1 — Pre-Pressing

Before you start sewing your Teddy 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 Teddy 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. This will help to ensure accuracy as you sew, as well as to aid in giving your Teddy Dress a neat and tidy finish.

Start by folding your neckband in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together and press.

If you are sewing the long sleeved option, take your sleeves and and press the 2cm hem to the wrong side.

Take your skirt centre front, skirt centre back, and skirt side panel pieces. Fold back and press the 2cm hem on each piece to the wrong side.

We recommend using a fusible interfacing strip on your Teddy Dress pocket openings to add some structure and stability to your pocket. The fusible piece is 22.5cm x 2cm and you need to cut four of these. Iron the fusible interfacing strips to the pocket opening on the skirt side panels. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric. The interfacing pieces will extend 3cm on either side of the pocket opening notch points.

Now that you have finished your pressing and interfacing steps, you can move on to sewing the shoulders and neckband!