Sewing Project: Sundress {With Free Pattern}

 

 

I fell in love to this “Love In The Afternoon” sundress from Twinkle when I saw it featured in Craft Stylist 2 months ago. A cocoon shape (with narrowing bottom hem) with origami inspired shoulder strap and the zig-zag topstitching on the bust band are those features that caught my eyes… moreover, it is a free pattern, how can I resist not to sew one. I believed that it would look great on my best friend, so I made this for her as a maternity dress. For some reasons, she doesn’t want me to put her as the main picture, so, I have to put her on the second, go and have a look how this dress turn out on her, isn’t she lovely

This free pattern is available in sizes from 0-16 for you to download and print, there is also a written instruction for you to follow, [click here to get all the details in Craft Stylist]. The dress is not difficult to sew, but I find that it would be much easier if there are some pictures to go with the instructions, especially on the shoulder straps. By the way, if you browse through the photo album above, I have some closed-up pictures for various view to show some of the features.

I followed almost all the instructions given except a few, eg. I skipped the lining for the skirt, I used invisible zipper and I added 3″ on the skirt so that it is almost on knee length (as what Bee wanted). The reason I skipped the lining is because the fabric I used is cotton with dark background, I prefer the sundress to be light and easy, and most importantly comfortable to wear, so a lining is not necessary here.

After Bee received it and wore it, her feedback was…. everything is great except she needs to inhale and hide her tummy a little when wearing from top down, as the narrowing bottom hem is just nice to pass through her growing tummy …. I overlooked this! If you were to sew this as a maternity dress, remember to take into the account for the bottom hem measurement… lol!

Below are some of the photos and instructions I need to point out so that it is easier for you to sew, especially the origami pleated strap.

**Branch out from step 3 per the instruction sheet**
Equally divide the wider strap [11] and narrow strap [10] into 6 parts and pin them together. There are 7 pin points.

Smooth out the strap and pleat the excessive wider strap at point 2,4 & 6.

Turn to the wrong side and sew along the center of both straps. Look out on the pleats that is facing against the sewing direction as it is likely to be dragged away by feed dog. The closer the pleats meet the neater it looks.

Turn over to the right side, fold the strap to form the origami pattern, set your steam iron to the highest temperature that the fabric can handle, press to set the folds to permanent crease.
** Cautious, try out on a scrap fabric to get the right temperature so that it won’t burn the strap. If you don’t have steam iron, spray some water mist on the strap before pressing.

The following are just some closed-up details of the sewing. The instruction is clear enough to understand, so I won’t elaborate more.
The zig-zag topstitching on the bust bands.

Sew center bust and side bust together. Clip curve. Topstitch close to the seam line on both sides.

This is the invisible zipper. I love invisible zip for dresses. Easy to sew and neat to present.

Since I skipped the lining for the skirt, I folded the seam allowance of the bust lining and slip stitch along the sewing line to hide all the seams inside.
Hope to see you sew one soon! Let me know if you have question, I will try to help!

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3. Sewing Pattern: Unisex Boxer Short
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