Coming Down from KCW

Otherwise known as the Kids Clothes Week Hangover, hehe.  I have been sewing like mad again this week, but mostly in preparation for some fun upcoming guest posts and reviews.  Stuff that I can't show you guys yet, boo.  So I decided to take a bit of a blog rest and just work at the doing of things.  And wow did I get a lot done.  (I even finished that darned spring jacket hehe)

But I thought I'd pop in and show you really quickly how I attached the sash to Bean's Birthday dress.  Monica from Adirondack Inspired asked, and I wanted to put it out there in case anyone has a better way.

When working with knit and heavy weight cotton I tend to get a bit of a pull or ripple along the seam where they join.  Especially when the cotton is ruffled.  I've become increasingly better at making the join clean, but if anyone has a fool proof way I'm all ears! (or eyes, as it may be, hehe)  For now I just use a sash to hide the madness. 

You can see on the back of the dress where the knit bodice stretches out a bit.  This would look fine on a casual drop waist dress, but for something a little more fancy I'd like the knit to be tighter at the waist.  However, once that sash is tied in the back it pulls everything in and I'm able to achieve the look I want.

In the front I carefully pin the sash over the seam.  The tricky part is to make it even and tight without creating any puckers or gathers in the knit bodice.  (in the picture above it looks like there are spots where the knit is gathered, but I promise the knit seam is flat)  Once it looks nice I simply stitch along the dotted line.  In the past I have tried only stitching along the side seams, but then the front has a tendency to sag a bit and hang below the bely with the weight of the gathered skirt, so for me this has been the best method.

Hopefully these little tips from all my trials and errors can help you out.  I'd love to hear any feedback or tips you guys have too.

As usual, linking up to: