Dressed in a Dress - The Sewing Journal

While facings appear in countless sewing patterns, they are rarely explained beyond the sewing steps themselves. Yet behind their functionality lies a surprising amount of patternmaking and construction logic. Curious about how these understated pieces work, I decided to take a closer look. The result is an illustrated tutorial exploring what facings are, how different types are used in garments, and how to draft and sew a round neckline facing.

Still recovering from the whirlwind of my first pattern release, I found myself craving something freer, looser, and a little rebellious. Lili grew from that feeling—a dress with volume at the sides, drama at the sleeves, and a simple round neckline to keep it all grounded. What started as a search for ease and softness soon became a study of proportions and movement, supported by a fully illustrated booklet and clear instructions to guide you through every fold, gather, and stitch.

Sometimes, even with the right fabric and construction, a design needs a touch of hidden support to achieve its intended shape. When richly gathered sleeve caps don’t hold the sculpted volume you envisioned, a simple couture-inspired detail—the sleeve booster—can make all the difference. This illustrated tutorial shows how to sew and attach it for a perfectly balanced, voluminous sleeve silhouette.

Refusing to settle for simplicity yet needing essentials, I created Sienna—a blouse that blends minimalism, effortless elegance, and a dash of drama. Inspired by a curious contradiction, Sienna features a relaxed silhouette, classic shirt elements, clean finishes and three cuff options for versatility. As my first pattern available for sale, Sienna comes with an illustrated booklet and detailed sewing instructions, guiding you through this journey of craft and beauty.

I was midway through figuring out the Sienna blouse when I realised the collar-sewing method I’d been using for years wasn’t giving me the finish I wanted. The edges weren’t as smooth, always threatening to unravel, the roll not quite intentional. So I stepped back, pulled out my sewing books, and relearned the process from the beginning. What came out of that is the method in this illustrated step-by-step tutorial—a straightforward way to sew a pointed collar that turns cleanly and sits neatly on the neckline.

When it comes to the commercial shirt pattern and the placement of its front buttons, even if the design is pure perfection, there is always a slight chance of having that annoying front gap, revealing a little more than desired. Body tapes, snaps and pins might be a workaround for a finished garment, but if you haven’t stitched and slashed the buttonholes yet, there’s a proper way to respace the buttons, and this detailed illustrated tutorial will show you how.

No exploration of dart manipulation is complete without addressing the back bodice, which is often overlooked. This post delves into the importance of back waist and shoulder darts for enhanced fit and design. With detailed explanations, calculations, and step-by-step tutorials, you’ll gain practical knowledge to customize patterns, eliminate fabric disruptions, and achieve precise upper back fit—all while honing your patternmaking skills.

This long-awaited post delves into single-dart designs like the French, waist, and mid-shoulder dart. We’ll uncover their connection to two-dart designs and see how dart relocation influences fit and aesthetics. We’ll gain practical knowledge to customise patterns through theory, calculations, and detailed illustrated tutorials. And the little homework will give you some extra practice.

As a fundamental part of dart manipulation, the pivotal method is a practical foundation for understanding the patternmaking process. In this post, we’ll explore darts from a different angle, shifting from the slash method to the pivotal one to efficiently relocate darts in two-dart designs by rotating instead of slashing and taping.

For years, the lack of matching ribbing for the neckline stopped me from sewing a tee myself. Then, at some point, I realized I could make the neckline band out of self-fabric. The process seems to be tricky initially: you need to stretch the fabric and then do wonders with steam pressing, but fear not. I prepared this detailed illustrated tutorial, which will explain how to sew a crew neckband for your T-shirt.

While the fashion market was bursting with numerous T-shirts, I still struggled to find the perfect one. So, impressed by the tendency for oversized looks, I created my version of a T-shirt with a slightly boxy fit that would include wide crew neckband, sleeves with a good amount of ease & thicker fabric for a proper structure. But, of course, it would be pretty selfish to keep this beauty entirely to myself, so I decided to release its pattern for free. So, welcome Jane.

We all are different, and we all are beautiful. So alike in a general overview, but entirely different in details. Every feature in us makes us unique. This uniqueness means there is no single size chart or pattern that will perfectly fit everyone. And it’s okay because by choosing the closest suitable size and making a couple of adjustments to a standard pattern—for example, in-between or blended sizes & pattern length adjustment—you can get that desired fit.

I am no stranger to online shopping, but I would always choose an offline purchase over an online one when it comes to fabrics. But when the times change, we should adapt to survive. Having decided that my summer wardrobe needed an update, I spent an evening browsing through European online fabric stores. Somehow, I landed on a French fabric store page, and it did change my opinion about online fabric shopping.

After three previous theoretical posts, we are finally ready for practice. At first, we'll learn about the most common dart manipulations, as they form the base for more complicated ones in the future. Why do we choose some designs over the other? What should one do to transform the basic darts into the ones you need? You can find the answers here. So, prepare your pencils, pens, rulers and paper and we are ready to start.

Bow collars pop up in the first row of a fashion scene relatively often. They are loved and presented by luxury brands like Gucci and Saint Laurent. The bow collar can look modest, but it also may be seductive revealing that tiny bit of a collarbone. Feminine and luxurious it brings ’70-s vibes to one's favourite blouse pattern. And this illustrated tutorial will show how to add a bow collar to one's design.

After learning what block patterns are, let’s take a closer look at a basic dress block and what one needs to know to create other dresses from it. This is an introductory post for future pattern manipulations—here you can see what it takes to turn a 2-dimensional pattern into a 3-dimensional garment. And if you were wondering what a dart is, the answer is here too.

In the previous introduction post, I briefly wrote about two main stages of patternmaking that lead you from an idea to a beautiful dress: the basic block and flat patternmaking. Did you know, there also are fashion blocks? And all these blocks exist not only in apparel industry but in many others? So, let's find out what they are and where you can get them.

Every dress starts with an idea. You might see the perfect one in a magazine or you might get lightened with inspiration in a fabric store when you see that silk organza with velvet dots. But one cannot sew a dress without a pattern, right? It is not that complicated, as it seams. And I'm here to help. So why not learn to make one?

It’s been a really long time since I wrote the last post here. I can’t even remember when and what it was. It’s not like I had nothing to say, I just guess I’m not the person who can tell a whole novel about going to a grocery shop. But sometimes projects or events, that are worth mentioning, happen.

A magical commercial inspired me to draw a couple of illustrations. Once I watched it, I couldn’t resist wanting that blue blouse with a bow. I cannot afford to buy one, but I can at least dress my pencil-drawn alter ego in it.

Peau d’ange, Chantilly, Alençon lace and many-many other lace types exist there. Unfortunately, there are no certain rules for every exact lace because everything depends on the tread type, the background and overall quality, but there are some common guides for pattern choice, fabric preparation and sewing techniques for all laces.

I bought the pansies-strewn fabric impulsively without a clear idea, just because I liked it. It puzzled me because I hadn't worked with lace before. But I knew I would deal with questions with time – I would flip through book pages or search on the Internet. The truth is that the articles I found were not so informative. Therefore, here I write my notes and reflections.

When the praparation with all the materials, a place and a right pose for my future dress form was done, we were ready to get to the point. Finally, we started making a plaster mold. We did the best we could, but still the story happened to have an unexpected twist.

One year and five months I’ve spent deciding which tailor’s dummy to buy. The discrepancy between the desired and affordable option drove me into a week of melancholy. In late February, I finally determined that both options I had wouldn’t work. But I have a new idea: if the dummy that looks like me is not sold in stores, I’ll make it myself.

Curious faces peer over my shoulder and ask what I am sewing: a silk robe or a negligee. I hear this question for the hundredth time. So I breathe out quietly in a meditative manner and with a mysterious smile, I answer that I’m sewing neither one nor the other. After all, I know that in a dozen stitches I will finish the bohemian kimono, which I have wanted for many years.

Imagination takes you to distant cities, introduces to people from other continents and dresses you up in clothes that you have never worn before. If building a new city is problematic, and it is sometimes impossible to find strangers from the dream, sewing a dress is easy. The main thing is to correctly translate the thought from the head to the fabric.

In the previous post I wrote about the difference between interfacing and interlining. There I described the fabrics and techniques I used to give this coat shape and support. And now my hands are burning, because it's time to draw a pattern for the inner structure, the Interfacing Packet.

As soon as snow covers the streets, I start to feel an uncontrollable desire to warm myself with at least one new sweater. And every time, as soon as it becomes cold and dark, I start ordering yarn. This year, the yarn did not help. A spontaneous trip to a fabric store for just to have a look ended up with me happily wrapped in a new shaggy piece of eco fur. After a month and a half, it will turn into a fur coat, which will make passers-by turn around.

This is the final and the shortest part of my yet longest trilogy. If you’ve just joined, feel free to start with Part 1, which tells about inspiration and preparatory process, and Part 2 – there you can read about patterns and samples. And here I write some cutting tips down and ponder about sewing. And as I promised, there is the final summary of this long story, which I sincerely hope you read.

Creating a garment is a long way and I hope this trilogy of posts can guide you. So, if you’ve just joined the reading, please, visit the first part page. It tells about inspiration, ideas, ways of getting a pattern and measurements. In this post I'm writing about patternmaking and samples. Please, enjoy.

For the first half of my sewing life, I was using ready-made patterns. Unexpectedly, the choice that the magazines provided was not enough. This was the beginning of a new era. At that moment, I was left alone with my knowledge, skills and a million doubts. There was nothing that could help. And after a while and dozens of dresses and skirts, there appeared a scheme, which I wish I had at the beginning of my work.

Here I write about the difficulties of creative search, ponder about creative process and show a week's tailoring, which dragged on for a couple of months and ended with me pacing the Paris pavement and smiling happily to the sunset.

“Stripes are always in fashion, but now especially aggressive ones. Horizontal and vertical at the same time, wide and narrow in super-bright colours. Wrote the Vogue magazine on top of the vivid photos from the shows of Fendi, Miu Miu, Proenza Schouler in an article about the fashion trends of the upcoming 2017 year.”