Children's Patsy Party Dress

Staystitching

Staystitching is a line of stitches that we use around curves to prevent them from stretching while manipulating, sewing, or even wearing the garment. If you don’t do it, the skirt waist is likely to stretch and then the bodice won’t fit properly when you try to stitch it on. Doing ‘directional stay stitching’ like this (e.g. stitching in the direction of the arrows) helps preserve the grainline and stops the fabric twisting about while we are sewing the rest of the garment, before we attach it to the bodice.

Staystitch using a regular length straight stitch, staying inside the ½ inch seam allowance, as these stitches won’t be removed. 

Staystitch the center front skirt at the waist, starting at the center stitching towards each side, in the direction of the arrows.

Staystitch the two center backs and four front and back side pieces in the direction of the arrows.

Align center front with side front, right sides together.  Pin along the curve.  

TIP – It can be difficult to pin opposing curves.  It is easiest to place a pin at each end, and one in the middle, then ease in between them.  Make sure you align at the ½ inch seam allowance, rather than the edge. 

Sew with ½ inch seam allowance.  

Wrong sides facing up, press seam open.  

TIP – If you find the curve doesn’t press open well, clip into the seam allowance along the curve, taking care to clip close to, but not through your stitches.  

Align side front and side back, right sides together and pin.  

Sew with ½ inch seam allowance.  

Press seam open.

Repeat steps 1.1 to 1.4 for the other side of your bodice.

With right sides together, sew each side of the center back panel to each of the side back panels, using ½ inch seam allowance.

Your bodice will now be one piece.

Repeat steps 1.1 to 1.6 for your bodice lining.  

Fold one strap in half length-ways, right sides together.  Pin and sew at ½ inch seam allowance.  

Trim seam allowance.

There are several ways to turn the strap tube right side out. If you have a preferred method you are more familiar with, please use this. Alternatively, here is how I like to do it with a loop turner.

Insert the loop turner inside the strap tube until it reaches the other end. Perforate the fabric with the little clasp and push it to close the hook. Pull the loop turner back inside very delicately. While pulling the loop turner inside, smooth the fabric upwards towards the top of the hook and roll the fabric on itself inside the tube so it is wrong sides together. Continue to roll until you’ve turned the tube right side out completely.

Press.  

TIP – Try to keep the seam centered along one side of the strap. This will allow it to remain completely hidden when worn.

Repeat for other shoulder strap.

Align both straps right side facing the front of your bodice, centered over the strap attachment.  Pin in place.  

Baste straps in place. 

NOTE – If you haven’t basted before, basting is a long straight stitch that we use to temporarily hold something in place. This makes it easier in the next step when sewing the lining to the front bodice.  

Turn the main bodice inside out, making sure to keep the straps on the bodice’s right side, out of the way of the seam you are about to sew. 

Place the lining inside the bodice, right sides together. 
Pin all along the top edge – armscye, shoulder strap, neck, other armscye, through the back to where you began.

TIP – Make sure you align each of the seams and the center front of your bodice.

Sew with ½ inch seam allowance. 

TIP – When you get to the straps, leave your needle down, lift your pressure foot, and turn the bodice.

Trim the seam allowance. 

Turn the bodice right side out and press.

NOTE – The straps will be attached to the back of the bodice in step 7.

Flip the main bodice piece up. Press the seam allowance towards the bodice lining.

Understitch the seam allowance to the bodice lining.

TIP – It can be tricky to sew around the front bodice around the straps. We suggest you start sewing from the outside of one of the straps, across the back to the opposite outer side, stopping as close to the outside of the strap as you can. Then, sew across the front bodice in between the straps.

We are going to do French seams to stitch the skirt panels together. A French seam will hide all the raw edges, giving a much cleaner finish. If you haven’t done these before, don’t worry, all the steps are below so you can just follow along.

With the wrong sides together (right sides facing up), pin the center front skirt to a side skirt.

Stitch with ¼ inch seam allowance.  

Trim seam allowance.  

TIP – You are trimming here so that when you encase the seam in the next step all the threads and raw edges are hidden. I generally try to trim my seam allowance in half as I like to make sure absolutely nothing is sticking out. However just neatening up the edge here will also suffice.

Turn right sides together (wrong sides facing up) and press as flat as you can. Make sure that the seam line is at the exact center of your fold.

Sew again with ¼ inch seam allowance, enclosing the raw edges.  

With wrong sides facing up, press the seam toward the side.

Repeat steps 2.1 to 2.3 to attach the back side skirt to the front side skirt.

Repeat steps 2.1 to 2.4 to attach the other front side of your skirt. 

Repeat steps 2.1 to 2.4 to attach the center back panel to the side of each side panel.

You will now have a full circle skirt.

If you aren’t adding a skirt overlay, skip to step 4.

You will be attaching all four rectangle pieces together, along the shorter edges, using a French seam. This long piece will then be attached to the skirt.

With wrong sides together (right sides facing up), pin two overlay rectangles together at one short side.

Stitch using a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Trim the seam allowance approximately in half.

Turn right sides together (wrong sides facing up) and press, using a very low setting or pressing cloth, as flat as you can. Try to make sure that the seam line is at the exact center of your fold.

Stitch ¼ inch from the edge. 

Press.

This will encase the raw edges, so you can’t see them (a French seam).

Repeat steps 3.1 to 3.4 for the second and third rectangle until you have one long rectangular piece. You will be joining 3 edges.

With right sides facing up, sew two rows of gathering stitches along the long top edge of the skirt overlay.

Gather the skirt overlay by pulling gently on both bobbin threads, until it matches the width of the top of the skirt.

Spread the gathering out gently with your fingers so that it gathers evenly.

Repeat steps 3.1 to 3.4 to sew the open short edges of the skirt overlay together.

You will now have a full circle skirt overlay.

Place your skirt overlay inside your skirt, wrong side of overlay to right side of the skirt. Pin together.

Baste the overlay to the skirt using a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Press ½ inch seam allowance along the waist edge of your bodice lining.

Place your bodice inside your skirt, right sides together, front bodice to front skirt and back bodice to back skirt, matching seams. Flip your bodice lining down inside the skirt so that it’s out of the way. Pin your main fabric of the bodice and skirt together.

NOTE – If you have sewn a skirt overlay check that the skirt and overlay are pinned to the bodice.

NOTE – The images shown in these steps are from the ladies tutorial, but the process is the same.

Sew with ½ inch seam allowance.

Flip your bodice up so your dress is now wrong side facing out. 

Press the skirt waist raw edges up towards the bodice.

You will need to create channels on the back bodice for feeding the elastic through. The channels will run all the way from the left to the right side of the back piece and will be horizontal/parallel to the top edge. I suggest making the channels approximately twice the width of your elastic so that it’s easy to feed through.

If you are using 1cm or ⅓ inch wide elastic, you will find the number of strips required for your size in the cutting charts. This is how many rows you’ll need. 

The elastic you’ve cut (following the cut table) is approximately half the width of the center back so that once the elastic is inserted and gathered, the center back piece will be halved in width. Once you’ve got the number of rows you’ll need, space these evenly from the top edge to the waist.

With right sides facing up, mark all the channels on the main bodice.

TIP – Use tailors chalk/fabric pen for the channel placements.

Turn your dress wrong side out. Pin the bodice lining to the skirt along the center back piece, so that the main bodice and lining are lying flat. 

Turn your dress right way out. Place pins in the top channel.

Stitch over the lines you drew for the channels on the center back, remembering to backstitch at each end to prevent the stitching unravelling.

Remove all pins.

NOTE – Make sure to use a thread that matches your bodice fabric, as these stitches will be visible on the outside of your dress.

Attach a safety pin to one end of your elastic. With dress wrong side out, lift the bodice lining up and insert the elastic into the top channel. Feed the elastic through the channel until there is ¼ inch left outside of the channel. 

Stitch over the elastic to hold it in place. You can do this by stitching directly over the seam between the center back bodice and the side back bodice.

NOTE – You will not have pulled the elastic all the way through the channel yet, just leave the safety pinned end inside the channel while you stitch down the left side of the elastic.

TIP – Try to stitch the elastic as centered in the channel as possible.

Continue feeding the elastic through the channel until the safety pin comes out the other side and there is ¼ inch of elastic coming out of the channel.

Stitch over the elastic, just as you did in step 5.5.

Repeat steps 5.5 to 5.6 for the rest of the elastics, except for the bottom channel. This last elastic will be added in step 6.3.

You’ll need to attach the bodice lining to the skirt seam allowance, between the center back seams, in order to finish the last channel.

You will be using a slipstitch (also called a ‘ladder stitch’) to stitch the bodice lining to the skirt. With dress wrong side facing out, your lining will be folded under ½ inch and you will be stitching along this folded edge.

Thread your needle, tying the two thread tail ends together in a knot. This will provide added strength to your finished seam. Push your needle up and through the folded seam, from the inside of the skirt to outside, pulling the thread tail completely through.
Your knotted end will now be nicely concealed within the seam on the inside.

Directly across from your starting point, push the needle down into the skirt seam allowance, and then back up through the lining seam fold to create a stitch that is between ⅛ – ¼ inch long. When you pull the thread through, you will notice that the stitch you just made is concealed within the seam crease, and there will be a horizontal stitch connecting the left and right sides of your opening.

Pull the thread through so that it is taut.

Repeat these steps, pinching both sides together as you sew (this will help keep your stitching even), until you reach the end of the opening. To tighten the stitches, gently pull the thread. This will conceal the stitches in between the seams.

We’ve left the stitches loose in this picture to show you what the ladder stitch looks like. You will be pulling the thread through and taut after each stitch. 

To end off you create a loop for your needle to pass through by picking up a tiny section of the opposite seam and passing your needle through the loop. Tighten to form a knot. If you need to reinforce the stitching repeat this step. Snip your threads.

Your center back lining will now be secured to your dress.

Repeat steps 5.5 and 5.6 to attach the last elastic through the bottom channel you finished in step 6.1.

Gently adjust the elastic pieces to sit evenly across the back.

Pin the rest of the bodice lining to the skirt, all the way around the waist of the dress, catching the skirt seam allowance.

Use a slipstitch to sew the rest of the bodice lining to the skirt seam allowance, using the same technique as in step 6.1 and 6.2.

Fold the end of the straps ¼ inch to the wrong side of the strap. Press.  

Pin one strap to the side seam of the center back lining piece, right side of strap to wrong side of dress, so the folded raw edge of the strap is on the inside. Make sure it isn’t twisted.

Repeat for the second strap.  

TIP – To make the fit really spot on, try this on your little one now and adjust the length of the strap before sewing.

Sew a square at the end of each strap to attach it, putting down your needle and lifting the pressure foot to turn at each corner.

NOTE – Make sure to use a thread that matches your bodice fabric, as these stitches will be visible on the outside of your dress.  

If you are using fabric for your skirt overlay that will fray, I recommend finishing the raw edges. You can sew a rolled hem or alternatively turn the edges over ¼ inch, press, fold over another ¼ inch and topstitch. Remember when pressing to use a low heat setting and/or a pressing cloth to protect your fabric.

Press hem up ¼ inch to the wrong side.  

Press hem again ¼ inch to the wrong side to hide raw edges. 

Topstitch close to the folded edge.