The Winifred sew-along # 8 - Attach the slide belt buckle & hemming

Woo hoo lovely sew-alonger's today is the final post for the Winifred sew-along! I'm so excited to get to the fun part of seeing all of your gorgeous Winifred dresses all sewn up and being worn with pride.. and of course have a bit of a drool over all the amazing fabric that's been chosen. I've had some sneaky peeks of so far and there are some AMAZING Winifred dresses coming along.

Before we begin,  i kindly put ALL the Winifred sew-along post in the one, little handy spot for you all so you don't have to waste valuable sewing time trying to find the info you need. 

• http://bluegingerdoll.com/pages/the-winifred-sew-along

 So let's get started for the last time together and finish our Winifred dresses! Yay!


First up we will begin with attaching the slide belt buckle, which is super easy and looks cute than cuter when all sewn on.

ATTACH THE SLIDE BUCKLE

 Slip the end of the left belt over the buckle's middle bar and fold the excess fabric over approx 2'' past the centre bar. 

Temporarily just pin in place for the moment.

To make sure the slide buckle sits in the perfect center position when wearing your Winifred dress, check the position before sewing it down. Try on your Winifred dress and position the buckle so that its  in line with the center back seam ( You may need a helping hand with this). Then pin it in place.

  Stitch the slide buckle in place and make sure to back stitch to keep it secure.

Slip the right belt through the slide buckle over the middle bar and back under and your belt is complete! Optional: You can add some snap on's to hold the belt end in place if you desire.

I have recommended a 2'' slide buckle, but there is no issue in going a tad bigger with the size of the slide buckle for more effect on the back of the dress or even making your belt tabs a little smaller in width so you can fit it into your perfect slide buckle.

 I've also been asked where are the best places to start in the search for a slide belt buckle and a few places you can find really cool slide buckles are on Etsy ( below are a few cool vintage pieces. Ebay also is a good place to have a hunt for them. I have also been told they may be hiding in the button or craft section of your local sewing shop too.

Etsy

Etsy

Cue awesome, excitement music and 'I'm so awesome' dance moves because we are up to the final step... hemming our Winifred dress!

DRESS HEM

Try on your Winifred dress and mark you preferred hem length. The finished hem length of the Winifred dress is roughly 23''.

Fold up 1/2'' on the hem edge to the inside of the dress and press it down. Fold this hem edge up again another 1''  to form the hem. Stitch in place.

Give your Winifred a really good press all over and you're finished!

You now have a gorgeous Winifred dress you have sewn up with your own two hands! You should be extremely proud of yourself! 

If you're still stitching away on your Winifred dresses feel free to continue to ask questions, post in the Facebook sew-along to get yourself the help you need, so you can get yourself a finished Winifred dress too.
 
Just to recap if you're entering the competition to win the awesome prizes, take note of the below dates:

Final date to upload your Winifred photos : 10th of April to the Flickr group.
Make sure to join the Flickr group sooner rather than later, if you're planning on entering the sew-along competition.

 The couple of days following the 10th of April  i will be collating all the entries, getting them  ready to be voted on by you.

Voting will begin : 14th of April and run through to the 20th of April. This is your chance to vote on your favorite Winifred dresses!

Once I've tallied all the votes i will be announcing the 3 winners here on the blog roughly around the 23rd of April.





I can't to see all the Winifred's pop up out there in the wild. I hope you all enjoyed the sew along and especially sewing up the Winifred pattern. I cant thank you all  enough for all the lovely words of support, as well the massive amount of support from all of you for  kindly ordering the pattern,  supporting me in this crazy journey as well as  allowing me to continue doing what i love, designing and creating sewing patterns.  

So I hope you love your Winifred dresses and feel absolutely gorgeous when you wear them!

Abby
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