The Stella sew-along #4 - Facings & sleeves

Welcome back sew-alongers to the 4th post of the Stella sew-along!

 Today we will be attaching our facings to the neckline and armholes to View B or assembling and creating our sleeves for  View A of the Stella blouse.

You can find all the links to the previous posts in this sew-along below:

#1 -Getting Started

#2 - How to complete and FBA & SBA with Heather

#3 - Assemble the bodice

Grab your neckline and armholes facing pattern pieces and let's get started.

ATTACH NECK FACINGS

1. Right sides together stitch the front neck facings (4) to the back neck facing pieces (3) at the shoulder seams. Finish seams and press them open.

2. Finish the raw outer edge of the neckline facing, however you desire.  
*I usually use my over locker for this, but pinking shears work just as well. If you're feeling motivated you can also create a small hemmed edge on the facing instead of the over locker/pinking shears which will also create a nice clean finish to the outer edge.

3. Pin the neckline facing to the bodice neckline, matching all the shoulder seams and notches as you pin.

4. Stitch the neckline facing to the bodice neckline, starting from the zipper edge

5.Trim the seams and clip the curves of this seam, so it will lay flat when turned to the inside of the bodice. Turn your neckline facing to the inside of the bodice and give it a good press.

6. Grab a needle and thread, and tack the neckline facing to the bodice shoulder seam. 
You will only really need a few stitches on each side of the neckline facings.

7. Keep that needle and thread handy because you now need to slip-stitch the facing to the zipper edge at the centre back, so you have a clean finish.

If you are sewing up VIEW A  with the sleeves you can keep following along with the below steps to assembling your sleeves and attaching them. If you are sewing up VIEW B the sleeveless version, then you can skip the next few steps and re join at the VIEW B - ATTACH THE ARMHOLE FACINGS steps.

 

VIEW A- ASSEMBLE THE SLEEVES

1. Using a basting stitch, stitch 2 lines along the sleeve cap, between the front and back notches of the pattern piece. Leave long thread tails at each end of you stitching.

2. Right sides together, stitch the sleeve underarm seams together.

3.Finish seams and press towards the direction of the back of the sleeve.

 VIEW A- ATTACH  THE SLEEVES

1.Hem your sleeves by folding up the sleeve hem, 1/4'' and then another 1/4'' again, then stitching this folded edge down.

2. Pin you sleeve to the armhole edge, right sides together and matching the armhole seams and notches by pulling your long thread tails to make the sleeve fit the armhole.

3.Now stitch your sleeve to the bodice armhole.

4. Remove all the basting threads hanging around and finish off your seams. 

Remember to give your new sleeves a good press, preferable with a tailors ham if you have one, but your ironing board works just fine as well.

VIEW B - ATTACH THE ARMHOLE FACINGS

Attaching the armhole facings is basically the same process of attaching the neckline facings, so if you had no problems with the neck facings then you should easily fly through with attaching the armhole facings!

1. Right sides together, stitch both the front armhole facings (4) to the back armhole facings (3) pieces, together at  the shoulder. Finish these seams and press open.

2. Finish the raw outer edge of both armhole facing pieces, however you desire.

3. Right sides together, pin the armholes facings to  each of the bodice armholes, matching all the shoulder seams and notches as you pin.

4. Now stitch the armholes facings to the bodice armholes.

5.Trim the seams and clip the curves of this seam, so it will lay flat when turned to the inside of the bodice.Turn your armhole facings to the inside of the bodice and give it a good press.

6. Again grab a needle and thread, and tack the armhole facing to the bodice shoulder seam the same way you did with the neckline facing. 

OK sew-alongers,  by now depending on which version of the Stella blouse you are stitching up, you should have your sleeves attached (VIEWA) or have attached your armhole facings (VIEW B) and both versions should have their necklines neatly finished as well.

Tomorrow is the last post for the Stella sew-along! And we will be assembling the cute pockets, stitching them on and picking out some super cute buttons to finish off our Stella blouses! I  will then  collate all of your lovely Stella blouses for a little show case here on the blog, so if you want to get involved in that, just upload your finished Stella blouses to the
Flickr group  by next Tuesday! 

Also please don’t hesitate to post your links to the  Facebook page, tweet me and Instagram your progress or if you have already finished your Stella blouse @bluegingerdoll using the hashtag #thestellasewalong.

Happy sewing!

Abby

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