Ladies Quick Dress Modification -- Boatneck

Ladies Quick Dress Modification

Add a Collar to the Quick Dress

I found these pictures of dresses from the late 1960's and I just fell in love with them.  Jodi was sweet enough to help me adapt the Quick Dress pattern into something similar to my inspiration photos below.  So let's make a Boatneck Collar Quick Dress.

The measurements given are for the total length of the collar, not the folded measurements.

Cut one collar piece according to the chart above.

Fold the collar in half matching the two short sides.

Mark the collar and neckline into quarters. 

Match up the pins on the collar and neckline and attach the collar to the dress.

Turn up the collar and press the seam down, toward the dress.

Congratulations!  You now have a Ladies Quick Dress Boatneck Collar.

You can see more photos of my Quick Dress here.

Swimsuit Sew Along Day 4

Swimsuit Sew Along Day 4

Basic Briefs

Are you ready?  Let's get started.

Layer all of the Basic Brief pieces as follows:  

Front - right side up

Back - wrong side up (the front and back pieces are now RST)

Crotch - wrong side up

Seam finish the raw edge of the crotch piece.

Topstitch the crotch piece in place.


Looking great!

Mark the middle of the elastic and leg piece.  Stretch the elastic to fit the edge of the leg.


Turn elastic under and topstitch.


This is what you should have at this point.

Sew side seams together.

We're very close to being finished!

Sew the elastic piece into a circle.

Mark the brief and elastic into quarters.  Then attach to the waistband.

Stretch the elastic from both sides to fit the waist of the briefs.

Turn the waistband under and topstitch.  Congratulations you are finished!!!

Thanks for sewing with me!  XOXO, Kara

Jocole Swimsuit Sew Along Day 3

Jocole Swimsuit Sew Along

Day 3 - Tank side seams and hem

Are you ready for a quick sewing day today?  This is the perfect day to get caught up if you've fallen behind.  Let's sew the side seams and hem.

We are starting with the front and back bodice connected by the shoulder straps.

Line up the fabric pattern at the side seams.  Pin the front and back bodice together and sew the side seams.

You are almost finished with the Shoreline Tank!

Finish the hem.

Congratulations!  You now have a super cute swimsuit top!

Swimsuit Sew Along Day 2

Swimsuit Sew Along

Day 2

The pink swimsuit is the girls version and the polka dot is the ladies version.  If you are making the ladies version, skip ahead to the polka dots.

You should have a stack similar to this.  Tank front and back, ruffles, neck binding, arm binding and elastic.

Let's start with the ruffles.  Mark the elastic and ruffle strips into thirds.  Line up pins and attach the elastic to the wrong sides of the ruffles.  Using a zig zag stitch, stretching elastic from both sides so elastic lays flat against the ruffle.  Attach elastic to the ruffle.

Draw a straight line across the front bodice.  Attach the ruffle piece along the line with a zig zag stitch.

Repeat with the second ruffle strip.  Attach elastic and then attach ruffle above the first ruffle.

Attach the binding to the front bodice piece.  Line up binding piece right sides together to the bodice.

Fold binding piece up and iron flat.  Fold the top edge in toward the center of the binding.

Fold binding piece in once again to enclose the entire top edge of the tank.

Repeat with the second binding strip.

Let's work on the arm hole binding strips.  The process for the arm holes is the same as the bodice front binding.  Line up one edge of the binding with the raw edge of one armhole.  Keep the binding straight and attach the opposite end of the binding to the raw edge of the bodice back, right sides together.  Attach with a zig zag stitch.

Repeat the same steps as above for finishing the binding.

Here is what the binding looks like at this point.  The bodice front and back are attached with the binding strip.  The binding will be the shoulder straps.

Repeat the binding process on the opposite armholes.

Ladies version.  You will have a pile similar to this with all pattern pieces.  Bodice front/back, shelf bra pieces, briefs front/back, elastic.

Begin with the shelf bra.  If you would like to add molded cups, click here for instructions.  Attach front and back pieces.

Sew elastic together in a circle.

Mark elastic evenly with 4 pins.  Do the same with the shelf bra.

Line up pins to attach elastic.  Gently pull on both sides of the elastic to stretch it to fit the bra.

Turn the elastic toward the wrong side of the bra.  Stretch the elastic and zig zag stitch in place.

Pin shelf bra to the tank at the neck, wrong sides together.

Using FOE (fold over elastic), bind bodice front and repeat with bodice back.  If you are using regular bias, follow directions for binding above.

Using a 4 in. strip of elastic, gather the center front to create a little shape in the swimsuit top.  Gather by attaching the elastic at the top of the bodice and 6in. down.  Stretch the elastic to create a gather.

Repeat binding on armholes.  If you need more explanation, scroll up to the top.

Tomorrow we will finish the side seams and work on the brief bottoms.