The BB Dress, near completion

The dress just needs a hem and a good press. I should have it up tomorrow. Today I will share a couple of construction details. Above its the wrong side of the bodice. On the left is the back side of the smocked insert. You can see I fused interfacing to the back of the insert fabric before pleating. This helps plump up the pleats. I was limited in the amount of fabric I had and while I thought I had enough the interfacing just helped with a little more insurance. So when you want your pleats thicker with less fabric, FUSE.  On the right side of the pic you will see the side bodice. That is also fused with interfacing. I find when you have an insert, particularly if you have used piping, the adjoining fabric needs to be interfaced to hold up to the weight and stiffness of the piped insert. It helps prevent ripply seams along the join of insert and bodice or yoke.

Here you can see how I understitched the neckline seam. The piping adds bulk.The seam is graded and then understitched with a triple zigzag, a Nancy Zieman trick.

Above the waistline the bodice closes with buttons. Below the waistline it has a placket. On the other skirt seams I used French seams. On the CB seam of the skirt I used serged seams. This is pressed open and a cut is made to the seam line where you want the bottom of the placket to be. I cut the serging off of the placket seam as I didn't want the bulk or show through when pressed.

I cut a piece of fabric one and a half inches wide by the length of the placket, nine inches. The placket piece and the placket seams were placed right sides together. I start by sewing a half inch either side and across the clip. Then I sew the rest of the seam. It was then trimmed and graded. You can see how smooth it is.  The placket piece was folded and pressed to make a finished edge and then hand stitched down.
 

Once it is hand stitched down and pressed in place it all smooths out as you will see on the next post.

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I organized my interfacings. They are in a white trash bucket. I modpodged fabric to the top edge of the bucket. Each roll is labeled so all can be found quickly. I like the way it looks. Bit by bit I am getting things organized and changed in my little studio. On my next trip south I will hunt out some fabric to slip cover my office chair. I have figured out how to take the behemoth apart and it should be pretty easy to do......Bunny