#NeedleworkMonday: Facing the neckline...
Happy #NeedleworkMonday everyone!
So, I decided to challenge myself to sew a wearable this week. I have never been successful in sewing a blouse or a dress before. My fear is always the curvy parts i.e. the neckline and the underarms. I tried 2 blouse projects previously and they both failed quite miserably because the neckline turned out ugly. I pretty much gave up sewing the neckline after they turned out all uneven, bumpy and messy. I have watched videos demonstrating working with piping around the neckline but my piping work has so far not been very happy after I worked on them. They were frowning at most parts ☹️.
After reading some of the sewing blogs on #NeedleworkMonday, you guys inspired me to give necklines a try again 🤓. I thought how about a simple spaghetti strapped knee length dress - looks straightforward, nothing too complicated, right? I do not need to worry about sleeves and I just need to tackle a bit of curve around the neck and underarms... It shouldn't be that hard? Then I thought 💡, what if I try sewing a simple hem and see if I can control the curves by sewing slowly without needing any piping 🤔
I chose one of my cheap fabric (old bedsheet works well too - a good way to upcycle an old bedsheet).
I drew and cut out a pattern based on a dress that I have.
I cut out 2 pieces of fabric (1 for the front and 1 for the back) using a zigzag scissors (which prevents the edges from fraying or unraveling ). The front piece has a lower neckline compared to the back.
Then, I hemmed the neckline and the underarms by folding it in twice and sewing them really slowly 🐌. Sew the 2 pieces together at the sides and then the straps at each corner of the neckline and voila! It kinda works. The neckline and the underarms have a slight bumpiness to it, but if you stretch the fabric a bit and iron them, they look pretty ok I think.
Yay! Now, I have a new dress :)
Here are the summary steps:
Thank you for reading and for inspiring! 🙃
A fun summer dress! Glad you faced your fears and made something so nice. Good job on the instructions!
Thank you @jamethiel 😊 I am now pumped to do more necklines with this method 😁 I think the trick is not to have them too curvy.
Yay for you!!! I’m so glad to hear you have been inspired by the other needleworkers and decided to brave the project!! You’re not alone. I’m still trying to dive into sewing and teach my daughter along with me in the process.
I really like this beginning approach to creating a pattern and making a simple dress. Thanks for laying out the steps for us and showing pics along the way. It turned out really cute, nice and cool for the Summer!
How did you get your picture boxes to be so small along with your wording? Did you use a certain app? Great post!! 😃
Yay! 😊 Thank you for starting this blog "movement"! Everyone is so talented! And it is so nice to read all the blogs which are written from the heart. You can actually feel them at some points.
And It is so sweet that you have your daughter to sew along. It is always inspiring to see children so interested and passionate in what they do, and especially so when they do it together with you.
Aahh... the picture boxes, I used Microsoft Powerpoint which is usually used to build presentation slides but you can also export your slide as an image. So you paste all your pics to the slide, position them and add text boxes at the bottom, and you can do fancy stuffs too. But it does require license to install. There are equivalent free tools out there too but I haven't tried them yet. If I come across any good ones, I will let you know :)
Absolutely! I am amazed at how well it has taken off. It delights me knowing it makes others feel this way. So many people have been inspired and have made new friendships. I know what you mean about feeling the blogs written from the heart. 😊❤️
Thank you! She inspires me to try new things and motivates me to keep at it! She’s been asking me when will we sew again lol. I gotta get on it.
Oh I see! Thank you so much for sharing that with me and letting me know how you got it that way. I’ve been looking for an app to do things like this. Yes please let me know if you come across any. Thanks again~ 😘
Totally agree! It is really nice to make new friendships and to see all the beautiful pics and to read all the lovely blogs. It feels like we are in a journey together, traveling around the world, visiting each other's homes and admiring each other's work. Thank goodness for technology, the world has indeed become flat 🌏.
Awww so fun. Yes, yes, hope you girls get to sew again together soon. Hehe.
Yes, I will explore around and let you know if there is a free tool that does similar picture editing 😘
It sure does feel like we are on a journey together traveling the world!!!! It’s so amazing and I feel so privileged to be able to connect with you all~ 💕
Yes hopefully within the next couple of weeks we’ll be at it again. 😉
Awesome thank you!
well done in not giving up! :) The dress looks great and thanks for the tutorial :)
thanks @lil-mich! 😘
I really like the dress shape @marblely.
I think it's helpful to start sewing using easy materials that are not too expensive because if the project doesn't work, then you don't lose so much... When I took a sewing course years ago, we were told to always make a 'sample' garment (toile). This is used to make alterations and so on.
Thank you @cryptocariad 🙃 Ah yes, a 'sample' garment. Always use an inexpensive material first. It hurts less if things don't work out hehe.
Hi @marblely, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Fiber Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Join us on Mondays for Coffee Hour at 3pm EDT in the Steemit Fiberartists on Discord.
Thank you much @fiberartists! This means a lot to me 😊