SEWING PROJECTS FOR BEGINNERS – EASY SUMMER DRESS
Sewing Projects for Beginners
How to sew a gorgeous easy-to-make Valentine’s Day dress!
The Valentine’s Day will be here in under a month so why not prepare your special outfit already! This time it won’t be just any outfit though! It’ll be a gorgeous entirely handmade easy-to-sew maxi dress! I’ve been wanting to practice shirring for some time now and purchased a gorgeous viscose pastel fuchsia fabric for it! The other day I came across this fabric again and thought it’s ideal for the Valentine’s Day outift! A beautiful alternative is also our Evangeline linen kimono dress available in our SHOP, it comes in sophisticated minimalist style and also with embroidery!
Forgiving fit and so easy to make!
Shirring is such clever way to create perfect detailing on the dress. You can use it on the bodice or sleeves, and it’s great to use even for children’s projects or maternity fashion! All you need is a panel of fabric and elastic thread on a bobbin as the bottom sewing thread. By sewing rows of stitching across the panel about with about a 1cm gap you will soon notice how the fabrics begins to gather. Once finished, you’ll have a lovely bodice without a difficult or precise pattern! This project is ideal for sewing beginners, especially if you choose to use non-stretchy fabric like linen or cotton.
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Making the dress!
My inspiration for this project was a shirred summer dress video tutorial by beautifully creative Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone! The guide in the video is so good that I’ll mainly focus on my own process of making this dress!
Sewing process
I had about 2m of viscose fabric at 145cm width to work with. I began by washing the fabric at 40 degrees to shrink it down before sewing and to remove any excess colour. Once dry, I ironed the fabric and cut out two pieces on double layer of it (4 pieces total) approximately following the guide in the video. You can see the pattern pieces on the sketched image – this is what makes the project so easy! You basically only work with rectangle pieces, no difficult shapes or angles.
Making the body of the dress
First, I sew a zig-zag stitch around the edges of all four large pieces to make the raw edges neat. Then I took the two main bodice panels (80cm), placed right sides facing each other and sew them together along the vertical edges. Then I did the same with the two bottom pannels and used a slip stitch on the top edge of this bottom dress piece to gather the fabric. I had to repeat this twice because the thread kept ripping. The best way to resolve this is to either use a firmer thread (denim). You can also make two slip stitch rows and use both top threads for firmer gathering. I gathered the bottom piece fabric according to the width of the main top bodice panels. Then I placed the gathered edge together with the bottom bodice panel (right sides of the fabric facing each other) and sewed them together with two rows of stitching. Then I folded, ironed and hemmed the top and bottom raw edges
Shirring and the final touches
I left the shirring till the end. The viscose fabric was quite soft so the gathering picked up nicely right away. I made 21 rows to create the stretchy bodice and had to change the bobbin twice (used three bobbins of the elastic thread in total). Once finished, I used the iron at mild temperature with steam to encourage the gathering even more.
When the dress was finished, I slipped it on to measure where to place the straps. You can see the 7cm and 2cm pieces on the pattern sketch – these are the two straps and one belt. Both pieces should be folded in half long-wise and sewed, then turned inside out. I also did a top stitch on the belt to make it neat and flat. I also cut the turned straps piece at the fold to have to equal straps, and hand-stitched them onto the dress.
And there’s the final outfit! The perfect Valentine’s Day dress and easy-to-sew project for beginners!
DID YOU ENJOY THIS SEWING PROJECT? SAVE IT FOR LATER TO ONE OF YOUR SEWING, FASHION OR CREATIVE CRAFTS PINTEREST BOARDS!
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