Sew-Along #27 - Mamie Dress - Preparations

The Mamie Dress by Children's Corner

Items to Collect 
*Note: Links to products within this post are either links to our website or affiliate links. 

1. You must have the Mamie Dress pattern to be able to take part in this sew-along.  If you have not yet purchased this, please do so here.
   
2. If you do not have fabric for the project you will want to purchase some.  At the time of this writing we have have lots of fabric kits available.  We also have lots of nice fabric selections on our website. For detailed information regarding sizing please refer to the Children's Corner blog here.
   
   Note: We greatly appreciate your purchase of patterns and kits from us.  These purchases help pay for the sew-alongs and allow us to continue to offer them along with the great prizes we give away. Thank you for your support!
   
3. Along with fabric you will need some fusible interfacing.  A ¼ yard should be enough. If you have or are purchasing a kit from us it does include fusible interfacing for you.  If you are not purchasing a kit you will need to make sure you have some on hand. 
   
4. The Mamie dress buttons down the back.  You will need to have buttons on hand.  Again, our fabric kits all come with buttons.  If you are not purchasing a kit from us, please make sure you have buttons on hand.
   
5. The sleeve edges are finished with ric-rac. All kits come with coordinated ric-rac.  We also have ric-rac available on our site.
6. During the sew-along we will be making and adding piping to the yoke.  You will need to have some fabric (a fat quarter should be enough) and some petite cording.  Once again, if you purchased a kit you are set as all kits came with both.
   
7.  And finally, you will need pins, a sewing machine, a good iron (a steam iron is preferable for sewing), a pair of fabric shears or a rotary cutter and mat (a rotary cutter and mat is a lifesaver!), a ruler, and a fabric marker/pen or chalk. 
   
   

Optional Items to Collect - The following items are totally optional. 

1. If you are going to hand embroider the yoke of the dress, you will need to have a needle and some embroidery floss.  You can find these at most any store that carries sewing supplies. If you purchased the Wander Woods kit and are doing the deer that Sharon is teaching in Lesson 1, make sure to download and print off your template.  Sharon used the following colors to create her deer; blush, soft white, pale pink, dark pink, green and brown.
   
   
2.  You will also want to have an embroidery hoop to help you with the hand embroidery.
   
   
3. One of the nice things about Children's Corner patterns is that they are not stacked.  Each pattern piece and size is separate.  That means if you cute out a size 4, you are not cutting into and ruining the size 6.  Woot!  But, alas, I still like to trace out all my piece on freezer paper.  What can I say, I'm a freezer paper geek!  We will not be teaching this step, but you can read more about it here.  Feezer paper can be bought at most grocery stores (by the wax paper and aluminum foil) or on Amazon.
   

Things to Do

1. Make sure to prewash and preshrink all of your fabrics.  I wash my fabrics on warm or hot and then I dry my fabrics in the dryer with no softeners.  I always preshrink in this way when I am using fabric for clothing construction. I would hate to work hard on something only to have it shrink and not fit when I was done. 
2. I also prewash my fusible interfacing to preshrink it.  This will prevent any wrinkles or waves that might arise when you iron or launder your garment.  To prewash your interfacing simply soak it in a sink for about 5 minutes in very warm water.  You don't want the water too hot to avoid removing the iron-on finish, but you do want it warm enough to shrink the interfacing.  After soaking, just pat it with a clean towel and hang it to dry. 
3. Press all of your fabrics (but not your fusible interfacing) well.  I try to do this straight out of the dryer so that the wrinkles come out easier. 
4. Don't forget to join our Whimsical Fabric & Me Group so you can post your progress pictures. Everyone who posts completed lesson pictures, on time, to the Facebook Group, will be entered into drawings to win some awesome prizes!  Please note that this is a different group then what we have hosted the sew-alongs in the past.  Please make sure to join this group so you don't miss out if you haven't already.

The Prizes

Check out these awesome prizes we will be giving away on the Facebook Group during the sew-along!  Over $100 in prizes!

1. Ellie Inspired Sweet Pea Coat Pattern (Sept sew-along) - $9.95 value.
2. Ellie Inspired Sweet Pea Coat Pattern (Sept sew-along) - $9.95 value.
3. $10 Gift Certificate to WhimsicalFabric.com - $10.00 value.
4. $10 Gift Certificate to WhimsicalFabric.com - $10.00 value.
5. Any in stock Children's Corner Pattern - $16.95 shipped value.
6. Any in stock Children's Corner Pattern - $16.95 shipped value.
7. One yard of any in stock AGF Voile - $17.95 shipped value.
8. Santa's Workshop Fat Quarter Bundle - $22.50 shipped value.

We will give out entries for the prize pool drawing during the sew-along. There are three different ways to earn entries into the prize drawing.

1. Each day that you turn in an assignment on time you will receive 1 entry per item you create. Thus, the more items you make, the more entries you will receive.
2. We will also award 1 entry for purchasing the Mamie pattern from us using the coupon code SewAlongSavings.
3. In addition, if you purchased a kit from the Sew-Along #27 Category we will award you another 2 entries for each kit purchased.  *Note: Patterns purchased within the kit count as pattern purchases outlined in step #2 above.

Happy Sewing,
Danielle Storm
www.whimsicalfabric.com