Sewing 101: Double V Knockoff

OK, I'm here with my tutorial for my knockoff of this dress

Click here for my original post about supply requirements.

This dress came together really easily, and came out soooooo pretty.  There are a lot of differences in my details vs. the dress above, partly on purpose and partly by accident.  The biggest difference is that my dress does not have a sharp V, and that's because I suck at sharp Vs.  I also did only three single-lines of gathering vs. three double-lines of gathering.  Let's go into the tute:

Taking your tank top pattern, you will need to measure the widest part of your body and add 4".  My widest body part is the hip region even though I have flat buns.  They are 40" wide, so I added 2" for seam allowance (1/2" per side per piece) and 4" for looseness.  40+2+4=46".  Divide that by 2 and I know my pattern pieces should be 23" wide.  I wanted my dress to be knee length, so I measured the base of my neck to the back of my knees and got 39 1/2" so I just made it 40" because I always round up.  I hate cutting in fractions.  I also widened the straps to 4" because we will be gathering those as well, and I cut a V neck instead of a scoop neck.  I eyeballed the deepness of the V making the back lower than the front because I think that's sex-ay.  Here are my pattern pieces:

Decidedly not sex-ay... yet

I really cannot stress enough to not sweat this pattern.  You're making a moo moo and then gathering the hell out of it -- trust me, it'll fit.

Sew your side & shoulder seams together with a 1/2" seam allowance.

Put it on so you can mark where you want your gathers.

I am long waisted, so I wanted the center gather to hit me right at my narrowest part.  I then pinned the top and bottom pins in an area I thought looked far enough apart to get the look I was going for.

Take off the dress & lay it flat, preferably on some cardboard so you can pin the dress down into it.  Better yet, use one of these truly worth it Dritz Superboards.

Get a ruler and a washable marker and mark your center line.  Then make your second and third markings 1 1/2" above and 1 1/2" below.

Pin your center line on both sides of your dress & mark them like so:

You do this so you know where your center line is when you flip your dress over.  Mark your center line and top & bottom lines again.

Now go back to your sewing machine and pop your elastic thread in the bobbin and thread that matches your fabric for the topstitching.  Stitch your top, middle, then bottom line.

Leave enough thread so that you can tie them in a knot when you're done.  Do not pull the elastic thread too hard or it can break.

You hangin' in?  We're moving on to the shoulder seams.  Now, the JCrew version has something like 6 rows of gathering, but I only wanted three.  We're still using our elastic thread at this point.  Start by stitching in the ditch of the shoulder seam.  That means stitch inside the line of the seam like so:

Using your presser foot as a guide and stretching your fabric just a touch, sew a line above and below your shoulder seam.

Here's what your shoulder seams should now look like:

Don't worry about tying these off because we will be getting them nice & secure when we do our arm and neckline finishing.  If you put your dress on at this point, here's what it will look like.

Oooohhhh la la!

For the arm holes I just did a narrow hem by rolling the raw edge in 1/4" and sewing it down.

Then I roll it over 1/4" again and sewed that.

Your armholes are now done!!!

For the neckline, cut two 1 1/2"x21" strips.  Fold them in half and press.  Sew them, one at a time, to the right side of your dress stopping 1/2" before the point of the V neck.  Use a 3/8" seam allowance.

At your shoulder seams, stitch, backstitch, and stitch along all of the elastic thread to make sure they are secured.

Trim your threads at the shoulder seams.

Now for the points (or center) of the V neck.  You should have some dangling fabric from your neckline binding.  Line it up with the point & stitch (I highly recommend the stitch, then backstitch, then stitch again so you have a nice & strong seam).  I couldn't decide which, if either, picture showed this well so I'm giving you both and hoping that I make sense!

Trim your dangling fabric close to the seam.

Now turn your binding in so that it's against the wrong side of the dress.  Stitch close to the edge of the binding and then stitch again 1/8" or so away from that so you have a double-line topstitch.  And you're done!!!

I'll take a picture in the dress soon, but you get the idea.  I hope you guys give it a whirl!!

xoxo,