ODETTE SEW-ALONG #4 - Fabric prep & cutting

Today's sew-along  post we will be ticking off a few final tasks before we dive into sewing our Odette dresses. Prepping your fabric, cutting it out as well as a few other little sewing tips.

You can find all the previous sew-along posts here.

Lets get cracking on these final steps before we sink our teeth into sewing!

PRE-WASHING YOUR FABRIC

Once  you've made all you fit adjustments, tested out a muslin etc you're ready to start sewing.. good times. But first its always a good idea to run through these basics to get you on the right track with that lush fabrics of yours.

Pre-washing and drying  your fancy fabric is always a good idea before you start sewing, i will admit though it sometimes a step that i  miss and every time i do it leads to disappointing results once my project is done. Why? because once  i give it a wash.. it shrinks. So this little tip speaks for itself. Wash and dry your fabric AND give it a good press before you start cutting out your pattern pieces and start sewing. 

SUGGESTED FABRIC LAYOUTS

 

OK so your fabric all washed, dried and pressed and pattern pieces ready to be cut out. There a lot of pattern pieces with the Odette dress so if you need a helping hand with some ideas on how to lay them out on your fabric then take a look at the suggested fabric layouts on page 1 of the instructions. These layouts will give you an idea on how to  lay out your pattern pieces in the most efficient way.

CUTTING OUT YOUR FABRIC & PATTERN INFO

Once you've figured the best layout for your pattern pieces on your fabric then go ahead and cut them all out. Before you remove the pattern pieces away from the fabric make sure to transfer all the pattern info across onto your fabric for example darts and  notches. For the notches on pattern pieces  I simply snip each one,  carefully cutting into the seam allowance roughly about 1/4'' or less.

I mark my darts using waxed tracing paper and a tracing wheel.  For me i find this the easiest and clearest way. It also means i can come back to the pattern pieces later on with them  still clearly marked, pins i find seem to go astray.

HOW MANY SKIRT PIECES?

Odette has a gored skirt with majority of the pattern pieces looking very much the same. So you don't get confused once you start stitching up the skirt  grab a marker and on each skirt piece mark which piece is which within the seam allowance at the waistline  i.e CF( center front), CB ( center back) and so on.

I hope you found some of these little sewing tips helpful for getting your fabric prepped and  cut out and ready to start sewing.

See you tomorrow for the next Odette sew-along post!

Abby

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