Explaining Some Steps – Lining Cowl Neck Dress #118 10/2012

So I promised a tutorial of some sorts about lining the cowl neck dress 118 from Burdastyle’s October 2012 issue. If you were expecting a full on tutorial, you’re probably going to be disappointed. In my post describing the dress I described what I did with a list, a bit like this one (I tried to improve the original a bit):

1. Attach facings to lining pieces (as suggested in “Easy Guide to Sewing Linings”(Amazon link))
2. Gather both lining and fashion fabric as indicated and instructed by Burda
3. Sew back darts, both on lining and fashion fabric
4. Attach back facing (including lining) to back pieces (fashion fabric) as instructed by Burda
5. Sew shoulder seams as directed by Burda
6. Set in sleeves, both on lining and fashion fabric (do each sleeve half seperately, starting at the shoulder seam, as this seam connects fashion fabric and lining)
7. Sew sleeve hems of lining to fashion fabric sleeve hems, right sides facing
8. Sew side seams from bottom of fashion fabric all the way along the sleeves to the bottom of the lining
9. Now’s a good time to do fitting adjustements if you haven’t made a muslin (though, tsk, you totally should! (However, I only did a body muslin to see if the size and bodice length was right, not to do tailoring))
10. Attach the back zipper (I used Tasia’s method for a neat finish)
11. Finish the hem as you prefer. (You could leave the lining free hanging to avoid hand sewing.)

So here I’m just going to present some of the more confusing points: points 6 to 8. The reasoning behind this being that a full on tutorial would get to sewalong proportion, and that most of the info can be found elsewhere (I linked to it where possible).

One exception, though, here’s a picture of how to cut the front lining piece:

Front Lining Piece – cut at the red line

Fold over the pattern piece and draw a line where the edge meets the body (red in picture). From there downwards is the lining pattern for the front. Attach the lining at that line to the fashion fabric.

Follow the steps on the list. Up to step 6. Here’s how the pieces should look like after step 5 (inside view):

After Sewing the Shoulder Seam – fashion fabric is dark blue, lining is white

In the following pictures I tried to always have the back pieces on the left and the front pieces on the right to make it easier to see what is where.

So after sewing the shoulder seams start pinning the sleeves in the flat (I go the idea from one of Tasia’s Renfrew tutorials). First pin at the shoulder notch/shoulder seam:

Aligning Sleeve Shoulder Notch With Shoulder Seam

Then align the edges and remaining notches, pinning both lining and fashion fabric sleeves:

Carefully Pinned Sleeves

Sew each section seperately, starting at the shoulder seam. Here’s how it should look like after all the sections are sewn:

Sewn Sleeve Cap Sections

See how the seams don’t quite meet? That’s to avoid snatching at the fabric on the other side of the shoulder seam. In my fabric it didn’t show, so I didn’t mind the gap. You might want to close it completely, though.

Next sew the sleeve lining an fashion fabric together at the hem, right sides facing:

Sew Sleeves at Lower Edge – Here in orange thread

So far, so easy. Now the whole thing should be turned, so that the side seams can be sewn. Here’s step one:

Sleeves Turned Right sides out – Wrong sides facing each other

Now fold the right hand (front) lining piece to the left, aligning the side and underarm seams and pin (just the lining). Pull the left hand (back) fashion fabric piece from under the lining to the right, align the side and underarm seams and pin. Here’s how it should look like when layed flat. I hope it’s visible enough in this picture:

Pinned on The Upper Edge – a.k.a. side and underarm seams

Here the lining is on the left, the fashion fabric is on the right. These are the front pieces facing up. Sew along the upper edge, from one hem to the other, along the side and underarm seams.

Next turn the fashion fabric so the right side is out. When you turn the sleeve, the lining will be pulled inside the sleeve nice and neat. Here are some pictures of that:

Inside View After Turning – Front piece in the top of the picture, back lining below

Outside View After Turning – Back ready for inserting zipper

Sleeve Hem – Hand sewing free

From here on just insert the zipper and hem the dress and you’re done.

I hope this is helpfull. It’s my first attempt at something like this, so please let me know where it’s difficult to understand and I’ll try and explain/fix it.