[Marie-Michelle]

Have any of you noticed that when assembling the birthday party dress, the center front panel is wider than the central part of the facing and doesn’t mesh perfectly together? What should I do? Insert an extra piece of fabric? Recut the facing a little wider? Make the pleats before the pattern says to do so? Can someone please help?!

[Liesl Gibson]

Marie-Michelle, what size are you making? I’ll check the pattern to see if there is an issue. I’ve not heard about this before, and the pattern has been out for more than a year, so I’m very curious.

[Marie-Michelle]

Hello and thanks! I’m making a size 4. I didn’t quite get the folding of the back placket at first and even once I did, the central part of the facing didn’t match up with the width of the center front panel… there’s about a 2cm (3/4 of an inch) difference between the two. What I did is leave the top portion (center front panel + central portion of facing) unsewn and went ahead and folded the center front panel with its box pleats, leaving the facing loose. Then I cut the excess from the facing and sewed it back up together so that it matched the width of the now pleated center front panel. So the front is pleated and the facing is flat. There’s an extra stitching line on the facing but it looks alright. I re-checked all pattern pieces to make sure I had cut out the right sizes! Just wondering if anyone else had this problem and how they solved it? Or if I’m doing something terribly wrong? All the other pattern pieces matched perfectly.

[Toyota888]

Hi Marie-Michelle

One thing I recall about this pattern in that it did seem very easy to think you should sew the facing to the outer with the outer’s edge still folded and ironed over half an inch – but in fact you need to completely unfold it before you sew them to each other which uses up an extra bit of fabric on each side which I reckon would amount to 2cm added together. Look back to the point in the instructions where you sew the sides of the facing to the outer fabric and check whether you fully unfolded the outer fabric until it was flat (ie you have the cut edge of BOTH fabrics).

Maybe this is the answer?

[claireabel]

Hi

I have made this dress three times now and haven’t encountered that problem.

However if you’re sure the pieces are cut out right, I would guess that maybe you haven’t snipped the seams joining the front panel to the two front side panels (there’s a dot where you clip – it’s in the instructions). It’s step 1 under ‘Attach the top facing’ on the pattern instructions.

I have forgotten to do this before and it means that the facing won’t fit properly. But it is very easily rectified! The fact you have a 2cm difference makes me think this is the problem.

Hope that helps?

[Marie-Michelle]

Hello girls and thanks for all of your answers! I sort of did my own thing… I should start everything from scratch nice and slowly… will be posting results soon on Flickr group!! Happy sewing…

[meleliza]

Yes, this has happened to me too. I’m making size 3t and the front facing piece is a 1/2″ shorter than the front dress pieces. Yes I have allowed for the side front seam and I’ve read the instructions pretty carefully. It looks as if the front facing and front dress should be the same size. The pleats are made through the dress and facing together. I didn’t see any errata. I feel like I should cut the front facing 1/2″ larger so it fits. Any thoughts?

[Nicole]

I have only made this once,in a size 8,but think Puppet Show. The facing ‘wraps’ around the back.

As I said,I have only made the bigger size.

[meleliza]

Yes, I saw that part, but my concern is with the front facing. The center front of the front facing seems to be 1/2″ short of the center front of the dress proper. I’m afraid if I cut it as is, the armscyes won’t match up at the front shoulders.

[Lightning McStitch]

I can’t remember to be of any help. I have a vague memory of something not being perfect but probably put it down to sloppy pattern tracing/cutting…..

[meleliza]

I checked my pattern pieces. I’m just going to cut t he facing with the extra half inch. If it turns out too big because I missed something,I’ll just seam it. It’s only the facing.

[meleliza]

So the facing is fine as drafted after all. I did account for seam allowances, so I’m not sure why the paper seemed off, but the fabric was fine. I had to peace it together anyway to squeeze it into my fabric, so I have a seam, so I was able to adjust. It’s all good in case anyone else is wondering.