[jodier]

I must admit I really don’t know what I am doing but I have successfully made the bodice and dress parts. Then I attached the bodice front/back to the skirt part ok. But what happens to the bottom edge of the bodice lining? Have I missed a bit? Should I have sewed the skirt on treating the bodice outside and the lining as one piece? I don’t have an serger and my machine doesn’t zigzag. I have done french seams for the skirt and want to finnish this seam nicely too. Thanks for any help! Jodie.

[norasroom]

Hi, Jodie,

I have always sewn the bodice and bodice lining to the skirt as one piece and then serged the seam to finish. Since you don’t have a serger or a zig-zag stitch, you could finish the seam with bias binding (either pre-packaged or made from the same fabric as the flat piping). Or you could attach just the outer bodice fabric to the skirt and then finish the raw edge of the lining by folding it under 1/2 inch and hand-stitching it in place to cover the seam allowances of the bodice/skirt seam. Or (if you hate hand-sewing as much as I do) you could fold under the raw edge of the lining, hold it in place with pins or double-sided water-soluble tape, and then top-stitch from the front, catching your folded edge for a neat finish.

This is off the top of my head, so others may have better ideas or at least more coherent ones!

Edited to Add: I bet your dress looks lovely with the french seams. I love when the inside of a garment is as pretty as the outside.