I’m trying to finish up these lessons so you can get going on those dresses!  :)  We’re almost done here; this post will go over the sleeves (included felled seams), sleeve hems and the neckline.  You could probably finish up this dress at the end of this post by simply stitching up a regular hem and forgoing the elasticized waist.  (You’d end up with a dress like this one.)   I really love this vintage minty green gingham although it was suggested to me that this looks a bit like a hospital gown.    Do you think so?  Maybe a hospital gown in an old-timey dream; a wayward girl spending her youth in an asylum.  In the South.  Somewhere haunting and romantic.  See, if I make a story out of it, the hospital gown idea seems kind of neat, yes?

Anyway, we left off with the side seams, made the fancy French way. Now, locate the last page of your pattern (Built by Wendy #3835) where it says Top C.  Follow step 1: stay stitching can help a curved seam like a neckline from stretching.  After you do that, skip down to step 3 and sew up the sleeves.  Remember to create French seams for the sleeve seams.  Press seams towards front of sleeve (Indicated with small/single notch).  Before you turn up the sleeve hem/casing, clip a little of the seam to reduce bulk:

When sewing the casing for the elastic (at the hem) leave the opening underneath the armhole, towards the back of the sleeve.  (The back is marked with the larger, or double, notch.)  This is where you’ll feed in your elastic.

Sew the sleeves to the dress as directed.  Since you pressed your sleeve seam towards the front and your side seam towards the back, your underarm won’t have a big lump in it from the side seams on top of each other.  Instead, they are next to each other, pressed in opposite directions:

You may pink the armhole seam allowances, serge them or sew a zigzag stitch close to the edge.  OR, and this is what I did, create flat-felled seams.  These are relatively easy to do although can be a little tricky around curves (like under the arm for example).  But let’s just try it anyway; they are neat and clean especially if you don’t have a serger. (You almost always see these seams on dress shirts.)

First press the seams.  Then trim the body’s seam allowances (not the sleeves’!) to 1/4.”

Starting with one sleeve, fold the wider, sleeve seam allowance over the smaller seam allowance towards the body (and therefore, away from the sleeve); pin.  I like to pin this type of seam parallel to the seam line.  It seems to be more secure this way.  (A quick note about pinning: it’s up for debate but I almost never sew over my pins, even when I pin perpendicular to the stitch line.  [Naturally I could not sew over the pins as they are shown in the photo!]  It’s much too likely to break a needle, dent a pin or worse, somehow damage your sewing machine.)

When you are folding and pinning under the arm you might be faced with some resistance because of the curve.  What I like to do, and perhaps I’m cheating a little, is clip the wider seam’s edge just a tiny bit in a few places along the curve, maybe 1/8.”  This would allow the seam allowance to stretch a little.  Just make sure to fold under the seam sufficiently enough so none of the raw edge sticks out.  When you are done with both sleeves, press.

This is what the inside of your flat-felled seam looks like:

And this is the outside:

Follow the rest of the instructions for Top C as written except for the last step (which is the hem).

Some notes about the last part of the directions:

• Clip the back’s center seam like you did for the sleeves (2nd photo from the top) before you turn under the neck casing.
• Put the elastic in the neckline before putting it in the sleeves - that way you can try on the dress and make sure it’s right before finishing up the sleeves.
• Leave the neckline casing opening at or near the back seam.
• Attach a safety pin to the end of your elastic to help you guide it through the casing.
• Make sure you don’t twist the elastic before you sew the ends together!
• After you’ve added the elastic to the neckline and sewed up the opening, stretch the neckline and evenly distribute the fabric.  Actually, I like to concentrate the fabric more in the sleeve area so the front is relatively flat.  Optional:  if you are feeling fancy, backstitch at each sleeve seam along the neckline to secure the elastic in place.
• Make sure your sleeve hems are not too tight!

We’ll finish up the dress in the next sewing lesson post: adding elastic to the waistline and adding the ruffle to the hem.  If you have any questions about this post, please leave a comment!  Thanks!