Wearables Bustle-back Lolita dress for SD

I've been going through my fabric stash to see what I have that's suitable for dolls and one of the fabrics I found is a pretty Liberty print cotton. Unfortunately, I only have a single fat quarter! I keep a stash of plain fat quarters and I had a colour that matched well, but it was still going to be a challenge to make something within these limitations. I went through a few design ideas and settled on an A-line bustle-back dress with a ruffled underskirt.

I largely took inspiration from some designs I've seen from the lolita brand Mary Magdalene

The pattern is Frankensteined from one of the BTSSB dresses in Dollybird 8 and a GothLoli pattern in Doll Fashion Book Vol.1, and I referenced the shapes of a few designs in Otome no Sewing.

And this is the final pattern

I've so far cut the main pattern pieces except the facings as I'll use a plain fabric for those, and I've cut strips for ruffles from the purple cotton. I started working on the waistties last night as I didn't need to get the overlocker out for those. My next step is to overlock the seam allowances that need it and do rolled hems for the ruffles, although I need to get some purple overlocker thread first.

 

Thank you!

I already sew a lot of lolita dresses for myself so I'm very familiar with the construction, although I don't think I've ever done an A-line silhouette with princess seams before

 

The first thing I did last night was top-stitch the wasitties and overlock the edges on the sleeves, before turning them over to make elastic channels. It turns out I made the channels too narrow for 6mm elastic, but I luckily had some 3mm on hand. I threaded a piece of embroidery floss on the end of the elastic then pulled it through the channels with a large, blunt needle, then secured the ends of the elastic in place with a few small stitches.

I stitched the centre and side panels together to create the princess seam over the bust and stitched the waistties to the side panel. I then set up my overlocker for a three thread stitch as it's narrower than four and overlocked the edges on the back and side panels. The bust seams then got thoroughly pressed toward the centre so that they hold the curve nicely.


At this point it was 3AM so I headed to bed! The next step is to attach the sleeve to the front and back and then stitch the side seam. It's incredible how much faster I am at making doll clothes than human sized ones!

 

I really didn't want to mess up the pattern when I had so little fabric!

Thank you!


Last night I started with basting the sleeves to the front panels and stitching them on. I then did the same with the back panels.

I had a hard time overlocking these seams because the elastic didn't want to go under my presser foot, but eventually I got it looking okay.

Next I cut the facings from a piece of fabric in my stash, which in a previous life was a circle skirt mockup from the one time I did cosplay! I marked the seam lines and overlocked the edges that needed it.

Once stitched on, I pressed the facings inwards and tacked them down to be topstitched later.

The next step is closing up the side seams. I made a start on this last night but the elastic channels were too bulky to cleanly go under the presser foot. I decided this was a good point to stop and go to bed before I started making mistakes. I think I may need to hand sew the underarm seams to get them nice and clean.

 

It's been a few days since I got a chance to sit down and sew (alas, other things must take priority) but I returned to this project last night. As per my last post, I hand-stitched the underarm seam and then did the rest of the side seam by machine. After pressing the seams open, I could get to the hem facing. I made sure to line up the marked points with the seams and stitched along the hem.

Where the stitching crosses another seam, I cut away the excess seam allowance to reduce bulk.

I then had to turn the facing inward, which is tricky to get clean with such an extreme curve. Lots of basting and pressing here! Unfortunately at this point, I used a spray bottle to help with pressing and accidently got my ironing board too wet, which leached some kind of stain onto the dress! It didn't look too bad, so I decided I'd topstitch the facings and then soak it in a stain-remover bath.
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This morning I washed the dress and left it drying while I got other housework done. It was still slightly damp when I came back to it, so I dried it fully with my iron.

The next step is to clean up a few loose threads and then I can get working on the hem ruffle!

 

Thank you!
For the ruffle I have stitched three widths of the fat quarter together into a long strip. I ran both edges though my overlocker with a rolled hem stitch.

I finished the ends by turning them over 5mm twice and topstitching them. To find the centre line, I folded the strip in half and used the iron to press a crease along the length.

Before doing two rows of gathering stitches I made sure to mark the middle of the strip so I can line it up with the middle of the skirt and get a symmetrical ruffle. I marked 1cm from the hem of the skirt so I know where to place the edge of the ruffle and pinned the centre. I then pulled up the gathering threads from each end and roughly pinned the ruffle down. I still need to fiddle with it to get the gathers nice and even then I'll stitch down the middle between the two threads. Then I just need to add some snaps at the back and the overdress will be done!

For the underskirt, I need to get some overlocker thread in the correct colour to do the rolled hems on the ruffle tiers. My sister works just around the corner from a really good haberdashery so I need to be really nice to her and ask her to pick some up for me.

 

The overdress is done!


The waistties at the back hide where the ruffles collide a bit so I'm glad I thought to add those to the design. If I was making this again, I'd make the seam allowance on the back a bit wider because I was trying to fit 6mm snaps on 5mm of allowance. The bump at the waist on the front is from her petticoat and I'm hoping that the underskirt will help smooth that line a bit. Speaking of the underskirt...

My thread arrived today and it's a really good colour match given I ordered it over the internet (too much hassle for my sister to get to the haberdashery in opening hours) Now to thread up the overlocker and get working on all those frills!

 

Wow, over a week since my last update? I had a very busy weekend and my birthday in the meantime, but I'm back with more!

First, I seamed all the strips together and pinked the edges before running the whole thing twice through the overlocker for the rolled hems. I then cut this long piece into the appropriate lengths for each tier of ruffles. The lowest two ruffles are a loop while the upper three are overlocked at the ends to neaten. I then did two rows of gathering stitches on each ruffle.

I used all the nice fabric on the ruffles, so the base of the underskirt is a slightly coarser fabric in a similar colour. I cut two pieces, marked the seamlines, and overlocked the edges. I then seamed the two together while leaving a slit on one seam at the top.

I topstitched around this slit to reinforce it.

I thread-marked the seamlines, although I later changed this to mark where the upper edges of the ruffles need to align.

Now for the tedious bit: gathering all those ruffles! For the lower two ruffles I pinned it at each quarter to make sure I was gathering it evenly, and at the halfway point for the upper three.



Each subsequent ruffle was less bad than the last as there was less to gather down. I remove the gathering stitches after I have stitched the ruffle, although for the top tier I kept it on until after I stitched the waistband on to keep everything neat.

The waistband is 1cm longer on one side to create an overlap. I basted down and pressed the inner seam allowance to make stitching it later easier. I then folded it in half the wrong way and stitched the ends, then flipped it so those seams would be on the inside.

I then basted the seam before stitching the waistband to the skirt. This is easier than using pins on such a fiddly bit.

Before I slip-stitched the inner seam, I trimmed down some of the bulk. This was mostly the excess of the ruffle and also a bit of seam allowance. To get a really clean finish, I handstitched the seam along the fold I'd previously made to the line of stitches made by the other seam.

Finally, I added snaps and the underskirt is done!

 

I'm really happy with the final outcome of this dress. She need some accessories next, and I'm thinking a necklace of pearl beads and a headdress with flowers made from ribbons.
Bonus, Maddie having a crisis while I dressed her:

 

Small update time. I was over at my local fabric shop the other week and found some little ribbon roses, perfect to put on a headdress. I only had scraps of fabric left, but somehow I made it work.


I found some iridescent beads in my stash and made a tiny necklace too, although I think I'll need to get some smaller jewellery findings for future projects

 

Thank You!

Good news! Mary Magdalene is coming back! They've done a few rounds of preorders for accessories and hopefully they'll be back to releasing dresses soon. They have a mailing list now too.

 

[QUOTE="Did you find it challenging to learn to set up and use your overlocker? I've been thinking about getting one lately.[/QUOTE]
I originally learned to use an industrial overlocker in the fashion studio at my college, so I already had a bit of experience when I got one as a 21st birthday gift from my grandparents. The first time I set it up, I think it took about an hour, but it only takes me a few minutes now. My model has a colour-coded diagram for how to thread it on the inside of the lower threads panel. The hardest part of the set-up is balancing the tension and I always run a few scraps through first to make sure I'm happy with it. The hardest things to stitch with it are corners and sharp curves, and sometimes it's hard to get bulky seams under the presser foot. My machine also doesn't have a chute for the off-cuts, so I use a tupperware lid to catch all the bits, and as it's a tabletop model it sometimes bounces the table a bit if I run it too fast. I'd say the average home-sewist can get by without one, but it's nice for getting clean finishes quickly and the rolled hems are especially nice (I will never forget the summer I spent unsuccessfully fiddling with machine attachments and chiffon)