Tuesday 4 July 2017

2017 Flags of the World Dress Project:)/McCalls 6886 Pattern Hack Challenge

"May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!"

-Psalm 72:8






   Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!! Some lovely sewing Vloggers decided to host a "Flags of the world dress project" this year! You could pick your own countries flag, or choose whichever flag you wanted! I've made a Canada Day dress before, so I thought it would be fun to do an American flag theme this year! I am so excited about this project!! I actually joined Instagram so I could participate, lol:) Lots of modelling pics, then some progress photos at the bottom!:)

These ladies all co-hosted this challenge! 
(Renata) Running N Style https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfU4...
Akram's Ideas https://goo.gl/NeiGkO
Judith Dee's World https://goo.gl/sEKTiJ
(Bianca) Vintage On Tap https://goo.gl/22JrCC
















   The fabrics are all french terry from Fabricville. Stars are also french terry.




    I figured the easiest way for me to go about this was sewing strips of red & white together first, then cutting the top and bottoms separately.

I used a rotary cutter (fresh blade makes such a difference!). Making marks along the sides and taping the pattern pieces to both fabric and pattern was a big help.

  I used a 1" wide strip cut 15% less the neckline circumference (half red, half navy blue), butted the ends together and used steam a seam on the back (thin white knit underneath) to reduce bulk). Sewn like a typical facing. I topstitched with a double-needle. I used thread to match the different shades of the neckline. I kept the same navy bobbin thread.


  For the stars, I used Heat n Bond "Stretch". Quite a new product, there wasn't much online that I could find! I cut a loose-leaf size sheet of heat n bond to a piece of paper to put through the printer (maybe it wasn't necessary but I didn't want to take any chances:).  Not sure if this was the best way to add stars (similar star fabric was none to be found in store). I hope they hold up for a while:D

My husband Dan, was a big help in laying out the stars! <3 He always takes my blog photos too:)


    I tried to be as accurate as possible in cutting & matched the sides as best I could. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!:) I used the same pattern pieces, flipped, for the navy blue fabric.








Well, thats it for today!!:) I hope all my American friends have a wonderful Independence Day!

God Bless America! :) <3

9 comments:

  1. I'll speak for a lot of Americans who feel that Canadians are a friendly crew and say that you did our flag a beautiful justice here! The stripe matching looks great, and the stars turned out so crisp against the blue. I'll have to try the Heat and Bond stretch--I have a roll of the classic Heat and Bond. It's great for appliques in general, but on knits, the backing can leave a stiff, kind of papery feel. I wonder how the stretch version compares.

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    1. Aw, thank you so much Elizabeth! That means a lot:) Seems ok and stretches with the fabric. I'm a little concerned that the sharp corners will start to look a little ratty in time:/ Star printed fabric would have been ideal, but its hard to come by here in Canada, lol. The only example I could find of someone using this product, the person also topstitched (even though the label says so sewing required). I think its definitely worth purchasing some to try!:) I was able to cut a 3/4 metre piece for about $5. I imagine it would be even cheaper in the U.S. I hope you have a fantastic day! xo

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  2. Your dress turned out so beautiful and looks great on you. You really did justice to the American flag. Happy 4th!

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  3. Great work! This dress looks fabulous.

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  4. Thanks so much Josephine:)

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