[Lucy]

I am at my wit’s end with sewing the armholes and ties. The directions and picture for rolling up the dress and sewing (step 2) is fine, but I cannot make out step three and the picture is not that clear. How I am to turn it out when the neckline and shoulders are sewn together?

Any guidance gratefully received.

[Liesl Gibson]

Lucy, I was hoping to make a video to demonstrate this step but haven’t had a chance yet. The trick is to sew only one shoulder at a time and then turn it right side out before sewing the other shoulder. If you reach in through the sewn shoulder you can pull the dress right side out through the shoulder–it sounds crazy and will feel wrong when you’re doing it, but it works. Let me know if it’s still difficult and I’ll try to find a partially made dress I have around here so I can take a few photos while I do it, ok?

[Kate]

Thank you Lucy!!! I am also at wits end at this point and found your post with the answer. I will try again with Liesl’s answer. Did it finally work for you because I’m about to cry? Thanks – Kate

[Lucy]

Hi Kate,

Yes, it did end up working out for me, although I ended up having to unpick a lot and work with smaller seam allowances due to my ill-advised corner-cutting.

If you lay the dress flat and roll just as Liesl describes it will work. It’s not difficult, it just *looks* counter-intuitive. I found it pulled through quite easily (I sewed it in cotton lawn).

Good luck.

Lucy

[Liesl Gibson]

There is a complete sew-along for this pattern, including detailed photos, right here:

cartwheel wrap dress sew-along