First Dress and all the other firsts.

Hi everyone,

I’m Juls and this is my first ever blog post on Blogland… Thank you to Giselle for trusting me to put my spiel out there.

Today I’d like to share with you my first dress and other sewing skill firsts. 

I was invited to a wedding and my friend had decided on a white theme with all the guests to be in white (or shades of). Sounds unusual but on the day it looked so beautiful, quite ethereal, the amazing sea views and beach club were a perfect match with all the white. Even the groom and all the male guests were in white.  It was gorgeous! Since the groom was Indian, many of the family and friends wore white saris and with all the intricate embroidery, such fabulous outfits were in abundance!

I usually have difficulty wearing dresses, the waistline never sits in the right place for my body shape and so I was dreading shopping; plus the fact that my friend preferred me to be in a full length gown, this compounded my woes. I didn’t hold out much hope in finding a white dress that didn’t look bridal.

I am very new to the world of sewing/dressmaking and at this point of deciding to make my own dress, my sewing endeavours to date are a blind, a pair of pj shorts and the infamous Sorbetto top.  I don't know what possessed me to think that I could sew a wearable first dress ..... and all for a special occasion, just a bit mad ambitious! 

I have previously shied away from dressmaking on the basis that my sewing ability would be well below the standard of what I want to wear. I’ve tinkered with a craft project or two and only decided to buy a sewing machine to attempt to sew some blinds (still incomplete).

My original planned dress pattern was chosen 4 months before the wedding (Butterick 4343) but I  constantly put off starting it. The pattern said it was fast and simple, but the prospect of fitting and sewing princess seams in 6 panels in total, plus lining, made that 12 seams into a tight fitting dress, plus an invisible zip GULP! I was intimidated.

Then late on a Sunday night, just 10 days before the wedding, (ok yes I procrastinate) I changed tack and fished out New Look 6119 pattern from my extensive pattern hoard.

I bought fabric on the Monday after work and by the weekend I had made the muslin. Never having sewn a commercial pattern, I wasn't sure how my size compared to their sizings so I chose one based on the finished garment size. This pattern has 5 inches of ease! FIVE!!!! I did chose correctly for the bust, but also took the waist in a tad more. 

Just to add to my “first dress challenge” (eye roll), I made some changes not in the pattern, I added a lining and also a central split up the centre front, just for a bit of added va va voom. I ditched the neckband and sash belt in favour of sewing a chiffon scarf and sash. I was going for the floaty dreamy look, (which is probably where my head was when I decided to do this dress….) So I attempted roll-hemming two lengths of two metre chiffon for the first time (at 3am in the morning – crazy chick!) But.... it all went fine! No tears or chewed up chiffon swallowed by the machine... 

My version was in a light crepe with a bemberg lining, chiffon neck band and belt sash. I took a big risk with no back up outfit, I had no idea if it would suit me, or if all the modifications would work etc. Literally blood went into this (stabbed myself with the needle securing the gathering at the neckline whilst wearing but thankfully it marked on the inside, phew) It was do or die (of outfit embarrassment)

I also pondered over ways to do the channel for the neck band and attachment for the lining for a while and just decided on doing it between the lining and outer fabric. The original pattern used wide bias tape and narrow tape around the armholes both of which were no longer appropriate because of the lining.

My deadline was running out fast and I sewed into the night until 4am because I had to fly out the next morning and had yet to pack… (Panic!) I flew out with the garment needing a lot finishing to do.  I had also bought some very pretty diamante trim from MacCulloch and Wallis as it was a simple dress I thought it would enhance it.

Whilst I was away I hand sewed the hem and split (on the flight), and the diamante detail on the neckline finishing on the morning of the wedding!

I was pretty pleased with the final result, much better than I thought it would be. I like the pattern and my dress, more so than I anticipated when I bought the pattern, it’s actually really versatile and can be reinterpreted in so many different fabrics. I would make it again if I need another special occasion dress. I can imagine this in an evening dress fabric. 

I learned a ton doing this dress pretty much everything was new to me and now I think I may really be able to take on sewing and dressmaking.  

It was Martina of LaDulsatina who finally inspired me to take on dressmaking, by my standards she bravely took on projects with great success when she first started and she has now progressed into drafting her own gorgeous garments. 

For now, on this dress the seams need tidying, learning the overlocker can wait and I didn’t like the suggested seam finishes (my fabric is quite see-through). The hemstitching kept snagging on crystals on my shoes even though I tried to keep them in the fold, but they were not as small I would do normally as they seemed to show on the front despite only catching a couple of threads so I will have to redo this.

Thank you for reading my first ramblings…sorry if I bored you with the background of it all. 

Now, I need to sew more and read less about it... a little more action and a lot less procrastination! 

Happy sewing everyone! 😊

Getting to grips with an unfamiliar sewing foot

Do you use more than a couple of the sewing feet that come with  your machine? I must admit that I didn't.

The walking foot on a Janome sewing machine

I swapped the standard foot with the walking foot (also known as a even feed foot or dual feed foot) for most of my straight stitching: preventing slippage of one fabric layer is a wonderful thing!  I don't miss the standard foot at all.

I also use my zip foot for sewing in zips, obviously, - this tends to be the only thing that I remove my walking foot for.


But I didn't use all these other sewing feet except for trying out the blind hem foot (which works fabulously!) - the other day I was thinking about why.  I have a feeling that I somehow thought that I should be able to do all kinds of things with just these two feet, almost as if that was some kind of challenge.  How silly!

The other reason is likely a fear of a bad experience, that trying would make me feel very dejected (yes, call me chicken).  Just ask me about my experiences sewing in invisible zips because I didn't realise that I had the wrong foot. Yah, that one.

But the thing is that a specialised sewing foot can make your sewing much easier, if you give yourself enough time to experiment with it and learn how to use it without wanting to throw your machine out of the window...  You know, when things go really badly.

It is very easy to get discouraged when sewing isn't going well and you don't know why.  One of the more horrible feelings that could make you feel so wretched that you stop sewing. Let's not do that!

So how can you get to grips with a different foot without feeling like a right fool?


Sewing machine feet come in two different kinds on the main: those you screw on and those that snap on. Your machine will only take one rather than the other.  Make sure that the manufacturer of the foot lists it as suitable for your specific machine model - if you're not sure that you want to spend the money on the genuine part, maybe you can borrow it from a friend or try it out at their place?  It'll give you the best idea of whether it's a good investment. A generic foot may sound good but if it doesn't work then it's wasted money.

But let's say that you have the right foot and you installed it - that alone can take quite a while!  I try to do something unfamiliar only when I have lots of time and there's no pressure.

My very best tip is to check that a) you picked the right machine setting for your purpose, and b) that the machine needle will not hit the foot itself.

To do this safely: hold on to the sewing thread at the back (or use a starter patch) and then move your machine needle by turning the wheel by hand.  If the foot or the setting is wrong then the needle could hit the foot itself on any downward motion that make up the stitch.

Some feet work with a straight stitch and others with a zigzag stitch - that's why it is important to manually move the needle through a whole repeat of the stitch.

Use a test patch of fabric because it is much easier to manoeuvre a small piece.  Check for tips for using your specific foot online and on YouTube - there may be a trick or hint that's not obvious, e.g. that the fabric needs to touch the guide's side of the narrow hem foot when you guide it into the roll-over bit.  A rolled hem foot may behave similarly, please check.

Use your slowest sewing speed if you can adjust it and then play around some. Use a different kind of fabric if your first sample fabric turns out as stubborn and non-userfriendly, see what works for you.  Once you get to grips with another fabric, you can go back to the one you'll want to use.

If the foot isn't doing what you thought it would - there is a chance that it is a different foot or that the fabric needs to lie a different way to feed under the needle. YouTube videos can be particularly helpful for that.

For example a blind hem foot works by catching just a couple of threads of a fabric fold - so the fabric has to lie the right way.  I find it quite counter-intuitive and tend to try it the wrong way round first. Ugh.

The way you pin a seam can make a difference: a narrow hem foot won't work with pins put in perpendicular to the edge, you need to start off with just the one pin placed parallel to the edge, - any additional pins are in the way because you need to hold the fabric to guide it. I think this probably applies to a rolled hem as well.

There is a good article on the Threads website about the narrow foot:

The start of the three page article, and here is the link to all the pages. I think the first link has a bit more information.


What sewing feet have you tried and do you have any advice on how best to use them? Please share!

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