ODETTE SEWA-LONG #6 - ATTACH WAISTBAND, POCKETS, SKIRT & INSERT AN INVISIBLE ZIPPER

 

Back today  with the second last post in the Odette sew-along. I didn't post yesterday due to the fact it was such a beautiful day here that i took the opportunity to take the day off and head out and enjoy the sunshine.  I hope you can understand! :)

So on today's sew-along post we keep the momentum going with our sewing by stitching up the waistband, attaching our pockets and  last but not least attaching the skirt to the bodice.

You can find all previous sew-along posts here.

WAISTBAND

 The waistband on the Odette dress is a lovely little design feature, designed to compliment and accentuate the small of the waist creating the true 'fit and flare' dress style. Before we stitch it up we need to apply some interfacing to it to give it some structure.

Following the manufacturers instructions for your lightweight fusible interfacing, apply it to the wrong side each front and back waistband pieces. Your only attaching the interfacing to the shell waistband pieces not the lining waistband pieces.

Right sides together stitch the back waistband pieces to the front waistband piece at the side seams.

Trim and press the seams open. Repeat this step on your waistband lining pieces.

Now we will attach our waistbands so grab your bodice.

Starting with the bodice shell, pin the shell waistband to the bottom edge of the bodice with right sides together and matching side seams of the bodice and waistband. Stitch in place.

Do the same with the bodice lining and waistband lining piece and stitch in place.

Trim and grade the waistband seam allowance on both the shell and lining to help reduce bulk in that area. Once that's done press the seam upwards into the bodice.

POCKETS

Remember early on in the sew-along i recommended marking each skirt piece with which piece they were? Well this is going to come in super handy in these upcoming steps when we attach our pockets and stitch up our skirts.

The pockets are going to attached to the skirt side front and side back skirt pieces, so grab these and put the other skirt pieces to the side so as not to get confused.

  Right sides together pin the pocket pieces to the side skirt front and side back skirt pieces, matching the notches.

  Apologies for the blurry photo

Stitch each pocket in place onto each skirt piece.

 

Finish the seams and press each pocket along this seam.

Now grab your center front skirt piece

Right sides together stitch each side skirt front piece to it at the side seams.

Below is what you finish up with for your front skirt.
 

 Now grab your center back pieces.

Right sides together stitch the side back skirt pieces to the center back skirt pieces. 

Finish and press seams

Below is what you finish up with for your back skirt.

 One final step to finish off our skirts and then we can attach them to our bodices and our Odette dresses will be looking well on their to being done!

Right sides together and matching the pocket pieces on the side skirt pieces stitch the front skirt to the back skirt at the side seams. Start your stitching from the waistline down to the hem and stitch in a continuous line around the curve of the pocket to the hem. 

Finish seams and press.

 And your  Odette skirt's are done! Now onto attaching the bodice and skirt together.

ATTACH BODICE AND SKIRT

 The below image is what should be sitting before at this point of the sew-along, your bodices and skirts ready to joined together.

The skirt gets attached to the bodice shell only at this point, simply pull the bodice lining out of the way for now, this will be finished off tomorrow in the final sew-along post. So pin your skirt to the raw bottom edge of the  bodice shell waistband with right sides together and matching side seams, center front and back seams etc Stitch skirt to bodice. Trim and grade this seams the same way you did when attaching the waistband to the bodice. Press the seams upwards into the bodice.

Below is a look from the right side with the skirt is attached to the bodice.

Once your skirt and bodice and attached you can insert an invisible zipper and stitch up the center back seam. Find an in depth tutorial in how to insert an invisible zipper here.

Tomorrow is the final day of the Odette sew-along! We will be finishing up our Odette's by stitching up the bodice, attaching our buttons, hemming and a few final touches and then we're done!

See you then!

Abby

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