[hulagal]

I am starting to sew up the cut out pieces of fabric to make the Tea Party doll dress and I noticed that the side skirt pieces are all cut facing the same way but I think maybe two should have been cut as mirror images of the other. I’ve re-cut two of the pieces to be mirror image and now am pinning them to the center skirt pieces. Can someone confirm whether there is an error on the pattern piece cutting instructions for the side skirt pieces or maybe I missed something?

Thank you!

Melinda

[Nicole]

I made this dress but I fully lined it with the same fabric so I really don’t know!

Lots of girls have made it and I have not heard anyone mention a problem……not to say you are wrong.

Thank you for reporting it so nicely and I am sure someone will comment soon if they had the same issue.

~Nicole~

[with love Heidi]

I think I cut mine (I’ve made 3) with the fabric folded so although the side pieces both faced the same way on the top of the fabric the underneath pieces we reversed (mirror imaged), so in the end I had two cut one way and two mirror images. Did you cut the side pieces from a single layer of fabric?

The instructions don’t seem to give any indication of the cutting layout (and I never noticed!), are you working off the fact that there is only one side panel piece? This is quite common, as it is often presumed the fabric is folded before laying the pattern and cutting the pieces (unless otherwise indicated), thereby getting the reverse pieces without specifically mentioning it. by having directional pattern pieces and cutting them on folded fabric you get a right and left side without having to have two separate pieces This is probably more obvious in the girls tea party pattern (which includes pattern lay out on the fabric).

I hope this made sense, and now I think about it there is quite a lot of assumed information.

Good luck with the dress, it is so cute!

[hulagal]

Thank you for your responses. At least it reassures me that it was correct to re-cut the two pieces to be mirror image. I think it would be good to add an instruction to the pattern piece to cut two pieces and then flip the pattern over and cut two more. But at least we now have this conversation in the forum if anyone else was scratching their head at this part.

[Sarvi]

I haven’t got my copy at hand to check, but aren’t there pattern layouts at the back of the book?

[with love Heidi]

Only some of the patterns have pattern layouts in the back, generally the bigger/trickier pattern pieces, ie bags, cape and I can’t remember what, in fact when I checked the instructions I realised that it began with the sewing and limited info on cutting out and preping, i probably didn’t realise this the first time I made it as I think I had the girls tea party instructions out as well. And having sewn for years I always cut with the fabric folded unless told otherwise, without even thinking about it.

Hula girl, and you have the start of a second one 🙂

[Sarvi]

Ah, you’re absolutely right — probably I just worked from my memory of having made the big size and didn’t think to look for instructions. If it is helpful for other projects, page 122 has a section called ‘Tips for pattern and fabric layout and cutting’ —

“2. If the instructions call for cutting a pattern piece twice and you’re using a single layer of fabric, remember to flip the pattern piece over before cutting it a second time so that you’ll have cut a mirror-image pattern piece.”

I think these were tucked at the back of the book to give more space to illustrations and photos in the beginning, by not repeating the same info for multiple patterns, but I can see how it might be missed — I have just dived right in so far and not read the instructions carefully as I am more eager than careful.

Hope your second dress turns out well and that this is useful info for your next project!

[Robin]

Thank you Sarvi for doing the research. I just traced the pattern this morning.

[hulagal]

Thank you Sarvi for the page reference. This will be helpful for me on other projects in the book. So my dress is looking great but I made a silly mistake in using a 3/8″ inseam instead of a 1/4″ inseam so it may not fit. I am making this for my niece so I do not have an 18″ doll to try it on. Can anyone tell me if this dress had much room for such an error? I will mail it to her anyway just in case.

Lots of learning for me! But I am more confident to make an actual dress for my own little girl now!

Thank you so much to everyone for your help! This forum is such a great resource!

Melinda

[hulagal]

oops – meant to say “seam allowance” not inseam.

[Sarvi]

It looks like a kind of slim fit from the modeled photo, I’m afraid! But I’m sure an excited little girl will adore it and will find a way to get it on there, and dolls are not that picky about fit, hehe 🙂