Make Your Own Little Black Dress with Confidence
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Make Your Own Little Black Dress with Confidence
Understand patterns, sizing, fitting tips, cutting out, interfacing, plus darts, lining, zips, buttonholes and finishing hems in ‘Make Your Own Little Black Dress with Confidence’ with Wendy Gardiner.
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About
In this Masterclass Series you will learn how to sew your own dress with confidence with the help of expert tips from Wendy Gardiner. You will learn to understand patterns, sizing, fitting tips, cutting out, interfacing, plus darts, lining, zips, buttonholes and finishing hems.
The series is suitable for all abilities and is split up into 10 bitesize sessions, meaning you can navigate and watch specific sections again at ease.
Series Key Learnings:
- Understanding Paper Patterns
- Size Wise
- Fitting Tips
- Cutting out with Confidence
- Interfacing & Stay Stitching
- Dare to Dart
- Add a lining
- Inserting an Invisible Stitch
- Buttonholes
- Hemming Ways
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Session Overview
Session 1: Understanding Paper Patterns
Session 1: Understanding Paper Patterns
Learn to ‘read’ a pattern – you’ll be amazed by the amount of information and help this little pack of paper provides!
Materials & Preparation:
- Choose any pattern for your choice of LBD – suggestions include: McCall 7085, McCall 7719, Butterick 4343, Vogue Pattern 1422.
Session 2: Size Wise
Session 2: Size Wise
Getting garments to fit is often a problem experienced by dressmakers, often because pattern sizing is different from high street sizing. Wendy will take you through how to determine your pattern size for dresses and skirts or trousers.
Materials & Preparation:
- Tape Measure, note pad and pen and pattern envelope for chosen dress.
Session 3: Fitting Tips
Session 3: Fitting Tips
Many women find darts are not in the right place or that a garment ends up too big across the chest and shoulders. Wendy will cover Bust point adjustments and Full Bust Adjustment so that you can make a garment that fits you.
Materials & Preparation:
- Ruler, Sellotape, biro, spare paper pattern tissue. Dressmaking pins.
Session 4: Cutting out with Confidence
Session 4: Cutting out with Confidence
You’ve bought fabulous fabric and now you need to cut it! Do so with confidence as Wendy shows how to follow pattern layouts, what the pattern markings mean and then how to transfer markings to fabric for ease with construction.
Materials & Preparation:
- Chosen pattern, fabric, lining (if applicable), interfacing and notions as listed on the pattern.
- Good quality dressmaking shears, pins, tape measure, fabric marking pens (chalk pencil or Heat-away pen).
- Needle and thread (for tailor’s tacks).
Session 5: Interfacing & Stay Stitching
Session 5: Interfacing & Stay Stitching
Interfacing is needed to add support or strengthen areas where there will be buttons, for facings etc. Stay stitching helps prevent unwanted stretch at necklines and more. Wendy will provide interfacing tips to ensure your interfacing is properly attached and how and why stay stitching is important.
Materials & Preparation:
- Fusible interfacing as required on pattern, press cloth, steam iron and board.
- Sewing machine threaded with thread matching fabric.
- Sewing supplies (scissors, pins etc).
Session 6: Dare to Dart
Session 6: Dare to Dart
Darts are used to shape a garment, fitting it in all the right places. Dresses often have bust darts and double-ended darts in the bodice. Avoid poking points or ugly bumps by learning how to dart perfectly!
Materials & Preparation:
- Pattern pieces cut out and marks for darts transferred (lesson 4).
- Sewing machine with thread matching fabric.
- Small scissors.
Session 7: Add a Lining
Add a Lining
A lining is essential for a well fitted shift dress, so join Wendy for this session on how to attach the lining to a sleeveless dress in a super easy way and then under stitch it in place so it doesn’t creep out!
Materials & Preparation:
- Make sure that you have sewn darts in your main fabric and lining pieces and sewn shoulder seams only in each.
- Sewing machine set up.
Session 8: Inserting an Invisible Stitch
Session 8: Inserting an Invisible Stitch
Learn to attach an invisible zip with confidence. This is the best type of zip insertion as there is no stitching on the right side of the garment, all you see is the little zip pull! This step-by-step guide will convince you that this really is the best type of zip, and it can be added to any garment!
Materials & Preparation:
- Invisible (concealed) zip foot.
- Invisible zip to the length required (if pattern calls for a regular zip, buy an invisible zip that’s 2.5cm (1”) longer).
- Strips of fusible interfacing.
- Sewing machine set up.
Session 9: Buttonholes
Session 9: Buttonholes
Using today’s modern machines, buttonholes are a breeze, when you know how! Wendy will take you through the steps to use your buttonhole foot with confidence and make perfect buttonholes again and again.
Materials & Preparation:
- Buttons of choice (up to 2.5cm (1”) in diameter).
- Fabric sample
- Interfacing approx. 15cm (6”) square.
Session 10: Hemming Ways
Session 10: Hemming Ways
A look at four different hem choices so you can make the hem to suit your chosen dress style. We will look at curved hems, machine blind hem, rolled hem and a hem finished with bias binding.
Materials & Preparation:
- 4 remnants of fabric approx. 21cm long x 10m wide.
- For the rolled hem, use a lightweight fabric.
- For the curved hem, cut a curve into one piece.
- Strip of interfacing 2cm wide x 21cm long (for blind hem).
- Pack of narrow bias binding.
- Rolled Hem Foot, Blind Hem Foot.
Materials & Preparation
You can watch sessions 1 and 2 before deciding on which pattern you want. Once that is chosen, gather together the components needed for each session.
Materials You Will Need
Please note these materials are not included with purchase of this class, the following materials will need to be bought separately.
- Pattern.
- Fabric.
- Lining and Interfacing.
- Haberdashery.
- Sewing machine.
- Sewing kit.
- Iron.
- Press cloth.
- Good quality dressmaking shears.
Meet the Master: Wendy Gardiner
Wendy Gardiner is a writer, teacher and author, has been editor of several leading sewing magazines as well as having written 21 books including The Great British Sewing Bee from Stitch to Style, Fun with Fat Quarters, The Very Useful Guide to Using Your Sewing Machine most recently Take Two Fat Quarters Home and Take Two Fat Quarters Gifts. Wendy has also presented many DVDs on sewing and made several YouTube videos for leading haberdashery and pattern companies. She runs regular residential Creative Sewing Weekends, teaches a weekly class and writes articles for various magazines and her own website. Wendy organises the extensive workshop programmes for the Festival of Quilts and the Knitting & Stitching shows. She is also the Brand Ambassador for The Design Group UK, distributors of Butterick, McCall, Simplicity, New Look, Burda and Vogue Patterns. Wendy has a strong reputation and indeed fan base because of her enthusiastic and friendly approach to sharing her passion for dressmaking and machine sewing.
Find out more about Wendy Gardiner:
Website: wendygardiner.co.uk
Facebook: Wendy Gardiner
Twitter: @WendyGSews
Instagram: @WendyGardinerSews
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Frequently Asked Questions
About Immediate Live
Immediate Live is the UK’s leading organiser of unmissable consumer events. We create premium, passion-led events and experiences that connect and inspire audiences as they come together to share, learn and participate in their interests.
Our specialist content creators, producers and commercial teams are as passionate about their subjects as our audiences – working together to create live experiences and online content in art and design, textiles and craft, cycling, dance, food, gardening and travel for communities throughout the UK and across the world.
Immediate Live Academy is here to guide to you to upskill across various core categories: Dance, Business, History, Music, Writing, Art & Design, Cycling, Lifestyle, Travel and Craft.
The aim: to enable you to develop and enhance your personal passions and specialist interests in an educational and entertaining way.
Immediate Live Academy includes a variety of skills-focused digital events. We offer live classes, enabling you to speak directly to the tutor and those learning with you. You can also join our on-demand classes, which provide an in-depth learning experience for you to digest at your own rhythm. The content of each live or on-demand class varies, offering learning opportunities across an array of personal passions, view our categories to discover the areas you can learn with Immediate Live Academy.
Once you have purchased your class, you will be sent a confirmation email including the details of your purchase. For both our live and on-demand classes, you will be able to access the sessions through your account. Click ‘Login’ in the top right-hand corner of the Immediate Live website, once you have logged-in, visit ‘My Account’. You will be able to see the classes you have purchased under the ‘My Content’ tab. From here you can view your class.
About the Masterclasses
Our classes vary in length, with some being one-session specials and others series. You can find out the length of any class by viewing its details on the Immediate Live Academy website.
For our on-demand classes, you can get a feel for the style of the class, its key learnings and who the tutor is by watching the trailer for the session(s) before purchasing.
All of our on-demand content is provided with optional subtitles in English (GB).
To turn these on, click the CC button at the bottom of the video you are watching and switch to ‘on’.
If you have any feedback or questions about our subtitles please contact us on [email protected]
For both our on-demand and live classes, you will be able to access the sessions through your account. Click ‘Login’ in the top right-hand corner of the Immediate Live Academy website, once you have logged-in, visit ‘My Account’. You will be able to see the classes you have purchased under the ‘My Content’ tab. From here you can view your class.
There is no limit to how many classes you can enjoy!
During our live classes you will be able to interact with our tutors using the chat function.
If you have purchased an on-demand class, we will keep in touch to let you know when the next of our live tutor sessions are taking place. These live sessions are your opportunity to speak directly to the tutor. We run regular live sessions for our premium masterclasses: Understanding and Using Colour, Observe and Stitch: Landscapes and A Complete Guide to Patchwork and Quilting.
Accessing Masterclasses
On purchasing your class you will have unlimited access* to enjoy it!
You can revisit classes you have already seen by logging-in to your account. You will be able to see the classes you have purchased under the ‘My Content’ tab. From here you can view your class.
If you would like to check when you purchased the class you can do so by going to ‘My Account’ and looking under the ‘Order History’ tab.
*Immediate Live Academy reserves the right to provide customers 60 days notice of the removal of any content from its website.
No! You can complete our on-demand classes at your own pace and even revisit sessions after viewing them. You have unlimited access* to the class content.
*Immediate Live Academy reserves the right to provide customers 60 days notice of the removal of any content from its website.
Buying a course in the sale does not affect your access to it, you will still have unlimited access* to the content.
*Immediate Live Academy reserves the right to provide customers 60 days notice of the removal of any content from its website.
For our live classes you will need to be online for its start time, as stated on our website.
For our on-demand classes you can login and enjoy the sessions any time, to suit your own schedule.
Unlimited access to our classes means you are able to login to your account and revisit previously viewed content for 10 years (3650 days) from the date of purchase.
Immediate Live Academy reserves the right to provide customers 60 days notice of the removal of any content from its website.
Technical Questions
You can use any browser to access our website. For optimal user experience we recommend using Google Chrome or Safari.
Unfortunately not, our classes are only available to view through the Immediate Live Academy platform.
Yes, after you have purchased your class you will be able to download any supporting documents you need on the class page ahead of taking part in the session.
Please check the ‘Order History’ tab in ‘My Account’ to ensure that your order been successful. If it has, your Masterclass will appear under the ‘My Content’ of ‘My Account’.
If you continue to have issues, please contact us at [email protected]
You can generate a new password for your account by clicking ‘Lost your password?’ in the login area. The new password will be sent to your registered email address.
To see your previous orders, login to ‘My Account’ and view the ‘Order History’ tab. Here you will be able to see all of your successful orders. If you cannot see a course here, the order may have been unsuccessful and you should try to repurchase or contact your payment provider for support.
Payment Questions
To pay for a class, you will need to click ‘Buy Now’ to add the class to your basket and click ‘Proceed to Checkout’. You will then need to login or create an account on Immediate Live Academy’s website, which will create your own portal to view all of your content. Here, you can purchase your class by inputting your card details.
We currently accept payment by Credit Card, Mastercard and Visa.
Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds on purchased live or on-demand classes.
We’re sorry to hear that you can’t complete your payment. In the first instance we ask that you check with your payment provider to understand whether the payment has gone through and to check your order history in ‘My Account’. If there is still an issue and your payment cannot be completed, please contact us at: [email protected]
The content within each class varies. You can find out more about what’s included in the ‘About’ & ‘Session Overview’ tabs on the webpage of each class.
Using the Website
Liking a class saves it to your ‘Wishlist’ for 30 days. You must be logged in to save a Wishlist, and you can find this in ‘My Account’. Once you have saved a product to your Wishlist you are able to come back and purchase the class at a later date (within 30 days).
You can use the search function by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the website and typing in a key word, phrase or presenter name. You can also browse and search classes by category, using the options in the top left-hand corner of the site, and use our filtering options.
To refine your search, click on the filter icon to see all filter options. Select the fields you would like to filter by and click ‘Apply Filter’.
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