The back of Isabelle’s dress…. – I Dream of Jeanne Marie

A few days ago my blog post featured Isabelle, my sweet 13″ Dianna Effner Little Darling doll wearing a pretty old fashioned dress. I was discussing how I try to make the inside of my dresses look as neat as the outsides. If you missed it, HERE is that post. Jan asked a question about the back of the dress and how I finished it off. I’m assuming she was talking about how I finish it off at the waist, but I’ll show the whole back just to be sure. I thought I better get that answered before I forgot.

Before adding your skirt to the bodice, make sure the bodice backs are the same length. Place the back neckline finished edges together and hold them with your fingers. Line up the finished back edges and see if the unfinished bottoms are the same length. If one happens to be longer than the other, trim it so it matches the other side. Otherwise when you add your skirt, the gathers will be higher or lower on one side.

When they are even, gather up your skirt and stitch it on, having the bodice on the bottom and the gathered skirt wrong side up, leaving about an inch or so to turn under and make a nice facing for the skirt back. Make sure to use the same stitch width when stitching it on, so it will come out even from one back bodice to the other one. Then make sure the waist line seam edges are turned under and not sticking out.

They are stitched down securely with handstitching.

I stitch my button on first and then while I have my thread on the underside, I add my snap, sewing it on securely. Whenever I make a
dress that has a belt, I usually don’t add the button at the waist… it just adds bulk.

The middle button is sewn on without a snap underneath. The dress bodice fits fine and there is no pull on it, so a middle snap is not needed.

I add the second snap just above the waistline seam and stitch it on securely too.
Make sure when you are hemming the dress that you line up your hem evenly. Put the dress on your doll and use a pin to mark where it needs to be turned up to be even with the other side.