Basel Dress Tutorial - Day 3

Hello Day 3 of the Basel Dress Tutorial!   Today the skirt is going to take shape.  Click here to catch up on Days 1 and 2.

A quick recap of the week ahead: 

Day 3 - Assembling the skirt and pockets

Day 4 - Attaching the bodice to the skirt and inserting the zipper

Day 5 - Making the kickpleat, finishing the hem and finishing touches.

There are two ways to finish the skirt, depending on whether or not you are lining it.  

If you are lining the skirt, you will want to do this in a slightly different order. Skip to "Process with lining", near the end of this post, to see the breakdown of this method.

 For an unlined skirt, we start with the skirt folds.

 ADDING THE FOLDS TO THE SKIRT FRONT

Match the notch points at the waist seam by moving the outer notch point to meet 

the inner notch point, right sides together, as below.

Secure in place with pins.

Sew a row of stitches within the 1cm seam allowance to secure the pleats.

FINISHING THE SKIRT BACK DART AND RAW SEAMS

Stitch the back dart of the skirt and press to the centre back.

Finish the vertical seams of the skirt, on both the front and the back, using either a zig zag stitch or overlocker / serger if you have one.

Also finish all raw edges of the pockets.

You may need to re-define the notch points for the pockets.

ADDING THE POCKETS

Pin the pockets in place at designated notch points, right sides together, 

on the skirt front and skirt back.

Stitch in place, within the seam allowance.

It should look like this.  (I've used another fabric for the pockets)

Press the pockets open.

ATTACHING THE SKIRT FRONT TO THE SKIRT BACK

Stitch down the side seams of the skirt, with front and back right sides together.

Pivot at the top and bottom of the pockets.

Clip into the seam allowance at the top and bottom of the pockets, to but not through the pivot point.

Press side seams open.  (Not shown)

Your finished pockets should look like this...

PROCESS WITH LINING

If you are adding a lining, the steps are the same as above but in a slightly different order:

- Sew the back darts of the shell and lining

-  Sew the side seams of the lining

- Sew the side seams of the shell, pivoting at the pockets

-  Place the lining on the shell wrong sides together, stitch together at the waist seam within the seam allowance

- Finally, add the waist darts as above.

It will look like this (here already attached to the bodice - tomorrow's task).

Getting closer now, tomorrow the full dress takes shape!

Click here for Day 4

Click here to catch up on Days 1 and 2