1 — Pre-Pressing

Before you start sewing your Mabel Dress we have a few tips to help when sewing with knit fabrics!

— Use a ball point needle in your machine to avoid skipped stitches.

— Try not to stretch your fabric when sewing to avoid rippling. You may want to loosen your machine’s pressure foot tension if this happening.

— For maximum longevity, we highly recommend sewing your Mabel Dress using an overlocker or serger. It can also be completed with a regular domestic sewing machine with zigzag stitch capability and a twin needle setting.

— If you are using a standard sewing machine, use a stretch stitch or narrow zigzag when sewing the seams. You can neaten your seams with a regular zigzag if you don’t have an overlocker/serger.

— Finishing at the body and sleeve hems, and at the neckline can be done with a coverstitch machine. Alternatively you can neaten the raw edge with your overlocker/serger or zigzag stitch and top stitch using a twin needle, two parallel lines of stretch stitch, or a zigzag stitch.

We strongly recommend that you use an iron to press some areas of your pieces before you begin sewing. This will help to ensure accuracy as you sew, as well as aid in giving your Mabel Dress a neat and tidy finish.

Fold your neckband in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together and press.

On your front and back pieces, fold back and press the hem 2cm to the wrong side.

For each sleeve, fold back and press the 2cm hem to the wrong side.

We recommend using a fusible interfacing strip on your Mabel Dress pocket openings as will add structure and stability to your pocket. Cut four 22.5cm x 2cm pieces of interfacing and iron it to the wrong side of the fabric at pocket openings, on both the front and back pieces. Take your time to centre your interfacing exactly. The fusing should extend 3cm on either side of the notch points.

Next up, sewing the pockets!