Preparing the fabric. 

Before you start, you need to wash and dry your chosen fabric. Yes, really. I know this is time consuming and dull, and you want to make something now! But you need to know how your fabric’s going to behave in the wash, particularly if it’s going to shrink. You don’t want your fabulous new outfit to end up three inches too short, or with wonky seams, the first time it goes through the washing machine! 

Okay, so the next thing you need to do is iron your fabric. I know this is boring too, and everybody hates ironing, but I can’t emphasise enough what a difference ironing can make to your finished product. It’s the difference between a really nice outfit, and something that looks as though you made it yourself. The horror! 

 

Test your fabric marker first! 

Use a scrap of fabric to make sure that your erasable marker really can be erased from your fabric, or at the very least that it won’t show through to the right side when you’re finished! Only ever make your marks on the wrong side of the fabric. It’s best not to iron over any markings that you’ve made, as the heat might set the lines. 

 

Measure twice, cut once. 

Dressmaking is like carpentry in that respect - you can’t always fix things if you’ve made your cut in the wrong place. 

 

Interfacing - use your common sense. 

When you buy your interfacing, check that it can be adhered to the type of fabric that you’re using. Some synthetic fabrics won’t stick to fusible interfacing. This means you’ll need to go for the sew-on kind instead. Simply sew the fabric and the interfacing together around the edges, within the seam allowance. You can do this by hand or machine. Think also about the thickness of your interfacing. Too thin and your waistband will be as floppy as if you hadn’t bothered. Too thick and it won’t gather up nicely when you run the elastic through. 

 

More hints and tips to follow…