A Gallery of Delicious Crepes

There have been many lovely dresses uploaded to the Crepe Sew-Along Flickr pool! And just like the French dessert, they certainly are sweet.

I just love Suzy's fierce zebra print!

Debbie's is divine in a blue and purple floral.

Farah's dotted Swiss is so pretty.

Christi's polka dots are pure retro awesomeness.

And Jane's vintage-y floral is so cheery with the red sash.

Aren't these wonderful? And this is just a small selection of the pool! I love seeing how everyone has made it their own. Don't forget to upload your version!

Modeling My Crepe

Hey everyone, I'm back! I thought I'd ease back into blogging by showing you pics of my finished Crepe. This is a great dress, so comfortable and flattering (if I do say so myself).

I used a Liberty lawn for the body,  underlined in white cotton batiste, which gives it a nice pop and opacity. The sash is a black and white polka dot lawn.

All the fitting on the back paid off!

I futzed around with the sash a lot.

Pockets! Yay!

You can go back in time and relive the whole sew-along here. Don't forget to share pictures of your finished Crepe!

I'll be taking a break from running sew-alongs until my book is completely finished, around late summer. We'll have to do something fun for fall!

Crepe Sew-Aong #16: It's a Dress!

I told you we were close!

So, last time you sewed your skirt front and back sections at the center seams. Now it's time to do your pockets and side seams. Finish your pocket edges.

Pin and sew your pockets to the skirt pieces as directed by the pattern instructions. The instructions are great, so just read carefully and you'll be golden.

Don't forget to press the pocket out after stitching.

Pin your front and back skirt pieces together, pinning all the way around the edges of the pockets.

I like to draw in my stitching line where I have to pivot.

Stitch down each side seam and around the pockets. Follow the purple line!

I finished my side seams by zigzagging together and then trimming. Press these seams to the front.

 Now, finish the back side edges of the skirt. Measuring carefully, press under first 1/4" and then 3/8".

Edge stitch this hem. This just means stitching very close to the fold. (You could also slipstitch it to the underlining for an in visible hem.)

Now for the waist seam! Pin the bodice to the skirt, right sides together. Stitch carefully, making sure your darts are facing the right directions as you sew.

 I finished my waist seam with some folded-over pre-packaged bias tape.

All that's left is the skirt hem. Try your dress on and determine if the 5/8" hem allowance is the length you want. Once you've adjusted your hem, press and sew it in the same manner as the back edges. (Pressing under 1/4", then 3/8" and then edge stitching.)

And your dress is done! Snip off any final threads, make sure your facings are all tacked down, give it a final press and take some lovely pictures! Don't forget to post them in the Flickr pool. I'll be taking some action shots of mine this weekend.

I'm still around for questions, of course. (I know there are some I haven't gotten to from the last post, but I'm on it!)

Hope you've enjoyed these Sew-Along posts!

French Seams (Crepe Sew-Along #15)

Yep, French seams can make you feel like singing Stevie Wonder.

Hey, does everyone know how to sew a French seam? If not, it's time to learn! There are a ton of tutorials out there, but I thought I'd share my process on the Crepe dress. I use French seams on my skirts all the time, because it so nicely encloses the raw edge.

For this dress, I'm only using French seams on the center front and center back skirt seam. This is because there are pockets on the side seams, which would make the process more complicated there. (But it is possible to do French seams with side seam pockets, as you can read here.)

First, start by putting your front skirt sections WRONG sides together. This will feel very weird if you've never done it before. (And, truthfully, even if you have.)

Now, follow the directions in the pictograms! (Yeah, that word definitely doesn't mean what I think it means.) Start by pinning and sewing your seam together with a 3/8" seam allowance. (Oh, and double-click any of the pictograms to see them bigger.)

(Note: If for some reason your pattern seam allowance is different from 5/8", just subtract 1/4" from your seam allowance and use that number in this step. So, if you had a 1/2" seam allowance on your pattern, you would sew a 1/4" seam allowance on this first step. Make sense? The point is that you want to have 1/4" left to work with after this step.)

Now trim this seam allowance down to 1/8".

Press your teensy-weensy seam allowance open. (If you're anything like me, this is the step where you start to panic that you've done it wrong because it just seems so weird to have your seam on the outside of your dress. Don't fear! You're on the right track.)

Now, press the skirt pieces right sides together, making sure to align that seam right on the edge.

 Go back to your machine and stitch at 1/4".

 Press to the side.

 Here's the seam from the outside; it looks like any other seam.

That's it!

Crepe Sew-Alongers, do this for the front skirt section and the two back skirt sections. We'll do pockets next time!

Crepe Sew-Along #14: Neckline Facings

Believe it or not, ladies, we're getting close! I will getting the remainder of the sew-along posts up this week. Yahoo!

One thing to note: remember how we left an opening for the tie in the left side seam? I've found that it's a good idea to topstitch this opening so the seam allowances don't flip to the outside. I just did a simple 1/4" top stitch around the opening, indicated here by the yellow box:

Now we're going to do our neckline facings! Pin the front facing to the back facings, right sides together. They'll look kind of like this.

Stitch at the shoulder seams. Follow the purple arrows above!

Press open the shoulder seams and open out the facings. Finish the outside of the facings. I pinked mine.

Pin the facings to the neckline, right sides together.

Before you stitch the facings to the neckline, I recommend drawing in your stitching lines around the sweetheart neckline. It can be difficult to use your seamline guide on your machine around tricky curves like this, so I like to have a drawn-in guide.

Stitch your neckline facings all the way around. Trim, grade, and clip/notch your seam allowances. Clip into the points of your sweetheart neckline.

Turn the facings to the inside and press. Understitch your facings; I would recommend doing this by hand (see this post for a video on how to understitch facings by hand).

Here's what the back looks like.

And here's the inside. I'm going to hand stitch my armhole facings down to the underlining, because I've noticed that the tacking isn't keeping them from flipping out.

That's it for today. Next time: sewing your skirt and pockets!

Crepe Sew-Along #13: Sewing the Ties

Hey Sew-Alongers! Just a quick, easy task for today: sewing your ties and basting them to your bodice.

You may recall that you have two long pieces that will be your ties. You've probably cut these in your contrast fabric.

Start by folding each tie lengthwise. Stitch along one short end and the long end. This means that you'll leave one short end open. Snip diagonally across the corners; this helps reduce bulk and give you nice crisp corners. Trim the seam allowances as well.

Turn the tie right side out through the open short end. You'll need something to help you poke out your corners. You can either use a point turner (pictured below) to poke the corners out from the inside . . .

 . . . or you can use a pin to pull out the corners from the outside.

Press each tie flat.

Baste one tie to raw edge of the back bodice edge, positioning the tie between the two small circles.

That's it! Next time we'll do the neckline facings.

Crepe Sew-Along #12: Side Seams and Tacking Facings

Hey Sew-Alongers! Here's a quick video on sewing your side seams (and how to deal with the armhole facings in the process) and how to tack your facings down by hand.



As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Crepe Sew-Along #11: Shoulder Seams and Sleeve Facings

Okay! So, you've stitched all your darts. The next step is to stitch your bodice shoulder seams.

First, put your back and front bodice together, right sides facing. Match up the shoulder seams and pin.

Stitch along the shoulder seams.

Press the seams open. Since it's a curved seam, it helps to press over a curved surface, like a tailors ham.

Finish the seam allowances. I've chosen to pink mine. I wanted the simplest, lowest-bulk finish that wouldn't show through.

 Your shoulder seams are sewn, but not your side seams.

Get ouy your armhole facings. It might help to mark them so you don't mix them up. (I marked mine F for front, and B for back.)

Stitch the sleeve facings together at the shoulder seams, right sides together. Press the seam open. Finish the outer edge of your sleeve facings; I've pinked mine.

 Your next step will be to stitch your sleeve facings to your bodice, right sides together.

Here's a video to help you out! Give it a watch; I go over trimming, grading, and clipping/notching your seam allowances, as well as understitching your facings by hand.



Next time I'll have video on stitching your side seams and tacking your facings. How are you all doing, Sew-Alongers?