Cosmos Dress Sew Along Pt. 2

In this part of Cosmos Dress Sew Along we are going to sew the sleeves and skirt to the bodice. In the next post I’ll also write about other easy skirt options you can choose instead of a full gathered skirt.
Last week we sewed darts, buttoned closure, side and arm seams of the bodice. Having all that we can now take up with sleeves.

Sleeves
Iron stay tape around the armholes.

Sew and serge side seams of the sleeves.

Sew their hems; simply double-fold the edge and topstitch.

Turn sleeve right side out and bodice wrong side out.

Put sleeve inside the armhole. Pay attention to putting the right sleeve to the right armhole.

Pin with pins, starting from points 9, 10, 1 and 3. Baste the cap between two dots to fit it to the armhole. Unpin it and press with steaming iron to shrink the excess of fabric. Just like we did with the arm lines.

Pin it back and sew to the armhole.

Voila! It wasn’t so hard, right?

Repeat with second sleeve. We can now proceed to the skirt.

Gathered Skirt
Cut the pieces from the fabric. Long metal ruler and rotary cutter are super helpful here. Don’t forget to add seam allowance before you cut!

Sew side seams of front and backs and serge.

Iron stay tape to the lower edge of bodice.

Set your sewing machine on the longest stitch and baste the skirt’s upper edge (on seam allowance). Don’t sew in one long line; rather divide it in to a few. It’s easier to gather this way. Leave long tales of threads.

Pin the skirt to the bodice, right sides facing each other, in a couple of places. Match side seams and back centers of the bodice and the skirt.

Now pull those tails to fit the skirt to the bodice. You can tie them together to secure what you just gathered. Add some more pins along the edge.

You’re ready to sew it. After everything is sewn serge this edge and press it up on the bodice. Serge backs centers.

Cosmos Dress Sew Along

Cosmos Dress Sew Along starts today. If you don’t have the pattern yet, you can still grab it 30% off from Kollabora.
We’re going to start with preparing the pattern, adjustments and sewing the bodice. Next Monday, April 25 we’ll continue with sewing the sleeves in and attaching skirt to the bodice. I’ll show you how to sew a few skirt options. We’ll finish on Thursday, April 28, with sewing the zipper and stand collar.

Print the pattern and stick it together. Remember to print the page with a test square first. Make sure it’s 2in by 2in (5cm by 5cm). Now, after you chose the proper size for you, add seam allowance. Yes, before you cut the pattern pieces out. I prefer to use 1 cm seam allowance but most people add 1.5 cm. It’s up to you. After you trace it around on the paper, you can finally cut it.
I strongly recommend starting with muslin before you cut your precious fabric. You don’t have to go through all the details sewing the muslin. To be honest, it’s enough if you just check the shape of the bodice.
The most common adjustment is changing the bra cup size. My patterns are drawn for B cup. If you feel that bodice is a little awkward around the bust and wrinkles closer to the armpit, try to fix it by making FBA (Full Bust Adjustment). You can find a tutorial here.

Let’s start sewing! Cut all pattern pieces out of the fabric.
Cut the bodice opening like on the picture here (fig. 2 on the instruction) and put some no fray glue in the corners. Give it a little time to dry.

Sew the darts in the front and the back and iron them flat (bust darts up, vertical darts toward the center).

 Iron interfacing on half of each placket (fig. 1 on the instruction).

Put the right side of the placket to the right side of the front and align its interfaced edge to the edge of the opening. Sew from the neckline to the end point of the opening.

Press seam allowances toward plackets like on the picture.

Mark your seam allowance on the other edge of the placket and press it with iron.

Fold it again such that the loose edge just covers the stitch.

Pin it from the right side.

Topstitch from the right side of the fabric. It’s easier if you move your needle slightly to the right (as far as you want the top stitch to be from the placket’s edge) and lead the center of the foot along the placket’s edge.

Put the right placket on top of the left one and secure with a pin.

Do you see the hole at the bottom of the plackets? Slip plackets’ ends inside the hole together with the small triangle part of the front so they stick out on the wrong side of the bodice. Pin all those layers together like on the picture; sew across and serge.

Tada! Plackets are almost ready. You will still need to sew buttons and buttonholes. We’ll get back to that later.
Align the back and front right sides together; sew side seams and serge.

To ease the shoulder lines pin them together first matching points 3 and 4. You’ll see that back’s shoulder is longer than front’s.

Baste back shoulder and pull the thread so it fits the front. Make a knot to keep it this way.

Unpin it and press basted line with stemming iron (only back). It may take you a couple of minutes. You want to shrink the excess fabric. Remember to always use temperature suited for the fabric you’re using.

Once you get rid of all those bumps pin it with front again and sew. Take the basting stitches out after that. Serge.

Ready bodice.

Cosmos Dress

2016 rok zaczął się pracowicie. Zniknęłam na moment z Instagrama i Facebooka, żeby zanurzyć się w pracy nad nowymi wykrojami. W końcu mogę uchylić rąbka tajemnicy i przedstawić wam mój najnowszy wykrój – Cosmos Dress.
Cosmos Dress to sukienka na każdy sezon dzięki opcjonalnym trzem długościom rękawów. Dopasowaną górę wykańcza marszczona spódnica. Ten model dobrze ukrywa za szerokie lub za wąskie biodra, co wydaje się problemem większości z nas ;). Oprócz tego wykrój zawiera zapięcie polo, stójkę, a także kryty zamek z tyłu.

That was quite a busy beginning of the year I have to say. I disappeared for a moment from Facebook and Instagram to dive into preparations of new patterns. Finally I can unveil my newest one! Meet Cosmos Dress.
It’s the perfect choice for every season thanks to its three sleeves options. The dress is fitted on top and has a full gathered skirt. It conceals too wide or too narrow hips, which seems to describe almost all of us ;). The pattern features front buttoned closure, stand collar and back zipper.

Górę można dowolnie zestawiać z innego rodzaju spódnicami. Możecie do niej dodać dół plisowany, z koła, czy jaki tylko podpowie wam wyobraźnia.
Opis wykroju zawiera wszystkie niezbędne do szycia instrukcje, zorganizowane w listę do odhaczania aby pomóc w nawigacji między kolejnymi punktami. Znajduje się tam również 17 ilustracji pokazujących szycie krok po kroku.

You can use the bodice to make it into a completely different dress too! Make it sleeveless or add a different bottom (circle skirt, pleated, flared – you name it).
The instructions contain 17 step-by-step illustrations and all necessary information organized in a checklist to help you navigate.

Kopię wykroju znajdziecie na Kollabora. Zajrzyj na bloga w poniedziałek 18tego kwietnia i szyj razem ze mną. W kolejnych wpisach pokażę wam jak uszyć Cosmos Dress. Jeżeli myśl o szyciu zapięcia polo lub stójki wywołuje u Ciebie nerwowe trzęsienie rąk, przyjdź i zobacz jaki jest mój sposób na ich szycie. Obięcuję, że nie jest tak trudno ;) Kup dowolny z moich wykrojów z 30% upustem na Kollabora. Oferta ważna od środy, 13 kwietnia do 19 kwietnia.

Join the Cosmos Dress Sew Along on the blog. Grab your copy from Kollabora and sew it with me. Starts on Monday, April 18. If you feel intimidated by sewing the front buttoned closure or stand collar come and see how I do it. Promise it’s not that hard ;) Buy any of my patterns 30% off from Kollabora. Offer valid from Wednesday, April 13 to April 19.