This is perhaps the trickiest part of the entire dress–the shoulder yoke. Believe me: the first time I made this dress I sat around scratching my head for a bit until I figured it out and it’s been a breeze to do every time I’ve made the dress since! I took step-by-step photos of this part of the construction, so hopefully that will help anyone having a problem with this (or if you’re like me and tend to understand things better through images than words!). It’s super easy–promise!
Follow step 1 and 2 for sewing the back dart and attaching the facing. Note with the facing I stitch to within the seam allowance at either edge (in this case, it’s 3/4″ for my muslin).
Clip the back bodice only to the seam allowance where the neckline stitching ends (at either end). This will allow you to turn the bodice shoulder yoke edge under smoothly.
Sew two rows of gathering stitches along the upper edge of the front bodice, between the notches as indicated on the pattern.
Press under the seam allowance along the shoulder yoke edge and short neckline edge to the clipped seam.
The next step is optional, but I find helpful! Use a pin to indicate where the notches are on the shoulder yoke at either end.
Pin the shoulder yoke to the front bodice. The neckline facing will extend towards the back neckline facing, but do not pin this edge. Pin down the short vertical, folded-under edge of the neckline yoke starting where the stitching for the back neckline/neckline facing stops (green pin). Continue pinning the longer, folded-under horizontal edge of the shoulder yoke to where the gathering stitches begin using the pins to match up with the notches on the bodice front.
Gather the bodice front to fit and continue pinning to the armhole edge, matching notch and seams.
Begin topstitching the shoulder. I find it easiest to start with the longer (horizontal) edge. Pivot at the corner and continue up the short edge to the point where the back neckline/neckline facing stitching stops. Backtack or tie ends off on the inside.
This is what your piece should look like (above).
On the inside, pin together the front bodice facing extension and the back neckline facing pieces along their short edges, matching notches.
Stitch these pieces together. Clip along the seam allowance of the back neckline and facing seam to allow the facing to easily turn to the inside and lie flat.
Fold the front facing extension to the wrong side, along the dots indicated on the pattern. Press well. Repeat for the other front bodice piece.
It looks kind of complicated, but as I said: once you do it, you’ll get it! This is an advantage to doing a muslin as well–you get to practice any construction techniques that are potentially troublesome! As usual, please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to get back to you!
Let’s work on our muslins this week through the weekend, shall we? I’m planning on posting some pictures and a short critique of my muslin towards the end of the week and will be checking the Flickr group daily. Can’t wait to see your muslins and variation ideas!!!
Ugh, even after reading your very clear tutorial, I still don’t “get” it. I’ll concentrate on other projects for the coming weeks and come back to the swing dress after I let it sink a bit. For now this neckline is driving me crazy! LOL
Is there any particular part you’re having trouble with? I’d love to help make it a bit clearer if possible!
♥ Casey
Oh nothing in particular. I’d say the whole thing. Edges don’t seem to match (I see somebody posted a comment about that below as well), and I just think it’s a very strange way of constructing
Might just be me…
I tried to cheat and not use the back facing the first time… that was a bad idea. This makes it really clear what is going on!
Have finally pieced together my PDF pattern so on to tracing and adapting today. With any luck I’ll be able to start on my muslin later this week. Think I understand how to do the shoulder now. I had a quick look through the instrcutions when I got the pattern and found myself going crosseyed trying to figure out what was to go where. I hate not fully understanding something. Right, off to start tracing…
Casey,
I going to try this, I got close but was sewing the facings first together and they would not flip into place without looking bad, I also didn’t clip right on the edge like you did. I think I must have read the directions wrong or miss something because I thought it was the facings first( directions number 3). I thought about sewing it out of what I though was the “right” order but as a newbie didn’t trust my instinct on that one. I also noticed the seam allowances were a bit big, so things weren’t lining up. Thank you, I am visual so the pictures I think will help.
I think perhaps the directions do indicate to construct the facings in that order, but I find that it’s easier to do those last. (I’d have to double check though on that–I haven’t looked at the directions for this step in awhile!
) So glad that this helped!
♥ Casey
Thank you for posting this tutorial. I helped tremendously!
It took me several attempts to wrap my head around this step, but I think I finally got it. Question though- Do the sizes run really large? I put the bodice together, but seem to be swimming in it. I think I’m going to need to take mine apart and take it down a size or two.
I haven’t found that the sizing runs large–I usually make a 12 and that fits fine (though I do make adjustments to the bodice for my small bustline). I’d agree that if you’re finding it’s too large to go down a size or so–hopefully that’ll take care of the problem!
♥ Casey
I saw the same instruction as Gina, so I was trying to sew the facings together first. The instructions are very confusing, I even looked on the S&S site for their picture directions and was still lost. Plus the illustrations don’t show or describe wrong/right sides very well.
However sewing the shoulder together first makes more sense and your pictures help. I’ll try this tonight. Thanks Casey!
Hey Casey!
One question – should the edges of the back facing and the front bodice facing extension be matched up when we match notches and sew them together? I feel like mine look a bit off, but maybe this is how the pieces look before everything is sewn together. Other than that, your instructions have totally cleared my confusion. Thanks so much for the helpful post!
I do match the edges up when I sew them together. They don’t look like they should, but they do and when you flip the facing to the inside it works. Mine look slightly off in the photos because I had adjusted the seam allowances to 3/4″ wide but hadn’t added the extra to the front facing extension (so the back neckline facing is a teeny bit wide). So glad this was helpful!
♥ Casey
Thank you so much Casey! You have just made my life so much easier
and now I can get back to doing what I love – sewing! – instead of sitting around scratching my head.
Thank you thank you thank you!
I’m a bit behind due to a bad cold, but I plan to cut out the mock-up tomorrow. I look forward to it!
No worries! I’m still going a bit slower on this than I had anticipated as well, so we’re definitely taking this at a slower pace.
♥ Casey
You make it look so easy! I was too afraid to sew along, but I’m learning a lot by reading.
Hi, Casey.
I’m new to your blog (and to blogs in general) and am just beginning to learn to sew. However, I love the S&S swing dress (as well as some of the others offered there), so I bought the pattern in anticipation of making it.
Though I am not participating in your sew along, I am following the posts and printing them to put with my pattern for when I’m ready. Your instructions have been giving me a little more confidence that I can do this. Thank you very much.
-Sheri
This is scaring me a bit! I’m not at muslin stage yet. Still trying to decide what size to trace off and cut. My stats are 40″, 35″, 40″. My sizes plot all over the chart and normally if I cut for my bust size the upper chest and shoulders run huge. So ideally I’d cut for a 38″ bust and add in with a FBA but then I’d be transitioning 2.5 sizes up for the waist and 2.5 sizes back down again for the hips. So I’m still wrapping my head round that at the moment!
Px
I would highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of “Fit for Real People”, as I believe they go over how to approach a similar situation of ranging all over the charts for pattern sizes. Most public library systems seem to have a copy and it’s well worth a look!
♥ Casey
Thanks so much for posting this. It is so much clearer than the instructions. I’m hoping to tackle this tomorrow.
Oh, I just noticed that you changed your banner picture – looks good.
I think I may have spoken too soon! You steps make the whole process clearer Casey and I do understand what it is I’m supposed to be sewing, but for some reason my pattern pieces just don’t seem the line up the way yours do
I really can’t work out what’s going wrong, it’s so frustrating!
Very helpful – thanks so much. Sewing the facings together last , as you suggest, was the trick. Mine still doesn’t line up exactly but I’m guessing it’s more my inaccurate cutting than anything else. I’ll be more diligent when cutting the fashion fabric.
I’m behind because I have three exams at the university this week, but I can’t wait to get working on the muslin on saturday.
Thank you so much for the tutorial, I bought the digital pattern and the istructions on the site left me quite confused!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who looked at the shoulder directions and said “huh?wha?”
People who are having trouble with the dress running big might want to check their length measurements, too (back waist, shoulder to waist, that sort of thing). I had to seriously shorten this pattern through the bodice to get it to fit, rather than adjust the horizontal measurements so much. Also, fuller-busted girls with smaller shoulders might try using their top bust measurement rather than the full bust measurement when selecting a size. Every time I cut a ten, it fits my bust but is too wide in the shoulders and neckline. Cutting to an eight (my high bust size) and adding a little extra space to the full bust area makes it fit much better. I’m not really that busty, but the the contrast with a small ribcage means I have to use some of those adjustments.
Thanks so much for the tip about the dress running big–I really appreciate your insight!
♥ Casey
My back facing edge and front facing edge also do not match up at all. I’m at a loss… will keep trying to figure this out though…
OK, I have sewn the shoulder, unpicked, sewn, unpicked and sewn again, and I’ve had my eureka moment. I haven’t been accurate about keeping my seam allowances the same so because this shoulder seam essentially meets at three points I was left with a gap on one side and too much material on the other. This was eventually rectified by pinning the shoulder accurately (knowing in advance each seam which would have to be sewn in. This is why doing this over and over helps you get your head around how to put the pieces together. I nearly threw the towel in completely but am glad that I didn’t, as although my muslin isn’t as neat as Casey’s I can now say, “It’s not bad”. To all those frustrated with this part, try it a few times on your muslin and it might all come together for you.
Remember, in the words of Thomas Edison, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ”
Good luck!
I’ve put the whole muslin together except for the shoulders. My pieces just aren’t matching up correctly- when I fold the back facing under, I also have to fold under a big chunk of the center front (beyond the front facing) to get it all to match. I’m wondering if this is a problem of the printed vs. e-pattern? I haven’t gone back to my original pattern pieces to check on what’s going wrong. Hopefully the answer lies there!
It worked very well indeed! Thank you, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been this easy without your instructions!