Hi all, anyone else had loads of Christmas outfits to sew in December? I made this dress at the end of last year for a Christmas outing to a comedy show with friends. It was a casual event, but I really wanted a nice Christmas dress to wear for it. I was thinking the Jessica dress makes the perfect casual t-shirt dress, but I wanted to just add that little bit extra. If you want to find out how to make a ruched t-shirt dress, keep reading!
This is a really simple, but effective sew, but does require accurate sewing, and a bit of planning. If you normally sew using an overlocker, you’re also going to need your sewing machine for this.
First we are going to cut out the pattern. For this dress, you’re going to use your actual size for the neck hole and armscyes, and a size bigger than your normal size for the sides of the dress, so bust, waist, hips. You also need to lengthen the dress at each of the bust, waist and hips lines. I lengthened the dress by 3 inches at each of these points, so 9 inches overall. The arms should be cut out at your normal size.
The first step in sewing this dress is to hem the front and back of the dress. You’ll now need to use your sewing machine to sew up the 2 side seams. Do not use an overlocker for this step, you’ll need to use the seam to create 2 channels to create the ruched effect. Once the 2 side seams are sewn, you need to press these open, then sew along the edge of each bit of the seam to create 2 channels on each side seam.
Next you’ll need to cut 2 thin strips of fabric approximately twice the length of your side seams. These will then be threaded from the bottom of the dress, up through the arm hole and back down the adjoining channel. Tie them in a knot at the bottom of the dress to make sure they don’t get lost back up the channel, trust me getting those out again is a right pain! Use a safety pin or bodkin to thread these through, it can be a bit fiddly, so take your time.
We are nearly there now, and can move back to our overlocker if you normally use one. As we’ve sewn the side seams up before attaching the arms, we will need to attach the sleeves in the round. To do this, fold arms right sides together, and sew up the underarm seam. You will then keep the dress inside out, and turn the sleeve the right side out and attach the arm to the armscye. Repeat for the other arm. When you do this, you will go over the side seam with the threaded bit through. If you’re using an overlocker, this will trim this loop off, but that’s fine, it’ll also secure that threaded bit at the top.
Finally attach the neckband and hem the arms. Now you can adjust the ruching using the strings, and cut off any excess. You’ll need to leave a little bit of a tail in case you want to adjust again at any point.
So who’s excited to try this new technique on their next Jessica dress?
(Written by: Em Stevens)
