Dress sewing kit, or directions?

Question

hi, i'd like to make a dress. like a spaggheti strapped kinda short one, but i have never really made or sewed anything before, soooo i need some help. where can i find a dress making kit, or some directions that will help me? or if any of you are willing to give me in depth directions, you can email me...

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Answer 1

A dress making kit is called a pattern.  Patterns have all the directions for selecting the fabric, modifying the pattern for your size, and laying out the pattern on the fabric for cutting.  You will have to take little time to study the pattern so you know which are the cutting lines and which are just for folding.

Since the pattern is full sized, you will not be printing it out, scaling it, or other similar stuff.  You can order patterns online, but standing in a store with several pattern books gives you a completely different experience of comparison.  Also the women there will know the fabrics and if you point to a pattern and ask about the fabric it mentions, you can feel it immediately and they can talk about the problems sewing or cutting it and how it will wash and drape on your body.

Answer 2

You&#039;ll need some basic tools and equipment for dressmaking, which you&#039;ll find a list of here: (click on the things listed in the right column).

http://www.taunton.com/promotions/pages/...

You&#039;ll also need a pattern, which will NOT be the same size as you buy in finished goods -- you must measure the body you&#039;re going to fit accurately (get a friend to help) and choose the proper pattern  size. http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?page...

You&#039;ll also need to choose a fabric (a cotton with some body is good for beginners -- slippery, slinky, satiny fabrics are not) and interfacing of the correct type for the fabric -- the ones I use are here, and #7927 will work for most purposes (many of the fusible interfacings sold in fabric stores are much too heavy for the fabrics, and will bleed adhesive through to the other side.  The ones here don&#039;t do that.  Do not preshrink these interfacings (different from most directions.)

You&#039;re also going to need to learn basic sewing techniques, including how to lay out a pattern, how to cut, how to handle various sewing steps.  You may want Crawford&#039;s new Studio Sewing Skills dvd, as it is designed for people who have never sewn before; very step by step. http://www.fashionpatterns.com/NEW_DVD_S...

Otherwise, I&#039;d suggest either Crawford&#039;s Guide to Fashion Sewing or Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing.  Crawford&#039;s book was intended for beginning fashion design students at FIDM who had to learn to sew (surprise!) and is very step by step.  Readers Digest is a more traditional home sewing book.  I prefer Crawford&#039;s methods because they&#039;re easy and give a professionally sewn appearance, and because they&#039;re faster.  (I wish I&#039;d learned to sew that way at first... I would have saved literally years of sewing time.)

Personally, I usually try to start beginners off on nightgowns, sleep shirts, sleep pants, or pjs, because the first garment is rarely wonderful -- so you can get some use out of it anyway.

Something like Butterick 6883 may work to give you both

practice and a similar pattern to one you want to sew as a dress: http://www.butterick.com/item/B6883.htm

If at all possible, I&#039;d suggest you try to find a sewing class nearby, or someone who sews well and is willing to mentor you a bit.  You may also want to join some of the online sewing groups like justsew on quiltropolis or creativemachine on yahoogroups.

As far as buying fabric goes, my experience is that the people who work in independent fabric stores tend to know more about sewing than people who work in chain fabric stores like Joann or Hancock.  If your local Walmart has a sewing area still (they&#039;re phasing them out), you will probably find a knowledable sewing enthusiast behind the cutting table who can try to help you match your pattern to some easy to sew fabric.