Hot Pink Francoise Dress

I made another Francoise dress! The fabric is a low-stretch medium weight knit with a textured surface - it's a cheapo find I scored ages ago from my local, Simply Fabrics in Brixton. In fact, you might recognise it from one of my favourite Coco tops.

The result is a lot drapier than versions of the dress made in a more structured woven fabric such as gabardine. The knit fabric doesn't hold the shape of the skirt so well - which isn't a bad thing, just a design feature to be aware of when choosing your material. Fabric like this is a good option for the raglan sleeved version as the stretch allows you to move your arms easily. It's a lovely thing to wear if you want to look put together but want to feel comfy at the same time :) I should probably wear a slip to go under this next time - the photos are showing up every lump and seam of my underpinnings, oops!



The stretch in the fabric gives the dress more ease, so I took it in a bit at the sides, and I'm going to have to restitch the zip because it's become a bit loose at the back. I think Emmy left the zip out for her double knit Francoise dress, but I didn't want to risk not getting it over my head!

The collar is made in some leftover fabric from the cream polka dot Francoise dress that features on the pattern cover - yes, the fabric is reversible! I bought it from Goldhawk Road - I'm not sure of the exact consistency, but it feels kinda like a malleable-yet-firm woven double gauze, if that makes any sense.



Next up, I'm tempted to try making the Francoise dress in a soft denim. Maybe with some visible topstitching around the seams? And maybe even a gold denim collar!

What have you been making recently, please?

Vote for Your Favourites in the #SewingFrancoise Contest!

VOTING NOW CLOSED
Oh. My. Goodness. Laura and I have been completely blown away by the dresses you made for the #SewingFrancoise contest!

There were over 100 entries, from which we have shortlisted 25 that stood out for us in terms of style and creativity to go to the next stage - the public vote. We really enjoyed going through the entries, but believe me when I say that choosing just 25 for the next stage was seriously tough. We've literally spent three hours umming and ahhing over it because we appreciate the love and effort that went into all of them and would give all of you a prize if we could. Go look at them all here! So major props to everyone who made a dress - you are ALL winners in our eyes :)

In the interest of fairness, since the selection is based on subjective criteria, we've made the contest a two-stage process.  So now you get to vote for the winners! Take a look through the shortlisted entries below, and pick your five favourite dresses in order of preference. Vote for your first, second, third, fourth and fifth choice in the survey at the bottom of the page (or if you're on a mobile you may find it easier to open the survey in a new window). Only one set of responses per person is permitted, and public voting will close at 6pm GMT on Sunday 21st December 2014. The winners will be announced just before Christmas.

The most popular entry will win first prize of a brand new Janome DKS100 sewing machine worth £500 (or, if the winner is outside the UK, an equivalent Janome sewing machine will be supplied). Nine runners up will each win a £100 fabric shopping voucher from one of the following - Backstitch, Dragonfly Fabrics, Elephant in my Handbag, Fabric Godmother, Minerva Crafts, Monaluna, Plush Addict, Sewbox, The Village Haberdashery. Massive thanks to Janome and our sponsors for the amaze prizes!

Carly / Inbar

Gabby / Nicole

Alice Evans / Danielle

Sandee / Kat

Barbara / Spot & Cross

Laura Jane / Heather

Chiara / Victoria

Katarina / Lien

Ksenia / Johanne

Alice Cullen / Yoshina

Jenny / Terzi Begum

Emmie / Vasiliki

LouWeez Creates

Inspired to make your own Francoise dress? Here's the pattern!

How to Sew Piping into a Seam

Sewing piping into a seam is a great way of drawing attention to unusual style lines, such as the raglan seams on the Francoise dress. It’s so easy to do and can lift your dressmaking project from ordinary to extraordinary!

You can buy ready-made piping, or you can make your own by cutting a strip of fabric on the bias (ie. at a 45 degree angle to the selvedges), wrapping it around some piping cord and sewing it in place.

Here’s how to pipe a seam:

1) Cut the piping so it’s a bit longer than the seam you want to sew it to. Trim the seam allowances on the two seams that the piping will be sandwiched between so that they are the same width as the fabric part of the piping.

2) Pin the piping to the right side of one of the seams (ie. the side that will show on the outside of your garment), with the cord running along the stitching line and the raw edge of the piping aligned with the raw edge of the fabric.

3) Attach a piping foot or adjustable zip foot to your sewing machine and set the stitch length to 4mm. (You can use a regular zip foot if you don’t have a piping or adjustable zip one, but I find the latter much easier to use.) Baste/tack the fabric part of the piping to the garment within the seam allowance.

4) Re-snip any notches that have been hidden by the piping. Pin the seams of your garment together as normal, with the piping sandwiched between them, matching any notches.

5) Using the piping foot or adjustable zip foot, stitch the seams together, with the needle as close as you can get to the piping cord without sewing over it. Like, really close, which is where the piping or adjustable zip foot comes in handy because the foot doesn't get in the way of the needle – push the piping cord right up against the edge of the presser foot as you sew. If your first attempt isn’t quite close enough, no worries – just try stitching another line even closer.

6) Trim the ends of the piping, and finish your seams as normal. And you’re done!

Here's one I made earlier!

#SewingFrancoise: Sew the Hem + (Optional) Tab

Sewing the Francoise dress? This is the last step – hemming!

Okay, so it’s actually two steps if you’re making the tab, as we’ll sew that part too, but they’re both so quick that I’ve combined them into one post.

Catching up? Read the previous steps in the Francoise sewalong.

Let’s do this!

Hem the dress

Try the dress on and check you’re happy with the length of the hem – there is a 3cm (1 1/4in) hem allowance included in the pattern, so the hemline will be 3cm (1 1/4in) above the raw edge. The dress is designed to be fairly mini, landing mid-thigh on an average height person. If you prefer a shorter hemline, you can chop a bit off. If you prefer a longer hemline, you can lengthen the dress pattern next time you make it (or you could even sew on an extra panel around the hem).

Once you’re happy with the length, turn the hem under by 15mm (5/8in), wrong sides together, and press. Turn it under another 15mm (5/8in), press again and pin.

Topstitch the hem in place, close to the inner fold.

Make the optional tab

You should have two tab pieces, one of which should be interfaced. Pin the tab pieces right sides together.



With the interfaced piece on top, stitch them together, leaving an opening between the small circles. If you set your machine to a shorter stitch length when you sew the rounded corners, it should make it easier to create a smooth curve. Trim the seam allowances and snip small triangles around the curved corners – this will help reduce the bulkiness of the seam allowances when we turn the tab right sides out. Press the seam allowances open.

Turn the tab right sides out through the opening. Use your finger or a blunt butter knife to shape the curved corners.

Fold the seam allowances at the opening to the inside and press the tab neatly. Topstitch over the opening to seal it, close to the edge.

Try your dress on. Place the uninterfaced side of the tab against the right side of the dress, and pin the tab on or above your waistline – wherever you think looks nicest on you. Take the dress off, check the tab is straight, then hand sew two buttons through the tab and the dress.

Give everything a final press and…

Woop! You’ve made an adorable Francoise dress!

I can’t wait to see what you’ve made! Please tweet me a photo or submit your dress to the Maker Gallery.

How to Sew an Invisible Zip

An invisible zip is my favourite kind of fastening to sew into my clothing. The teeth are hidden on the wrong side of the zip, so all you see from the outside of the garment is a subtle seam line. Gorgeous!

I’m going to show you how to insert an invisible zip into the Francoise dress, and you can also use this tutorial for other types of garment too.

You will need:

• Invisible (or concealed) zip (56cm / 22in for the Francoise dress)
• Invisible zip foot (check the one you get fits your model of sewing machine)
• Regular zip foot or adjustable zip foot (adjustable is my preference – again, check it fits your sewing machine)
• Sewing machine and tools (pins, scissors etc)

Try your dress on and adjust the back opening seams if you need to. If you want your seams to be hidden behind the zip, trim them down to the same width as the zip tape – about 1cm (3/8in). If your fabric is fairly lightweight, applying a strip of interfacing to each seam allowance can help stop the seams from puckering when you insert the zip. Finish the back opening seam allowances using zigzag stitch or an overlocker. Press them under 15mm (5/8in), wrong sides together. Open the invisible zip and press the back of the curled teeth flat with a warm, dry iron, being careful not to touch the iron to the zip teeth themselves (so they don’t melt!). Uncurling and pressing the zip will help when it comes to stitching close to (but not over) the teeth.

With the dress lying right side up, temporarily fold the left seam allowance flat. Pin the left zip tape to the left seam allowance of the dress, right sides together. Align the zip teeth with the pressed seam line and the top stop with the neckline, folding the facing (and collar if your dress has one) out of the way.

Attach an invisible zip foot to your sewing machine. The invisible zip foot has two little grooves at the bottom – slot the zip teeth into the left groove. Stitch all the way down one tape, as far as you can go before the zip pull gets in the way, back tacking at each end of the stitching. Trim your threads carefully so they don’t get jammed in the zip.



Pin the right zip tape to the right seam allowance of the dress in the same way. Stitch.

Now we need to sew the rest of the back opening seam. Close the zip. Keeping the ends of the zip tapes out of the way, pin together the back opening seams below the zip. Change the foot on your sewing machine to a regular zip foot or an adjustable zip foot. Stitch the seam, starting about 2cm (3/4in) above the bottom of the zip, and back tacking at each end. You won’t be able to stitch directly on top of the original zip stitching line because the teeth will be in the way, but get as close as you can to avoid creating a bubble at the bottom of the zip, and sew diagonally up to the seam line as smoothly as you can. An adjustable zip foot really helps here as you can slide the edge of the foot super close to the needle. I love my adjustable zip foot!

It should look something like this (above).

I also like to stitch the flappy bottom ends of the zip tapes to the seam allowances (not through the outside of the dress), using an adjustable (or regular) zip foot. Press the seam allowances open.

Open the zip and fold the zip tapes and back opening seam allowances away from the dress. Trim the top of the zip tapes, then fold the facings over the back of the dress along the neckline seam, right sides together. Pin the back edges of the facing to the zip tapes and seam allowances. (If your dress has a collar, this should be out of the way.) Using a regular or adjustable zip foot, stitch the back ends of the facing down close to the zip teeth (again, an adjustable zip foot will help you stitch closer to the zip teeth). Turn the facing right side out, using a pin to gently ease the corners into a point. Press the facing to the inside of the dress, rolling the seam line slightly to the inside.

To finish, close the zip and lightly press the zip seam on the right side of the dress. Be careful here as you don’t want to melt the zip – you don’t even need to touch the iron to the fabric, you can just hover it over the seam and emit a little steam to neaten the seam.

And that’s it! You’ve sewn a lovely invisible zip.

If you’re sewing the Francoise dress, all we’ve got left to do is hem the dress and sew the optional tab if you’re adding it. Nearly there!

#SewingFrancoise: Neckline Facings + (Optional) Collar

Sewing the Francoise dress? Today I’m going to show you how to sew the neckline facings, which you’ll need for all versions of the dress, plus the optional collar if you’re adding it to the dress.

Let’s start with the collar. If you’re leaving the collar out, you can skip over this section – start reading from ‘Neckline facings’ below…

Sew the collar

You should have four collar pieces – the two collar pieces that you interfaced earlier will form the top collar, the other two will be the under collar. Trim the outer edge and short sides of the under collar pieces down by 2mm, tapering to 0 at the corners. Trimming the under collar will help the seam lines roll to the underside of the collar so you don’t see them when you’re wearing the dress.

Lay each top collar piece over its matching under collar piece, right sides together. Pin these pieces together at the outer edge and short sides. With the interfaced piece facing up, stitch these three sides of each collar piece, pivoting 15mm (5/8in) from the corners, leaving the neckline unstitched. If you find it tricky to tell where to pivot, you could draw the corners onto the interfacing, 15mm (5/8in) in from the raw edges.



Trim the seam allowances down to about 5mm. This should be enough to create a smooth seam allowance on many fabrics. But if your fabric is on the heavy side, you could trim one seam allowance a bit more than the other to make them less bulky, and you could also clip into the curved part of the collar.



If your fabric is light- to medium-weight, fold the seam allowances neatly at the corners and turn the collar right sides out – folding the corner will create a nice and sturdy corner that won’t form a hole. If your fabric is on the heavier side, folding the corner might make it a bit bulky, so snip diagonally across the seam allowances instead, being careful not to cut through the stitching line, before turning the collar right sides out. Use a pin to gently ease the fabric at each corner out into a point.

Press the collar pieces, rolling the seam lines slightly to the underside of the collar (the uninterfaced side) so you won’t see it from the top.

Now we can attach the collar to the dress. Lay one collar piece over the dress at the neckline, the under collar against the right side of the dress. Pin, matching the centre front notch on the collar to the one you snipped on the neckline earlier, matching the shoulder notch on the collar to the shoulder seam line, and matching the end of the collar with the end-of-collar notch on the dress. If your neckline has stretched out slightly, you may need to stretch the collar a little bit while you’re pinning it to get the notches to match up neatly.

Baste (tack) the collar to the dress neckline using a 10mm (3/8in) seam allowance. Now you can position the other collar piece on the other side of the neckline in the same way. The two collar pieces should overlap at centre front, intersecting 15mm (5/8in) down from the neckline.

Neckline facings

Whichever version of the Francoise dress you’re making, you’ll now need to sew the neckline facings. You should have cut one front neckline facing piece on the fold and two back neckline facing pieces, and interfaced them all.

Pin the front and back neckline facings together at the shoulder seams, right sides together, matching notches.



Stitch them at the shoulder seams. Trim the seam allowances to about half their width and press them open. Finish the outside edge of the facing with zigzag stitch or an overlocker (serger).

Pin the facing to the dress at the neckline, right sides together (on top of the collar if you added it), matching the centre front notches and shoulder seams. Stitch. If you added the collar, check the stitching line meets the point where the two collar pieces intersect at centre front - you might want to stitch this bit first and check the stitching is in the right place before sewing the rest of the seam.

Trim the seam allowances. Press the facing (but not the collar) away from the dress towards the seam allowances. Understitch the facing to the seam allowances – this means sewing the facing to the seam allowances close to the seam line to help keep it on the inside of the garment. You can use a groove of your presser foot as a seam allowance guide to keep the understitching close to the seam line. Hold the fabric nice and taut either side of the seam line as you’re understitching so you don’t get any wrinkles.

Turn the facing to the inside of the dress and press, rolling the seam line slightly to the inside. Understitching the facing should hopefully keep it on the inside of the dress but, depending on what fabric you’re using, it may still want to pop out to the outside. If it looks like it’s doing that, you can hand stitch the facing to the shoulder seams – just a few little stitches should do it. Similarly, if you find that the collar is trying to turn to the inside of the dress, you can stitch the under collar to the dress by hand near each point of the collar, being careful not to stitch through the top layer of the collar so the stitches stay hidden.

And that’s it for today! Your Francoise dress should be looking lurrrvely now. Take a look at some of the dresses that are already finished - gorgeous! In the next post we’ll get the zip in...