Square Neck Ruffle Sleeves And Hem Dress

Hi there, I made this dress especially to wear on our summer holiday in Shanghai last month. Life was busy in past months and so glad I managed to sew a bit in my free time. 

I was planning to make a simple dress with feminine touch, so I went to make a square neck dress with ruffle hem which I made a few before. And to made it extra, I added ruffle sleeves. 

I was thinking the dress will be ready in two days but, something happened 😞 The square neckline was gaping and I had to fix it. I relieved, I fixed it with easy method. I inserted an elastic band between the facing and the neckline. Ta da! I love the result 😍 

Before I show you how I fix the gaping square neckline, let me start with the fabric and pattern detail.

 

The fabric: black and yellow daisy printed cotton, I bought it in July from the local shop.

And the pattern: self-drafted based on my previous square neck dress with ruffle hem, and this time I added ruffle sleeves.

The sewing process started with sew the darts (front and back), sewed the invisible zipper at the center back and sewed the front and back pieces together at the shoulder lines.

And then, pinned and sewed the facing to the neckline.

I gathered the ruffles, pinned and sewed to the sleeves.

After I sewed the sleeves to the armholes, I gathered the ruffle hems, pinned and sewed them to both front and back dresses.

And sewed both sides of the dress.

I basted the square neckline and tried the dress. And found out the gaping around square neckline 😞 

I started to fix it by using the elastic band (in black) 1 cm wide.

And marked the line (red line) at the neckline and sewed both facing and the fashion fabric together about 2 cm wide.

Inserted the elastic inside and secured both sides with pins. 

And sewed (top stitched) the rest of the neckline.

And hand sewed the remaining facing to keep it stay in place.

The fixed neckline! I love the result 😍 

The pictures of the finished dress on me and my dress-form Ellie.

In case you are interested in seeing the making of this square neck dress, feel free to visit my YouTube channel, link here or simply click the video below, 

Also, I decided to share pictures from our holiday in Shanghai which I was wearing my dress during that day. We strolled around The Bund, a famous waterfront walkway and historic district in central Shanghai. It's beautiful 😍

And went to Yu garden, it's a 400 year old masterpiece of classical Chinese architecture and landscape design.

Also visited Yuyuan market, an area filled with souvenirs, restaurants, cookies and sweets. We bought some souvenirs and cookies 😊

And we managed to find the silk market inside the shopping mall, I didn't buy silk fabric but I bought silk scarves instead 😊

I think is more than enough for today, thank you for reading and I will see you again soon in another post. The continuation of our trip to Shanghai and another dress I made 😍

Happy sewing and have a lovely day 💗💗