TURNING A 2-PIECE DRESS INTO A 1-PIECE DRESS

TURNING A 2-PIECE DRESS INTO A 1-PIECE DRESS BY ELIMINATING THE WAISTLINE SEAM

BY HELEN BARTLEY

The previous blog by Pati Palmer is about how a fitted dress can be a great fit tool. It is similar to the sloper the pattern company uses to design its patterns. On day one of my 4-day Palmer/Pletsch Fit Workshops, we start by fitting the Butterick 6849 sheath dress, which features The Palmer/Pletsch Tissue-Fitting Method. This fit pattern will teach you how you vary from the most fitted garment you’d ever make.

For those who would never wear a fitted dress, we call the altered tissue of the bodice, sleeve, and skirt a “road map of your body.” Keep the pattern pieces handy so you can refer to them when sewing other garments. It is like having a visual checklist for tissue-fitting.

I discourage making the waist-seam dress in the 4-day Fit Workshop because achieving a perfect waistline seam is very time-consuming. There wouldn’t be time left over to fit other fashion patterns. Howerver, to accommodate students who want a classic fitted sheath, I decided to eliminate the waist seam. This makes the dress easier to fit, sew, and wear.

In a recent workshop Kindra eliminated the waist seam, fitted the tissue, then the fabric. She will sew it at home and move on to fitting more designs in class.

I wrote this blog post to show you how to eliminate the waist seam and make a one-piece sheath dress.

PREPARE THE TISSUE

Trim the tissue to your size. Mark the stitching lines at armhole and neckline at 5/8”. The waist and side seam allowances are 1”. Tape neck and armholes just inside the stitching lines to reinforce the tissue. Clip the neck and lower armhole curves to the tape. Lap the bodice and waist seams at the center fronts and backs. Keep the center edges of the bodice and skirt on grain in a straight line. This means the waist seamlines won’t lap exactly on top of each other as you work your way toward the side seams. That is okay.

DARTS

The vertical darts won’t match. Initially, extend the center foldline of the bodice darts into the skirt a few inches. Dart depth and length will depend on your shape and can be adjusted during tissue-fitting.

TRY ON THE TISSUE

With the darts and the side and shoulder seams pinned wrong sides together, try on. Make sure the shoulder seam is centered and all the way to your neck.

BROAD BACK

First, I checked the back to see if I needed a broad back. The center back is coming to my center back. If it didn’t, I’d do a broad back alteration before checking the front to decide if I needed a bust alteration.

full bust adjustment

I used the high bust measurement to determine my pattern size to get a good neck and chest fit, but I am full busted and will need to do a bust adjustment

I am measuring from the bodice center front to the pin I placed at my center front. I need 1/2”. I will follow the guidesheet for how to alter using the bust alteration lines printed on the pattern.

ALTERED FOR FULL BUST

Since the skirt is attached, I lengthened line 1 to the bottom of the skirt. The front now comes to my center front.

BONUS
This alteration lowers the bust darts and now they are perfect.

GAP IN BACK ARMHOLE

The back shoulder has ease or a dart to fit the shoulder blade roundness. My blade is fuller than the pattern. The wrinkle points to the shoulder blade and causes a gap in the back armhole.

I added 1/2” width to the back armhole for my bigger blade bump. Adding a 1/2” shoulder dart and using the ease allowed will make the back shoulder fit the front shoulder.

SWAY BACK

The center back swings toward my right side. I take a tuck above the waist and now it hangs straight.

In the left photo the tissue swings to the right. In the right photo, after the tuck is taken, the tissue hangs straight.

To make the sway back tuck I used the lines on the pattern and brought the two outside lines together. I will take off the pattern and taper the tuck to nothing at the side seam.

The tuck bent the grainline, so from tip to tip I straightened it. The center back seam will curve in at the waist.

ARMHOLE AND NECKLINE REDESIGN

My personal preference was to have a lower front neckline and narrower shoulders for the sleeveless dress. I am marking new seamlines.

I added seam allowances and trimmed to new cutting lines.

BACK DART LENGTH

The back dart puckers because it needs to be lengthened toward my shoulder blade where we used a red pin.

FINAL FITTING

I marked the center line of my front dart. I pinned the darts for tissue-fitting. Even if I adjust the length and width in tissue, I will need to take another look when I fabric-fit.

I decided that even though this patterrn has 1” side seam allowances, I want it looser below the waist. I will add width from below the armhole to the hem when cutting my fabric.

FABRIC FITTING TIPS

I pinned the dress wrong sides together and tried it on. In workshops we often skip the zipper and go straight to pin-fitting, but when you are at home, it’s much easier to try the dress on with the zipper sewn in. I like the fit, but made a few adjustments:

• My right shoulder is lower than my left, so I took the shoulder seam ¼” deeper at the armhole, tapering to nothing at the neckline.

• I restitched the horizontal bust darts to lower the points by ¼”. (This makes the darts slightly less angled.)

• I sewed the vertical darts 1/8” deeper, front and back.

• I let out the side seams 1/2” beginning at the hip and continuing to the hem.

• I sewed and pressed all the darts except the bust darts. I want to try the dress on again before I make them permanent.

Hmmm. Not quite right.

The side is looking pretty good.

I machine basted the shoulder and side seams right sides together and tried it on again to make sure I liked the fit.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE FINISHED DRESS

Before I share sewing tips for the dress I will tell you why I really like this dress. Rayon was a good fabric choice. It shapes and drapes well on the body. It is also easy to press and sew. I am happy I made the dress a little fuller from the underarm down. It is very comfortable to wear and the back slit makes the long length easy for walking.

The narrower shoulder and lower neckline are perfect for the sleeveless version.

I made the dress in black wool crepe with long sleeves for cooler weather.

NOW LET’S SEW THE DRESS!

MY FAVORITE SEWING TIPS

PRESS HORIZONTAL BUST DARTS UP, NOT DOWN

After fitting and being sure the darts point to the bust, I pressed them up and serged off the excess dart legs so the darts are less visible. Having narrower dart legs is especially important if you are very full busted.

TWO AMAZING TIPS

I am including two methods you will use over and over again. The first is a method that Pati used in a sleeveless top lined to the edge. The art is very clear. Be accurate with seam allowances so back and front shoulders are the same width. You will need only to hand-finish the opening at the armhole with a slipstitch.

all in one facings

This sewing method is the easiest for making the shoulder seams and armhole edges smooth and even.

Stitch the front to the back at the side seams. Leave the shoulder seams unstitched. Do the same for the facing pieces.

With right sides together, pin the facing to the dress, matching notches, centers, circles and seams. Stitch the neck edges. Stitch the armhole edges stopping 3” before the shoulder edge.

Clip the curved edges and trim the seam allowances.

Turn right side out and press.

Open out the shoulders. Pin the front and back matching the neck seams of fabric and lining. Stitch in one continuous seam across the shoulders. Trim and press.

Turn the shoulders back, folding under the remaining armhole edges along the outside seamlines. Press and slipstitch the edges together.

ZIPPER/FACING FINISHED BY MACHINE

The second is a tip I learned from Marta Alto in her video It’s in the Details. It is the best method for attaching the facing neatly to an invisible zipper totally by machine.

I will photograph the steps in the combined order using the two techniques. Sew the zipper first before sewing side seams.

FYI: You can buy and download or stream this video from the Palmer/Pletsch website, palmerpletschdigital.com. It is the best video to learn important sewing challenges.

STABILIZE THE INVISIBLE ZIPPER AREA

In preparation for the invisible zipper, I laid the pattern on top of my fabric to make sure both sides of the back kept the pattern shape.

I reinforced the center back with ¾”-wide strips of PerfectFuse Sheer interfacing with the stable direction lengthwise. I fused these strips to the wrong side of the center back, then serge-finished the raw edges.

INVISIBLE ZIPPER

Using 1/8” double-sided basting tape makes inserting an invisible zipper a snap.

ZIPPER PLACEMENT IS IMPORTANT

Place the top stop just below the 5/8” neck seamline.

Place the teeth 1/2” from the raw edge of the back and face down on the right side of the fabric.

The Palmer/Pletsch Complete Guide to Fitting has excellent step-by-step instructions for a perfect invisible zipper.

When the zipper is in, sew the side seams, press them toward the front, and serge-finish the seam allowances together.

ALL IN ONE FACINGS

Pin facings together at the side seams. Sew the facing side seams, trim to ½”, and press open.

Lay the facing over the dress, right side together, making sure the side seams match. We’ll true up the shoulder seams and make them match perfectly before we sew them in the last step of the facing.

Serge-finish the bottom edge of the facings.

Trim 5/8” off the center back of the facings.

Open up the zipper and line up the facing center back with the edge of the zipper tape. Be sure you have the facing flat with no twists as it goes around the dress.

Pin facing center backs to edges of opened zipper.

Using a zipper foot, stitch facings to zipper tape ¼” from the center back.

Turn facings to right side and check to make sure facing bottom edges line up at the red oval. If not, you can restitch to make them match.

NOTE: Shoulder seams are sewn last. The openings at the armhole will be hand-sewn closed.

Working with wrong sides out again, turn center back seam allowance tightly over the zipper teeth and pin the neckline edges together.

On the back, sew the facing in place from each center back to shoulder edge at 5/8”.

Sew the back neck facing to dress at 5/8”.

On the front, stitch the facing in place at 5/8”.

Sew armhole seam at 5/8”, starting and stopping stitching 3” from each shoulder.

Trim and grade neckline and underarm seams except in the unstitched armhole seams. Leave shoulders untrimmed to make pressing and hand stitching easier. Clip curved areas.

Turn facing to inside by pulling through the shoulders.

A FEW LAST NOTES

This rayon pressed nicely, and since I cut my facings 1/8” smaller at the neckline and armholes, the seams pressed easily to the underside.

Even though it is optional, I decided to understitch the armholes and front neckline facings as far as I could to help keep them from showing.

REFER to ART earlier in this post for finishing.

Sew shoulder seams right sides together at 5/8”. Press open over a point turner. Slipstitch remaining open armhole seams closed.