Piecing the Contrast Band

I spent the better part of today finishing up Simplicity 4721 the Lizzie McGuire dress intended for my granddaughter. Most of that time was spent piecing in the contrast band.

If you're new to this project, let me bring you up to speed. The short story is that I had expected the contrast band to be pieced into the skirt. In actuality, it was appliqued onto the skirt. I was dissatisfied with how that was going to look and had all but decided to use jumbo rick-rack instead when Bunny, of La Sewista! suggested piecing the band using hemstitching. Which is what I did, after referring to Carol Ahles excellent book, Fine Machine Sewing (my review). For those of you who are interested, this is how I did it.

Warning: This procedure is neither for the rushed nor the faint of heart!

First, I pressed under the seam allowance on the contrast band.

Then I pinned the band to the dress, placing the bottom of the band on the placement line.


Next, I stitched the band to the dress, using a straight stitch and stitching very close to the pressed edges of the band.


The next step was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done; seriously, I thought I was going to hyperventilate. From the back side of the dress, I slit the base fabric between the lines of stitching. This was the point of no return.




I pressed the raw edges of the base fabric away from the contrast band and basted the seam allowances down, well away from the seam line. I wanted to make sure they stayed in place while I was stitching from the right side of the fabric.


Next, from the right side, I hemstitched the edges of the contrast band using the Parisian hemstitch, Sulky machine embroidery thread and a 100/16 wing needle. The Parisian hemstitch looks like a blanket stitch, but it stitches in and out of each hole in the main row of stitching five (count 'em!) times. This step alone took nearly two hours.

After I finished hemstitching, I trimmed away the seam allowances very close to the stitching.

Here's a detail shot of the contrast band.


And here's the finished dress*:



*I apologize for the poor photo; my model lives far, far away.

Contrast Band Revisited

I was all set to use jumbo rick-rack for the contrast band on the dress I'm making for my granddaughter, Simplicity 4721, when Bunny suggested pinstitching as a solution to my problem.

It was perfect timing as I had Carol Ahles excellent book, Fine Machine Sewing on loan from the library. Hoping that pinstitching and hemstitching were the same thing, I pulled out the book, read up on the technique and started practicing. I selected Parisian hemstitch and a wing needle.Bunny suggested a very large needle rather than a wing needle but a wing needle is what I had on hand, so that is what I used.

This is a close-up of my best practice swatch so far. I think it looks pretty good. If this were an heirloom dress made of handkerchief linen, I might feel differently, but I think this is quite adequate for a (not so simple after all) sundress made of quilting cotton. Even the back looks good, as all the excess fabric is trimmed away, eliminating the problem of how to keep the seam allowances from showing through.

I'm still undecided whether to use rick-rack or the hemstitching. Opinions, please.

Problem Child

I am pretty excited because I finished the linen/rayon blouse that was giving me so much trouble a couple of weeks ago. As is so often the case, the problem child has ended up being near and dear to her mother's heart. I just love this blouse: the rumpled look of the linen (hey, what can I say...it camouflages those puckers!); the buttons my daughter picked out; the tunic length; the cuffs, which, for some reason, just strike me as being really beautiful. Thanks to everyone who offered advice an encouragement, here and at PatternReview. It's due in large part to you that this blouse was finished rather than becoming a wadder. Although this is not "officially" a part of my PatternReview mini-wardrobe, it is, in fact, the first piece of my new wardrobe capsule.

I have high hopes for my April sewing projects...let me list them for you.

* A birthday dress for my granddaughter, for which I've found the most adorable fabric. You can't see it in the photo, but it's sparkly!

* Also some clothes for her American Girl "Girl of Today" doll, a hand-me-down from my 16 year old daughter, using Simplicity 7083.

* Several ribbon belts for my oldest daughter.

* Muslins of Butterick 4991, McCall's 2818 and (hopefully) Burda 7944 in preparation for the mini-wardrobe contest.

I also have two other tops I'm itching to make, which will be great add-ons to my mini-wardrobe. I seriously need to figure out how to carve more sewing time from each day. Suggestions, anyone?