blue dress sew along- day 4

Hello there friends! I love it that y'all are joining us in the dressmaking fun! Thanks for all of the clarifying questions- I've been leaving the answers in the comments (and updating the tutorial as well). Y'all are helping me make this better! If you're sewing along, definitely add pictures of your finished product to the flickr pool, ok? We'd LOVE to see 'em!

Today's the last day of sewing! Can you believe it? Let's get started!

Create an elastic casing across the top edge of the back of the dress. To do this, measure and mark 4" in from each side seam. Sew a line, 1" from the top, from one mark to the other mark. *Note- This is different than what we did in the first tutorial. It's easier and cleaner. You just use the space between your lining fabric and your main fabric to section off a 'tunnel' for your elastic casing. Wish we would've figured this out for Round 1!

Cut a 5" piece of elastic. Attach a safety pin at one end. Pull the elastic into the casing until one edge lines up with the beginning of the casing stitching. Sew the elastic in place. Pull through the rest of the casing. Pin to secure and then sew the other end in place. *At this point, try the dress on to ensure that everything fits right... for one of the dresses, I had to seam rip one side of the elastic casing, shorten the elastic, and re-sew. You might want to check to see if you need to make any adjustments.

To make the belt, cut a 4"x50"-60" rectangle of fabric. Iron in half, right sides facing in. Sew along the outer edge. Turn right side in. Tuck in the raw edges on each end and finish off the seams on both ends.

Make another belt if you please (I made one to match the fabric exactly, and then one in a coordinating print for each of the dresses)! Heck, while you're at it, make another one of these pretties!

Now go take some pictures (aren't the new ones of our sis in her birthday dress great? The dancing pics are our favorites!) and send them over or add them to the flickr pool. We're dying to see your fabulous work!

ps- We're guesting over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps Handmade Christmas in July today- come by and say hi!