't have a matching dress, so guess who that second sash I made is for :)

Thanks for joining me on the Stella Sew Along.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!  See you next time...

* If you would like to enter the prize drawing, please make sure you submit a picture of your completed lesson to the Facebook Album by 8:00 AM CT, Tuesday, April 1st. Questions? The Facebook Group is a great place to ask.

Sarah 
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