Beginner sewing: simple dress from rectangles and elastic, no pattern (Sew along, full tutorial!)

Summary

Grab some fabric and come make a dress with me — no pattern, just four rectangles, some elastic, and a whole lot of yapping. This is my first-ever full sew-along, start to finish: I wake up with an idea, sketch it out, take my measurements, cut the pieces, and sew the whole thing in real time — tangents, mistakes, and cat interruptions included. It's a genuinely beginner-friendly project, and if you've got fabric on hand you can absolutely make it right alongside me. Fair warning to my type-A friends: I do things my way, and my way is a little chaotic. But she turns out so cute.

What we get into:

• Designing a simple off-the-shoulder dress from just four rectangles plus pockets — no pattern required.
• How I take my measurements and turn them into cut dimensions, adding seam and hem allowance.
• Sewing the bodice, the skirt, in-seam pockets, sleeves, and an elastic waistband.
• A blind-hem foot walkthrough, plus a lot of honest real-time troubleshooting.
• Beginner-friendly and size-inclusive — as drafted it fits up to about a 60" bust and hips.

Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated from the video and lightly formatted into paragraphs. It still contains YouTube's [ __ ] profanity masking in a few spots.

Hi. Hello. I'm Sammy and today we are going to make a dress together. This video is a lot. I literally wake up with an idea. Whoops. And I just go for it. So, you will be with me for the whole journey. The first hour is just concepting, drawing it out, and cutting out the pieces. From there, we make a dress. And uh it's pretty cool. There's a lot of yapping. There's a lot of times you're going to want to fast forward. Totally cool. If you check below, I'll have chapters for everything. And you just click the ones and mosy right along. Um, it's a cute dress. I had fun making it. I have never in my life recorded the entire process in this way. It was awkward. I felt very vulnerable. You'll see me do things wrong a lot. If you have OCD, if you are a type A person, I am warning you this video is not for you. The way I do things is the way I do things. Then with that said, go forth, enjoy, make yourself a little dress. You deserve something nice. Life is hard. I love you. Thank you for being here. Enjoy the show, I guess.

Hi. Hello. An idea just popped into my brain. So, we're going to make a dress. I think it's going to be one, two, three, four, maybe four rectangles and some elastic. And I think it's going to be cute. Let's see if I can do this. You're coming with me. We're going to just go. I'm balanced. I'm balanced. All right. So, what I'm thinking is, okay, if I make — and I'm not inventing anything here. Okay, I've seen this done before, but I feel like I have like a different way to do it. So, I want to make it be like this cute little off the shoulder number that's like boop boop boop boop. And then um maybe it's fitted here. We're going to stay straight there. And then like just a floofy skirt. But I want to make it out of one, two, three, four rectangles. This is front and back of top, front, back, skirt, sleeve, sleeve.

And I think — will it be weird if the seam is down one side on the whole thing? No, I need two sides because I also I'm going to want pockets. I know that about me. So then I'll also need some of these. And then I guess we just snip there, snip there. So it needs to be two two. Um and then pockets. Pockets. Uh and like this would be shirt maybe because it's like elastic. Maybe we'll do two bands of elastic there. And then maybe do some fancy trim perhaps. Okay. So then how big do I need this to be? Can you see this? This is where we're at so far. Okay. So I need to measure. This is going to be me, hips, and leg and leg. Okay. And I want it to be knee length. And I need to figure out how big around this measurement is. And I'll need to know my waist for how small to make the elastic. And I'll need to know my hips to make sure that's wide enough.

Am I going to gather this or am I going to elasticize it? I think I'm going to elastic it so they can be the same width the whole way. Oh, I'll need to know shoulders, uh, pit to pit, hips, waist, torso length, and skirt length. I look weird without my eyeliner. There we go. Okay, so let's get some measurements. Hi, it's me again. Okay, so I need to know how big or round I am here. There's a knot in my tape measure. Are you kidding me with this? Okay. So, I'm going to measure around this full part of my shoulders starting with the number one. And it is 40. That's a little lopsided, isn't it? 39, 40. I guess I'll say 39. You need to be able to shrink to at least 39. And then pit to pit. Jeez. Well, okay. Pit to pit is half of your total bust. So, if mine is 34, half is 17, it's actually going to be 16 and a half because it was smaller than that.

My waist really doesn't matter right now. It'll matter later. Go ahead and get it. And the hips. Okay. The widest possible part. And we're going to sit. And when we sit, they're this number. And I'm going to want another couple inches for like coziness. So, we're going to say the hips need to be at least 42 in. Torso length is going to be — let's see if it sits here. So, from here to the natural waist is about 12 in. And then from my natural waist to where I want the skirt to hit, kind of letting it fall naturally, is 20 in. 12 in, 20 in. Okay. So I know now that I will need the skirt portion. Oh, okay. So, I've written down my measurements, and now I'm going to piece together how the fabric should go. Oh, I'll also need to know arm depth. I kind of forgot about that because I need to know how big to make the rectangles.

I actually kind of like the idea of making them this big and then cinching them in. But let's see if I need. We're going to go all the way around kind of loose. That's very tight. Want it to be — that feels good. It's nice and loose. 17 total all the way around. Okay. So, I need my pit to pit 16 and a half. But if I'm making all of the pieces — okay. This is what happens when we do it together. When we brainstorm together, you see a lot of mess. Welcome. Welcome to the mess. Okay. So, if I'm trying to make this as simple as possible — how do I get more of us in here together? Me and you. Okay, if I want it to be super simple, I want both rectangles to be the same width. Theoretically, I could do this with just one rectangle for the top and bottom, but I kind of feel like — if I do two pieces, I could gather it instead of using elastic, but then it won't. No, I need the elastic. I like my things to be stretchy. I like them to fit a variety of sizes.

So, if my hips need it to be at least 42, but I want it to be bunchy — so, I'm going to add let's say 10 in, maybe even 20. What if I did hips times 0? No. So like hips and a half. So if my hips for them to be cozy would be 42, I'll round down because I know I'm going way big. So we'll do 60 total width would be ideal for all the way around. So then it would be like 30 by 20 and then times two. So, I'm thinking, because I'm doing like essentially hips plus half of hips — if my hips are, and I know I'm going big and this is like the most cozy measurement, so I'm rounding down for simple math. So, instead of 42, I'm saying 40. And then 40 + 20, half of that gives you 60. So, if I make it where it's 60 in all the way around, it would fit up to a 60 inch waist / 60 in hips.

And then if I make the top the same way — well, some people are going to have a much longer torso length, because if you're very tall or very busty, it might be way longer. So, I guess I'll just make this one, 'cause I'm making it for me, and then we'll figure out how to adapt it for other people later. So, this one would need to be 12 in long and 60. So, 12 in by 30 in x 2. So, I'm just kind of drawing out these shapes now to give myself an idea of exactly what I'm going to cut. Okay. And if my arms are 17 inches around, so the tube needs to be a total of 17 in. So 17. And then how long do I want them? I didn't do that measurement. If it's sitting here and it comes down to here, six. Does that feel right? 17 by 6 in. And then I'll sew down the 6 in side. So we'll do two of those.

And then of course the pockets, which we just draw those. So it looks like material-wise I'll need — oh, I didn't add seam allowance. I didn't add flip allowance. All of that. So now I need to think about adding seam allowance and all. Okay. So where's the elastic going to go? Elastic will go in the top part of the skirt portion. And then I also have to think about the hem. Let me turn this down here. Maybe you'll be able to see as I go. So, the hem will probably need to add 2 in 'cause you're going to fold it an inch and then fold it again an inch. You're going to need another little inch up here probably to connect these two. One inch. You'll need an inch down here to connect these two. One inch. And you'll need two inches up here for the shearing or the elastic — I mean, I don't know why I keep calling it that. And then when we have to do the sides.

Oh, here 17. We'll add an inch to sew these together. 1 in. And then we'll need an inch here — or I guess it should be two inches here to match that one. So really what we have is 18. I need a different color pen. Here we go. Okay. So, if these are my finished sizes, then I need to make this one 18 by 6. Wait — okay, if this is a sleeve 6 in down plus two gives you eight for here. Two is for the elastic. And then I guess actually six, seven, eight, nine. So 10 by 18 because we'll do two inches here. So on the sleeve we have 10 by 18. On this we had 2 by 32. And this one would be 30, right? 12, 13, 14, 15 and then we're going to need to add an inch on each side here. So 32. Okay, 32 by 15 x 2, 32 by 23 x 2, 18 by 10 x 2, and then pockets x 4. Okay, that's what all this math looks like. The green equals with seam allowance and fold allowance. Let me write that down. Green equals seam plus hem allowance, and black equals finished.

Okay, this goes here for now. Here we go. Uh, my sweet angel baby husband found it for me at the thrift and it was just conveniently on top of this fabric bag that's down here. Okay, so let's make a dress. Let's pick some fabrics. Oh, this one's pretty. Um, I've been wanting to make something with this, but I have a different idea in mind. What if I find something that looks nice with this? And I do like a contrasting top situation. Oh, something in here smells like moth balls. This one's pretty. Kind of like those. I don't like those together. Let's see. Somebody speak to me in here. Oh, you're pretty. Oh, those really don't make sense together, but I kind of like it. It's definitely chaotic because we have this like fleece and then we have this like lighter material. Oh, I don't think there's enough of it.

Anyway, let's see how wide this is. Okay. Sorry, off camera. Not cutting it. We're just dealing with it. Oh, and it would be like — well, if you do it this way, the vertical on the skirt with the horizontal. No, I don't think I like it after all. But how wide are you? Just wide enough. Okay. So, that's a maybe for something. How wide are you? Wide enough also. Okay. So, hard maybe. There's definitely something in here that smells like mothballs. It makes me sad. Oh, this one's really good. Another mixed fabric that could be fun to play with, though with those two that feels more pajama. I don't hate it. I don't love it either, though. Okay. Something don't feel right in here. I just know it. If it doesn't, I might just have to [ __ ] pick something and go 'cause I got to try this and be done with this.

I like these. We do like plain skirt body, or — and then I could do something cool on here. Maybe. I'm only allowed to choose from these fabrics. I'm not allowed to go back upstairs. You're pretty. Oh, you're fun. Man, I think this would be fun to have like an extra train or a big bow or something. It's not going to work for that one. What is your deal? Okay, this could be fun. Like the flower skirt. There's fox gloves on it. I love that. Okay. And then what would match that? That's black and white. That's kind of a weird contrast. Kind of like it. It's real weird. That's a hard maybe. Can you hear Vader meowing in the background? That cat is a chatty boy. I also kind of like this. I know this has to be words. Music could be fun. I want like a crisp white to go with it. Maybe something kind of rainbowy. Different type of floral perhaps.

What about this on top, this on bottom? Oh, you're all janky and stained. But it could be really cute. Is the whole thing stained? I bet I could harvest some good inches out of here. It does feel kind of blue. Yeah, it doesn't match quite right. Where are you? Oh, we have this dress that was previously cut up. How light are you? Could we use you for this skirt? I think you're big enough. No, not quite. Okay. Is my butt showing? No. Neither is my face though. So that's also fine. Oh, wrong color. No. Shoot. What time is it? Am I late to work? Well, this could be fun. It's super childish, but no. Did I just make the whole thing maybe out of this so I can keep moving? I think I might. I do like that. I don't know that I want stripes though. We'll see. I think we're just going to make it all out of the one. Okay, thanks.

Man, I don't want to do this. I'm doing this. Okay, solved. Done. And then maybe I can even cut some trim from it. Maybe make it a little fancier. Listen, I know you don't want to, but before you do anything, you got to iron your fabric, baby. You got to do it. Okay. The framing is terrible right now. Um, I just got to put some steam in my iron. Jeez. I'm going to definitely make a mess. Don't judge me. Oh, [ __ ] I made like a huge mess actually. Glad it was a little bit off frame so you can see how bad it is. You know exactly how bad it is. Well, we're just going with it. We're just going with God. We're just pouring water all over the [ __ ] floor right now for science. Okay. Cool. Great. Wonderful. Let me show you how much water spilled. I got to get a whole new little guy for this. Look, it like it pissed its pants in a major way.

And yes, I have been using an old dress as my ironing board cover because I know how to sew. This is how wet it is. I know how to sew. So, I can make an ironing board cover, but why would I? Why would I when there's so many other things I'd rather do? Um, bear with me. I'll be right back. This jacket that never sold, so I'm just going to use it for now. It's really just to prevent the shitty lines, the waffle lines, from showing up on my fabric as much. All right, so we're going to iron this out. We'll maybe yap a little bit. I usually listen to a podcast during this part and I don't really know what to do if I'm not listening to a podcast. So, I guess I just have to yell.

Uh let's see. Okay. I really like this fabric. It's vintage. It came from a stash that one of my friends sent to me. My friend Grit. His whatnot username is Grit Don't Miss. And this beautiful fabric is evidence of that. There are fox gloves on it. And fox gloves are my favorite flower. They are actually used in like heart medication, which also means that they can give people a heart attack, which is sick. You know, who doesn't love a little poisonous flower? I used to run an apothecary business like pre-covid, I guess, and during early covid, called Fox Glove Farm, and I made teas and healing ointments and minor witchcrafty things. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed doing it. I did a monthly subscription box and you would spend like 50 bucks maybe and you would get like $100 at least worth of stuff 'cause I'm an overachiever always and I wasn't really doing it for profit so much as, I don't know, community. I'm always who I am.

It was great. We had like 60 subscribers at one point. You would get a tea, a bath product, usually something that smelled good and was therapeutic, oftentimes a balm. And I would try every month to partner with a small local maker, whether they be local to Memphis here or to anywhere, just supporting other small businesses. And gosh, I really enjoyed it. But it was around the same time, during COVID, that I started my wildlife rehab. And so between wildlife rehab and then trying to find a daytime job, I just had to give it up. It was definitely one of the toughest decisions I ever made. And then when I decided to take a potential forever break from wildlife rehab and only take the education ambassadors, man, those were tough decisions at various points in my life. But sometimes you just have to prioritize you, I guess.

I don't know how I got there from telling you that my friend Grit sent me this cool vintage fabric. Oh, the fox gloves. It looks like there's also maybe potentially dandelions on this and those are my other favorite flower. Many people consider dandelions to be a weed. I consider them an underappreciated little friend. Also, I don't drink anymore, but when I did, I used to make this sick homemade dandelion wine. I was real into prepping for a while there. Still like prepping and homesteading — I think it's important to be self-sufficient, but there was a while that I was really dedicated and I would go out in my yard and pick dandelions and turn them into wine and it was good. I had a really good recipe and it was in this book called like Homesteading on a Quarter Acre or something and it was basically your bible for how to grow and raise everything you need for survival on a small plot of land. I don't live on a small plot of land, but it was great. It was informative. I learned a lot. And if we have an apocalypse, I will be prepared to start, but I am not currently, but I would be very quickly.

My posture is wretched this morning. I guess the height of the shorts doesn't help. All right, we are over halfway done. Yapping at you while I do this certainly makes it a lot easier if you're making this along with me right now. Oh, I hope I remember to throw in an intro that says like, "Hey, come sew this dress with me." Because if I'm recording all the steps, then you kind of get to do it in real time. But if your fabric is very wrinkly, it might take you longer. Oh, I'm noticing that this pattern goes both ways. So — oh, you can't even see it. Let me show you. So like this way and the other way appear to both be upright. I bet there's a word for that. Multidirectional or something silly that I don't know. This mess has been here for going on maybe two, three months now. At least a month since I bought that sewing kit. I haven't gone through it yet because my plan was to go through it with y'all and see what all is in it. And then I haven't done that because it's been kind of crazy lately. But I think things will start slowing down soon, which is what I've been saying for the past 10 years. Maybe 20, maybe 30.

Okay, almost done with this. And then we'll quickly do the other one. I don't think I'm supposed to put the iron there the way I was, but I'm also not sure what the right way to put it there is. Please help. I'm not domestic. I'm only ironing this because I want it to look good when I'm done, not because I [ __ ] like ironing. I'll tell you that much. But ironing your fabric first, pressing your seams as you go, they all just really help you get a much more polished look when you're done. And it's worth the headache. It really is. I'm not sure what this fabric is made out of. It's woven. It feels kind of cottony, kind of liny. It doesn't feel polyester at all, but you know, I've been got before. I haven't noticed the maker tag on it yet. I'll have to check in a sec for one. I forget what so many words are. Like I know that there's a term for the little side panel on fabric that tells you who made it, when, and where it came from.

Oh, so ironing tip. You're supposed to iron the fabric in the same direction the whole time. You're not supposed to do this. I like to do that though, so sometimes I do it anyway. It brings me joy. And I'm not gonna just not do it. It makes me happy. It's like a little moment. But if you do it all in the same direction, it makes it more even. Some people say if something's worth doing, it's worth doing right. I'm not "some people" in this case generally, but some parts I will do this. Okay, so it's a woven fabric which gives it a little bit of stretch which might make it kind of annoying to sew on the bias. It stretches a ton, but — oh, it's going to be the skirt. So that's okay 'cause if it gets a little bit wonky at least it'll be super floofy. It'll be what it is. Okay. Do you have a maker's mark on you? You really don't. Not anywhere. Well, that's stinky of you. Neither seam.

Okay, this one does still have its seam. So, a screen print. Cranston Print Works, the cloth company. Design 6766. Okay. Well, that's actually crazy because those numbers have been appearing in my life all week long. I've seen 6766 so much. I couldn't even tell you where, but it's reoccurring 'cause it's close to being 666 and so it stands out in my head. And then also the 67 that kids these days be saying. It smells kind of like vinegar. I know that it's been washed, but sometimes they just hold on to their stain. I should probably try washing it one more time before I sew it together because this color may still bleed a little and I don't want it to bleed on the white. But I'm not going to. I'm just going to tell you that I wish that I had. And then when it inevitably does bleed, which it will, I can be like, damn, you guys. I knew I should have. I will use synthrapol in the wash, though, and that will help.

And honestly, I don't even need to be ironing the whole thing because I'm only using like what? 30 inches one way and 12 the other, twice. So, but you know, better to have too much iron than not enough, I guess. And it might make lighter work of it the next time I use this fabric. I really think — okay, so this will be the body and the other part will be the skirt, but then I'm gonna maybe also use the other part for the sleeves. And I'm thinking that I might cut out some of the flowers from the skirt and try and make them come up the top part of the dress, like it's growing and taking it over. But just kind of brainstorming right now — I don't know if I will or not.

What I should be doing is not making this dress, but making stuff for the fashion show that I'm part of in a few weeks. That really probably should be my number one priority. I've got sort of my theme worked out on it. I have an idea of what I plan to do. I only need to make three full looks. And that's honestly the problem — doing only three looks — because I have too many ideas. But then my sweet angel baby husband is also in the fashion show as a stylist. So, I'm going to need to make a few extra pieces for him to style with some of his vintage tees. I also just saw an email from the organizer. I need to figure out the order that people are walking in, what they're going to be wearing. I have so much to figure out, but I did at least send a survey to everybody yesterday. I got their sizes. I think everyone replied with their info and details, and that'll make that part easier.

And then, you know, I always make things with the aim of being size inclusive. So, ideally, every piece I make will work for every model. I know that won't necessarily be the case. Like, there's a few ideas I have that would really flatter certain figures. And so I'm just thinking about who might feel the most magical in which piece, because for me, that's what I want — to make my models feel magical. And of course, they're all friends. It's my sister-in-law, my best friend Lindsay, my identical twin Tiara. I guess that could use some explaining 'cause you're probably like, "You don't have a twin." What if I did have a twin? And we were both just pretending to be Sammy. And like Sammy wasn't either of us, but a third person that we created. That would be like one of the internet's greatest [ __ ] hoaxes. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I do think it would be fun and funny. Unfortunately, it's not true. My previous last name before I married JR was the same as one of my best friends' last names. And I would always joke — I mean her too, we would joke that we're a family. She's a black girl and you may have guessed I'm a white girl. So, it's always funny to me to be like, "Oh, yeah, that's my identical twin."

Um, okay. Almost done with this one and then we can finally start cutting. I finally got some left-handed scissors. We'll see how helpful they are. This fabric feels more like a lightweight cotton poly blend. I think it's also technically woven. Are — I don't actually even [ __ ] know if I know the difference between knit and woven right now. I'm not even zooked enough for this. I know a knit is like the annoying one and a woven is like this, right? Everything's woven. Everything is not woven. Man, if you are sewing along with me right now and I have been just yapping, you are probably like, "Damn, girl, please shut up." We used all of the steam almost. Okay. Are you derinkled? You're de-rinkled enough. All right, now let's go do some [ __ ] cutting.

And here I am. Hi. Okay, so I've got my two fabrics that I'm going to use. I've got my left-handed scissors to see if that improves anything. I have a heat erasable pen. I have my yard stick. And I have my reference sheet. And also a regular pen for some reason. Okay, so let's see. I need two pieces that are roughly 32 in by 15 in for the front. Let's see how big this is when it's folded in half. You are 21 in. Okay. Not as big as I would like for you to be. What if I fold you in half this way? Plenty. Okay. And then it needs to be 15 in long. So 15 is the top of this green line here. So I'll grab you, green line, follow you all the way down. Get you nice and even. And if you know anything about me, if you're not new here, one of my whole things is how much I freaking hate cutting. And a lot of people say it's because I'm left-handed and so I needed left-handed scissors.

Okay, so this green line needs to be 15 'cause that moves around. Dang. Got to check the green line to here is 16. Green line to the top of the blue. Now, I bought left-handed scissors, but a thing I already know about myself is that I'm just as bad with left-handed scissors. So, it's just going to be embarrassing when people are like, "Damn, girl, you cut funny." And I can't blame the scissors. But I digress. I've been saying that so much lately. I try and cut it out of the videos as much as I can. Okay, so to here. Does this happen to line up? Oh my god, it does almost beautifully. So then I need 30 by 30. No, I don't. I need it to be 32. So 32 is here, the inside of this green line. If I fold you to here and you to here, this should be half of 32, which should be 16. And it is. Okay. So now, left-handed scissors, we're cutting straight down this line.

Okay. So then this should give me 32. And then I needed 15 long which was 13, 14, 15 all just to right here. You should definitely be pinning your stuff into place right now. Oh man, I'm way off. So sorry. I hope that wasn't forever. You should be pinning everything in place to make sure it's perfect and even. I am a risk taker and just be vibing and hoping that [ __ ] turns out okay. Okay, left-handed scissors. This is actually cutting a lot better. Got kind of caught on — and I was like, "What are you?" We'll come back down from the top. Like keep checking to make sure all of my lady bits are lady hidden. Okay, so this should be my top two panels for the front and the back. They will currently be connected at the top and they need to be split because of who I am as a person.

So, if I want to cut straight down that line with the least effort possible right here, we're going to fold you a couple times over, making sure you're lined up. And then the distance I have to cut will be way shorter and I won't mess it up so bad. Okay. So, God willing, this should be 15 in. Yes. By 32 in. Yes. And this should be the exact same size. Yes. So there are my two top panels that'll get sewn together. Then the next one — I need two pieces. Oh, I guess do I want to make the sleeves out of this too, or do I want to do the sleeves out of this? We'll definitely do the pockets out of this. So, since we've already got one, two, we fold it in half again. That's four layers. Get this pocket cut out. Can you see this? So when I cut pockets, I literally just kind of trace around my hand. And I'm making it a little extra long because I want to. All right. And then cut down here. Oop. All right. And there are my pockets. One, two, three, four pockets. One for each side of each pocket.

Then we'll throw this over here for now. And now we need 32 by 23 x 2. How wide are you? Bang. Perfect. Okay. So, I've got a couple extra inches here. And then 23 is here. I'm going to try so hard not to cut any of this video and just give you the entire sew along, but I have a feeling I'm going to like really be embarrassed at myself. Okay, this little piece is still thin and wrinkly. So, that's going to be the side I cut off. And then I need 23 in long. Make sure you're nice and centered up there. 26 right now, 25, 24, 23. How are you? Somehow longer still. Okay. So, I'm cutting these pieces to be the exact same size because I'm going to use elastic in the waist. But you could cut the bottom piece one and a half times bigger than the top piece and then do gathering to bring it in. And you could use a zipper if you needed to.

Okay, this is pretty [ __ ] close. 23 and a half on that side and 22 and a half on this side. So if we bring you down a little, we bring you up a little. Let's see. You seem straight. And now we're at 22. This is why you shouldn't be like me and you should do things properly. Okay. So, we've got this part gets a little wonky here. Where's your straight line? So, we're going to cut you to be straight. Okay. Sort of better. Not really at all. Um, okay. 23 on this side goes to here. We'll just go ahead and cut to 24. And then 24 over here just in case the bottom is an inch wonky. And then we're going to fold you in half. This fabric is so much slipperier. I should really be pinning it into place right now. You should always be pinning your fabric. You should never be like me. All right, that feels about right. 24. And then we straight across. And then we do it again. Line these two up.

And then we had to bring both of them down to 32 in. Okay. Line you guys up here. 32 is right in the middle of this daisy. And sometimes I forget that we're still recording this and I'm just sitting here not saying anything. This is not perfect, but that is okay. And this looks about — I'm using kind of the grain line to cut on. Ooh, shears may be a little too thick for these shitty scissors. I mean, they're left-handed shears and all, but they were cheap. They were like 10 bucks, maybe 15. All right, good enough. Close enough. All right, so now we've got these two for our skirt. We've got these two for our top, these four for our pockets, and now for the sleeves, which I really can't decide if I want to do the sleeves in the white or in this color. I think I might do this color and then give them trim. But it would — no, I'm going to do the white. I'm going to do the white. Okay.

So, then we need 18 by 10 x 2. Okay. How big are you? Where are you? And then this is the top. So, this needs to be my 10 in side. Okay. And then this needs to be 18. Wow. Would you even [ __ ] believe? Is that really about to be 18 in? It's 17. So close. Can you be what I need you to be? No, just 17 if I do it that way. So, 10 inches from the top. 17, 18 in over. And then 18 in over is here. And 10 in tall is here. Just make that little mark right there. Okay. And then we'll fold you to that little mark I made. Where'd you go? Right here. That'll make that a little bit easier. I don't know what I did to my finger, but it hurts right here. Crazy. And then are we still at 10 in — is here and 10 in here. This fabric seems kind of like lightly woven, kind of loose. So I think it's going to take a really tough stitch. Okay. And then if we're already folded up here, let's just see if this is going to work. One, two, 10. Here. And then we snip. Okay. And then we have our sleeves. Sleeves, pockets, bodice, skirt. Okay, now I need to just start pinning and putting pieces together. Easy peasy. Be right back.

Okay, so we're back. I've got my cute sides of the top. Oh, do I want to do French seams on this? That might actually help keep the skirt from falling apart. But it is more work. Maybe I'll just do French seams on the skirt. No, 'cause of the pockets. Okay, I'll just do overcast on it. All right, so the top we're going to make cute sides kiss. We're going to pin them together. And then we're going to zoop down the sides. After that, keeping them nice and even. If there's a way to line up the grid, that would be really cute. And there is. So, we'll be able to match it the whole way around. And it really doesn't matter in life what your seam allowance is as long as you pick one and stick to it for an entire project, because if you don't then your shell will get goofy. So for me, I like 5/8 for a regular old stitch because it gives me enough room to play with without feeling like one step closer to the edge and about to break Linkin Park style.

Okay, got you guys pinned. So, we're going to zoop together these short sides. And actually, these pins should go in this way. So, they're easier to pull out. This will be the side on the sewing machine. So we got those two that need to get done. And then on our sleeves — why is one bigger than the other? 'Cause I had them folded in half when I cut them, probably. Yeah, I'd venture to say so. All right, we're going to cut them to make them even and hope that doesn't [ __ ] us later. And then we'll sew short sides together on this one. Do I want to do the short sides or the bottom hem first? Maybe I should do it first. No, we're just going to do all our short sides. Okay. So, then we'll get this one pinned into place. And at the bottom, bloop this one into place. Bloopity floppity blam. Oh, you dummy. You big dummy. How about we don't pin all four of them together and just pin these two together and line you up down here.

Get you all set and then we'll fold you in half. Make sure you're the same width now. Yeah. The right way. I always try and think about how I'm going to feed it into my machine and then put the pins in so that the plastic or metal head of it is at the bottom. This might be a good project for a walking foot because I can tell these layers are going to try and scooch around on me. How do I not have any pins? As many pins as I buy. Well, probably 'cause I'm looking at 12 on the floor right now. My lanta. Here's one right here. All right. And then so we got those sides and those sides. And before we can do any sides on the skirt, we got to put the pockets in. So, let's scooch these fellas out of the way. And the pockets get sewn first on the right sides, then on the wrong sides. Is there anywhere I can match this pattern up? No. So, we're going to take these guys right sides out. And man, you are a janky ass cut, ain't you? You're facing the right way.

Okay. Scooch you back a little. So, this will get pulled down this way. So, I need to think — this much is going to go to getting folded up. And then 3 in from there is where I'm going to want to put my pocket. So, my pocket's going to start here. And then that gets pinned into place. And then on this side — do I have any repeats here to help me line this? How far are you from the top? Five inches total from the top of that one. So, you should go here and get pinned into place. And then I will pin these two on the other side. But since I'm out of pins, I'll be right back. Okay, that actually didn't take me nearly as long as I expected. There were some pretty handy pins. So, we're going to pin these here. And then the first thing you'll sew on the skirt is just these guys. Just zoop zoop on all four of them on both pieces. And then afterwards you'll flip them this way and it'll be so easy. You'll be like, "Holy crap."

If this is your first time seeing one of my tutorials, I'm sorry. You're welcome. Welcome home. If this is not your first of mine, you could probably skip ahead a little because all of this is the same as it always is. Get the pockets lined up nice and perfect. Definitely using sewing needles as pins right now. Those aren't going to hold in place very well. And here. Boop. And then we'll flip you over. I was like, watch this whole thing be off right now. You should also, as a general rule, random sewing tip injected in the middle of all this yapping — you should sew top to bottom on things in general. Like sew in the direction that gravity touches you all the way down. Okay. One, two, three, four. All of these. All right. So, let's get some stitching done and then be right back.

We're back. I'm going to use my overcast foot and my overcast stitch. I am also going to use this blue thread that doesn't exactly match, but that's okay. All right. So, first a little sleeve. Make sure we're lined up there, kind of go over the edge a little. Where's my presser? All right. So, sleeve one. Sewing machine background noise is really extensive and loud and I'm sorry. I don't know if it can tune that out at all. I think you just have to live with it. So, I'll probably put this in fast motion or at least mute it and throw a little voice over telling you about it. One thing that does suck about this presser foot and the stitch type is it moves so slow compared to straight stitches. And sometimes I just get so very impatient. I was worried this would happen. So, it's kind of a little off center here, but all right, we'll throw this over here because we'll press that open in a second.

Then we move on to this guy. He's next. Oh, let me make sure these line up correctly. So, you pinned it not correctly into place. So, that was great. You can already see where this weave is like trying to come undone. Very annoying. All right, we got you centered now, baby. Sometimes it gets a little stuck right there. When it starts, it pulls the weaves in. I should have been pulling the tails, but I didn't. Never pull a tail on wildlife. Always pull the tails on your threads. Making sure these guys are still pretty lined up, kind of pull in the bottom layer a little bit more than the top because the top layer is feeding through faster. Usually I have the opposite problem. I keep getting notifications on my phone, but out of the corner of my eye, it looks like it's a ghost. That's cool. That's exciting.

And boop. Throw that over there to press it open in a minute. Now we've got these front and backs of our top to put together. Immediately lost a pin somewhere over here. Cool, cool, cool. And then since these grid lines line up, that's how I'm going to make sure that this stays even the whole way. Okay. My tension's probably fine where it is. I fixed my needle rethreader. Uh, this thread is a little janky. What's going on there, pal? Hi. Everyone struggles sometimes. Okay. I'm kind of winding it back up in here. What are you jammed on? Nothing. You really caught on something in there, little buddy. Okay. And then down here, throw that away. That's a later problem. Get you through there. Wow. Didn't expect all that to happen just now. Okay, we're in — five minutes of me just threading. See? Didn't pull the [ __ ] threads. That's on me.

All right, these aren't lining up at all anymore. I don't know what happened there. I think maybe I misunderstood some of the symmetry that was happening. That's all right, though. All right, finish going down this side. Again, I'm using the overcast foot and the overcast stitch. I've got it set on six and two and a half. Tension is at four. I don't really [ __ ] with my tension too much. All right. One side of that down. It's crazy that this is going to scrunch in like that. I hope it does. I don't actually know that it will. This is just vibes. Like, if you're not just singing dumb songs in your head while you sew, are you even really sewing? Does it even count? I am curious what song plays in your head on repeat. When I have anxiety, one way I know that I'm feeling anxious aside from feeling anxious is that circus music starts to play in my head, and I'm like, oh yeah, you're anxious.

Okay, got these. You can press them. And I know you'll want to press the seam toward the back, but we don't even know what the back is yet. So, we'll let the seams tell us. Okay. And then we need to switch to a straight stitch for the pockets. I do not want you to smash into this, but I also don't want to change my foot. Okay, that'll work. So, for the pockets, we're going to try and stitch as close to the edge as we can. Make sure this is all going to get caught in there. And then we back stitch. And then there. And then just a little bit more stitchy stitch. Okay, that's one down. And now let's do number two. Forgot to back stitch. Okay, that's two. And then we'll press these open. And then we'll press them to the back. It'll make sense in a minute. Now, let's get these two knocked out. Needle is a pin — stupid choice, but you know, needs must.

Oh my gosh. I don't know why I just got so scared. A neighbor was pulling down their own driveway. He just scared the [ __ ] out of me. Anyone else just think the cops are going to come get him at any moment? No, just me. It's a weird thing to think. Haven't even done anything. I'm sure that's what all the [ __ ] immigrants were thinking, too, and they're being rounded up in my goddamn city the other night. So [ __ ] ashamed. Sorry. I just — it really gets me. It's poor people. Okay, now we're going to do the same thing on this one. Press open all of the seams. And then we're gonna sew the skirt together. Then we're gonna sew the pieces together. Be right back.

Okay, let's press some seams, shall we? You, my darling. Okay. I could go ahead and press you to be hemmed, but I'll wait for now. Where's my other little sleevey? Here it is. Get you nice and flat. Where's my steam? And then — might do some quick understitching here to help that pocket stay flat. Understitching meaning sewing the inside of the pocket to this lining here. That's toward the back. And we'll do this one also toward the back. Okay. And then we flip. Okay, that one's going backward. Come toward the back. It is so weird for me to be recording and planning to play it back in real time and to not — I'm not listening to music. I always listen to music. I always have voice overs so that you can't hear the music, but doing this with you, trying to do sew-along style, makes it a little bit harder.

Okay, these seams are pressed good enough for now. Good enough for government work. This one I haven't done yet. And then, yeah, I am definitely going to do the understitching to keep these pockets in. It's just one of those little quick extra steps that give something a more polished look. So, now we'll get these guys together to do some understitching. Pop back over to the machine. Okay, so the thing about understitching is you're sewing one layer to the seam allowance to keep it pulled taut. And I don't know how to explain it any better than that, but that's what I got for you. Okay, so seam allowance and then you're just sewing right along. And so what you'll see is there's now this line here on the top, but it's holding it down to this bottom layer better, so it's not going to roll out. I hope that makes sense. I'm also going to press this down a little bit better and then it'll lay in there like it should, I think.

Okay. So, understitch that one. Let me understitch these other guys. Okay. Two. On to number three. Dang, that is cutting it close. This one had like [ __ ] no seam allowance. Look how close I cut that. It's a miracle that it's staying attached. It's not staying attached. I got to do this a little better, [ __ ]. Okay, so we go. And then where are you coming off at? Luckily, all of this should be hidden inside the pocket when I'm done, which is the only reason I wasn't worried about thread that was wildly unmatched. I think we're good here. Okay, that's three. And then four. I'm doing the count. I hope you know who he is.

Okay, now we take our two skirt pieces. Cute sides kissing. Let's see — I have cute sides kissing and I'm going to line up the pockets because that will keep me honest and I'm going to pin it in place at the pockets on both sides. So, bippity boop bippity boop. Then I'll be able to even out my bottom hem from there. So, we will pin this pocket. Where did my pins go? Scooch you back. Sorry for the motion sickness. So, two pockets. The tops are together. Two pockets here. The bottoms are together. And then of course when you're sewing the pockets, you're going to sew here, you're going to come in about this far and go around. But give yourself a good seam allowance on all sides. So we got those two pockets pinned together. Now let's get these two — I keep saying two pockets. It's really two pocket pieces getting sewn together to make one pocket.

Okay. And then from there, once you've lined up your pockets, just kind of make sure the rest of it's lined up. This could be a good time to go ahead and press your hemlines if you want to get excited and ready to do that. I don't yet, so I'm not going to. Pop you in here. Just using some pins to hold it into place. And then we're going to go down both sides, outlining the pockets. And then we will be putting the rectangle bottom onto the rectangle top. And then we'll go and we'll put the sleeves on. We're like so close. Make sure I'm not missing anything right now. Nope. Okay. So, we are here. We are pinned. And now — what is happening with my hair? Come on back, baby. Okay, we're going to pop you back onto this setting. We're doing overlock 6, 2 and a half, tension at four.

I am starting right where my two layers match right here. Keep you right there on the outside. It also helps to not let the weight of your project lay on the floor. Keep it up here. And we're zooping right along. Now we are making it to the pocket. And where'd you guys go? Just throw you there for now. Now, you should do more of this bunching stuff with the overlock foot so that it doesn't — I'm trying to keep the fabric going into it straight, if that makes sense. I don't always get it right on this one, and that's okay. I don't know what to talk about. This really could have been a straight stitch. But I'll tell you what, these pockets will be the most durable pockets in the west or south or east or wherever the hell you may be.

Let's try and straighten out this fabric a little bit. Got kind of bunched in there. Just feeling to see where that bottom layer is. It's right here. Okay. So, she's getting caught in there. See, it just goes so slow. Make sure I'm catching both sides. Okay. I didn't mean to stop that. I'm going to trim all of this excess off when we're done. And I'm going to cut a little V there where the pocket meets the skirt so that it doesn't bunch all goofy. Uhoh, I ran out of thread. Okay, rethreaded. Got this into a tangled jumbled mess. What is happening here? There we go. All right. Now, this one's going to run out in no time, but I'm close to the bottom of this. So, we'll just keep going. All right. You're going to just be a little upsided then, I guess. One thing about it going so slow is you can kind of do some other [ __ ] along the way, too, like moving a pin over.

All right, cool. That's one side down. And now we'll do the other side of the skirt. Making sure — what do I got going on here? Oh, I see what I've done. Okay, be right back. Got to go pee, actually. Okay, new angle. And I can see how bad my posture is. So, we're going to keep it together. We're going to hold it up. We want our pockets aligned. We know that my pins are kind of on the wrong side. So, I'm going to flip them while it's easy so that I don't accidentally sew over one. Okay, you guys, put it back. Pull it out of the way. Get you guys lined up right here. Nice and easy. And we are off, baby. See? Pull these to the back. Make sure you're at six, two and a half. There we go. One of my pockets is going to be decidedly bigger than the other.

Bobbin hasn't run out yet. Thank God. Keep an eye on that. One thing I like about a clear bobbin is being able to see how much longer I have. Posture, girl. Tits and teeth. Still got a little bobbin left. Still going strong. You may have guessed already, but this stitch uses way more thread than most stitches. We're still going. Little bobbin holding tough. Okay. And then how much seam allowance did I give myself over here? It's right up to the edge. Is this little bobbin going to make it all the way to the end? There you go. Okay. So, now press open all of our seams. We're going to press. Oh, and we also need to do a little snipping. Okay. So, first some snips. Grab my scissors. And then I'm just going to loosen. Right now, I'm just snipping like this. I will probably go back in the end and trim this all up really neatly. I would recommend you do the same. But right now, I'm just making sure that any tension from the points that are strong curves can be released a little bit.

Okay, this one's a little messy, but I guess it is what it is. Okay, so back to the pressing board. Right now I'm pressing the skirt and I'm making sure that my pockets go toward the front, because there is nothing worse than when your pockets try desperately to go to the back. Actually, before I figure that part out, we're going to take the skirt right side out. And we're going to take the shirt and put it inside out. And then make sure that you've identified which side is your front and which side is your back. I'm checking my pockets to know. Okay, so those go this way. This is the front of the skirt. This is the front of the shirt. So, you're gonna slide your inside-out shirt over your right-side-out skirt so that the cute sides are kissing. And you are going to line up your edges. And you're going to do just a straight stitch — well, you're going to pin it into place and then you're going to do a straight stitch all the way around. Then when you flip this right side out, you have an invisible line there where you've sewn.

So, I'm just going to do that. And I'm also going to go ahead and do my hem before I figure out the sleeve situation. So, I've got the inside-out tube of a shirt with its cute sides kissing the cute side of the skirt. And it's all the way around. Then I'm going to pin it into place and stitch a full circle here. I'm going to iron and press these bad boys under and hem the skirt. And then I'm going to figure out what the hell with my sleeves because I know these steps. Okay. So, we pin you into place and here. Grab this corner to this corner. Are you my friend? That's the front, at least this one. I'll just use this little line as my weird silver mark. And I'm going to have to speed this part up 'cause my goodness, there's just so much silence. Like, I run out of things to say.

We could — oh, that would be actually very nice. Okay, I like that. So, I think we're going to do that. We're going to fold it over where we can and encase these bad boys so they don't fall apart on us because we know that woven material loves to do the fall apart. Or do I save that space to put the elastic in? That's actually a really good idea, too. You could sew here. And you have this tube. When you open this, you're going to have way down. I do like that idea. Okay. So, we're going to sew those pieces together. Maybe it's three pieces of elastic and not just one. I drew it in a way that made it make sense. And then this bottom is going to be — you a quarter inch. Fold you a quarter inch. Come on. Okay, I'll be right back.

Okay guys, so now I'm going to do a straight stitch all the way around. I'm still too lazy to change my needle. We're slipping it over here. We are coming in on this line here. And then we're going to follow that the whole way around. And we'll figure out in a minute if we'll be able to use the surplus waistband or not. I can't believe that I managed to keep these seams lined up. That's a miracle in itself, my babies. All right. And still have bobbin thread left. All right. So, now she is a dress. We've got skirt, top. The skirt and the top are sewn together. Now, I'm going to press my seams. And I want all the extra seams to go up because I'm going to sew the waistband into that. So, actually, we'll do a quick little press up from this side. Flip. We'll do a quick little press up from this side. Or would it look better if it were pressed down? Does it make a difference? Probably not. Yeah, I think it needs to be pressed up.

Okay, you flip. So, kind of pressed it open from the front. Now, I'm pressing it open from the inside. And I gave myself a pretty generous seam allowance here that I was thinking I could flip and turn into — let me see if you can see this — that I would be able to take this and flip it and use that to hold in the elastic. I still might be able to do that, but one side has more than the other 'cause you remember my fabric wasn't super even to begin with. So, we'll find out if it's going to work or not. But that's what I'm holding on to. There's like a little short space here. But if I sew it, I think it might work. I think it might even work to sew it in between the layers. We'll see. Okay. And then we got to work on this hem which is certainly not straight.

So from here to here, do like a quick little [ __ ] fold. So, I'm just going to fold it over the absolute least amount I can, which actually sucks 'cause one side is so much longer than the other. So we flip and we fold. And we try to hold it. Keep the weight from tugging it down so far. And I'm just flipping over the very edge so that there's no raw edges exposed. And I'm pressing that down into place. And it's certainly not perfectly straight across by any stretch, but it's straighter than it was a little bit. And by the second fold, we'll be in good shape. And I'll tuck you back this way. Okay, so now we got that way folded. This one needs to come back under just a teensy bit. And then fold you under and fold you under, and nice and flat there. Oh, I want these to be even so bad. It's just one of those things. No one will know but me, but I'll know. I don't be mad about it.

I wonder if I should use black or white thread down here. Probably black. I wonder if I could do the single stitch trick where it doesn't show up. I don't need to put myself through that. Okay, so these guys are ready. Make sure — nice little press just in case. Hi. Hello. I'm back. Um, I watched a handful of tutorials today and I'm going to attempt to do the hem of my skirt with the blind hem foot. So, what I learned is you take what you've got. So, mine is raw edge folded over and tucked under here. So, it's like folded twice. And then you kind of fold it back on itself, where you're working on the wrong side of your dress and you've had a little bit of extra here for the hem. They said about 3/8 inch. And then you line it up under this foot. Why does the foot go here? The foot must go like this. Free videos, so I'm definitely an expert.

Okay. So, now let's bring you over here. Can you kind of see this layer and then this layer? This is the inside of the dress. This is the inside of the hem. And then as you go, it only goes into the hem most of the time. And then every like fourth stitch, it comes back. And you want it to just get the tip right there. But I need both hands to get it in the right place. Okay. I'm sorry. It's just impossible to show you this in my current state, but you're going to do this stitch all the way around the edge. You could just do a straight stitch like a normal person. I decided that I wanted to be fancy for some freaking reason that I couldn't tell you. And here we are. Okay. So, you get like they say to take little bites. That's what they call it, bites. Some of my bites are quite large. They're definitely not going through consistently, but this little guide is holding it mostly straight. I feel like it keeps scooting over though. Back where you belong, little guy.

Okay, when I come in from an angle, it seems to work a little better. Kind of come in like that. Okay, that's correct. I don't know what I'm doing half the time. And why I would pick this dress that I was so excited about to experiment on is beyond me. But here we are. And that's what I'm doing 'cause that's who I am. Uhoh. Guess I've missed a few. Okay. So, to give you an idea — oh, yeah. Look how nice that looks. So from the outside you only see those itty bitty lines. And from the inside it looks like this. Okay. Now I got to redo some stuff 'cause I pulled it off. I like the way that looks. And when you press it flat, oh, it's going to look so good. I love it. Okay. So, back to this. You go under like this and you go here. I didn't back stitch. And I just realized that. Okay. I guess I don't have to back stitch on the school, right? Yeah. Starting to try to take bigger bites. Better slow your roll.

I keep adjusting the length, thinking I was changing just the needle position, but it was changing the whole width. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I hate mouth sounds. And I know you just heard a whole bunch of mine. Sometimes this little guy gets kind of caught. Let's go back here. Why are you getting caught on everything, stinker? Tiny little bites. This is about to be a big drum. Just ease it over the heavy part. Sam, do not sew through your fingers. Sammy, do not do it. Do not do it. Okay. And then just keep trucking. It always feels like it takes so long to do a ding ding. If you can't tell, I've been filming this in between doing work activities or getting ready for work and then having a meeting and then getting some work done. And I'm just ending my work day. So, my brain is fried today. I apologize for who I am this afternoon, but we're making great progress. And after we get this hem done, we are going to move right along and finish out the neck and add elastic to the waistband. And then we're done. Well, neck and sleeves.

Okay, so I am by no means making this blind hem perfect, but I will say I think it's looking pretty good. Pretty freaking good. And I was worried because it's white and black. So if I picked white thread, then you would see it in all the black spots. And if I picked black thread, you would see it in all the white spots. But now it just shows up as these little bitty white lines, and they blend completely in with the rest of the fabric. This is the hem that never ends. I mean, I'm not even halfway done yet. Holy guacamole. Okay, we're getting there. We have to go feed the raccoon in a minute. I bet you're already done with your hem if you're sewing along with me right now and you're like, "Damn, Sammy, hurry up." I'm hurrying, but not too fast 'cause I'll mess up. This little foot just wants to get hung up on every loose thread. Just put you on top for a minute, little friend.

Kind of messing up here a little bit toward the end. I'm not even going to lie. You can't see it though and you won't even know when I'm done. Okay, get you back on there. I just got a work message. It distracted me. I should really turn notifications off when I'm sewing, but then I would never catch up with the outside world. Is it — did it this whole way? Yeah, I guess so. Oh, some of these are very loose. That's okay. I'm losing confidence as I get toward the end. Let's get it together. Stay motivated. You got this. Just a few more stitches. Yeah, that's right. Why do you second guess yourself all the time? I caught on it. Okay, now it's time to press it and see how it turned out. Here is the inside. And — uh oh. Well, this is the outside right now, but hopefully it's about to get better. Let's see. Okay. So, we press you flat. Doesn't look too bad so far. I'll give you a closeup here in a minute. Some of these bites are quite large, and you can certainly tell, and you'll know exactly what I mean when I show you.

Okay, just press this side out a little bit. Okay, now let me show you. So, this is what the inside looks like. And remember it was stitched like this. Okay. So, we laid it like this to stitch it. Then we open it up. And this is the inside and this is the outside. This is the hemline. These little lines. And that's a blind stitch. Okay. So, I'm just going to give you this really spooky view of me for a second while I finish. No, I'm not. I'm going to iron and then I'm going to be right back. Okay. So, I figured out the sleeve thing. I just forgot to cut to make room. So, let me show you on the picture first. So, here where these two connect, I need to cut essentially like this into each one. So these panels will come over 2 in and down 4 in — down 4 in, over 2 in like this.

So that translates to — okay, so in case that cut off — to make the sleeves attach in the right way so that this can have elastic go all the way around, I need to cut over and down so that I can connect the pieces. I watched another YouTube video. I'm going to try to remember to tag it because it was very helpful. I'm going to copy what she did, which was 4 in down, two inches over. This is what that looks like. Okay, so we're down here. These are the sleeves, and they're going to attach here, but we need the little V. So, we're going to take these and we're going to take our measurer. Where is she? Okay. So, bottom of the dress, top of the dress, side seam, two inches over, side seam, 2 in over, and then 4 in down. And 4 in down. Okay. And now I'm just going to connect the lines I cut. So from here to here. Doop. From here to here. And then same thing for this guy. Two inches over, 4 in down, and then cut these guys.

And it's all my concentration to cut. I can't believe I thought this fabric worked upside down and right side up earlier. Okay, so then these will get stitched together around here. Boop, boop, boop, boop. And then this one on that side. And then the waistband and the neck band. Okay. Am I going to pin these? If I was a good example for you guys, I would pin them. I'm not really a good example. Okay, I'm going to use an overlock stitch to go down this V and up this V. And then the same on that side. I am going to pin it into place. You talked me into it. Lining up my little seami boys. And I'm going to use the overcast foot for this because this woven fabric tries to fall apart on me constantly and I think it just holds it down better.

Okay. This one — cute sides are smooching. Line up these middle boys here. Cut this one a little funky. Damn. Cut this one a lot funky. It'll be all right. Probably. My seam's just not going to be where it's supposed to be. That's okay. [ __ ] happens. Or do I put this seam where it's supposed to be and then work with that? That's what I'm going to do. Seam on seam because otherwise it's going to be all janky and lopsided. I'd rather it just be [ __ ] up in the armpit. Okay. Sorry for the sniffles. Got you. If you're using — I keep saying this is woven. If maybe what I mean is knit. Whatever it is, it frays. If you have a fabric that frays, use an overcast stitch or zigzag. If you don't have a fabric that frays, you can probably just use a straight stitch. And we're going to zoop these V's real quick. And then we're going to do some elastic. First, we're going to take another moment to look at that nice hem. That invisible hem. I love her.

All right, let's switch this foot back to my guy. Threads pulled out. I wonder what percentage of viewers will make it to this portion of the video. I can't wait to find out. Okay, we're going to start here and work our way through. Like, how far into a video do I have to go before I can confess to crimes that no one will ever hear about, you know? It's kind of exciting. I forgot to adjust the [ __ ] setting and it hit the needle plate. I'm going to charge my phone while I change the needle and rethread this and stop shaking. Okay, this time I moved the needle to the right place. Position six, two and a half. Tension at four. Okay, exactly where I belong. And where were we? We're sewing this V together to make our arm holes. I'm putting the Freddy boy on the top so that I can kind of keep an eye on it. And then pull the tails. Gosh, I hate when a needle breaks. That is like always the scariest thing.

I got this little tail I need to cut right here. Got her. Okay. And then let's get you lined up where you belong. Messy, messy, messy. There we go. Oh, forgot to talk to you. This is usually my quiet time. All right, so we have one sleeve and then we'll give it a hem here. I'll probably use that blind one again. That was cool. And then all the way through here to this side. And now we'll do you, friend. Okay. Here and settings are all good. I'm not sure what shenanigans my cat is up to right now, but he is underneath a foot. Maybe he wants to learn how to sew. Finally provide an income for this family. Honestly, I just stole that joke from my friend Camille. She texted me earlier today and she told me that she wanted to learn how to sew. So, she was watching my videos. She said she had them on two TVs 'cause she's truly supportive and wants to help me get monetized. And she's like, "I'm watching it on one and my cat's watching it on the other so he can finally get a job." All those things that I just said, they were her joke originally. And if she's watching this, hi Camille. I love you. When I opened my wildlife rescue, she was the number one supporter. She was out here all the time helping me get things set up and going.

Okay. And then almost done with this part. Okay. So, now we are all attached. And if you have a 60 in bust, this will fit you. Now, you would want to still finish these raw edges. I am actually, before I change the needle, going to finish these edges all the way around so they don't fray so bad. I think I'm just going to do a nice wide one just to try and help it before I flip it and add the elastic. Yeah, I think this will help it a lot. I mean, you can see how bad it's fraying. It's trying to get tangled in here already. I'm not pulling. I'm just guiding. I feel like sometimes it can look like pulling or tugging and it's really not. Okay. Yeah, that's going to hold it a lot better in place.

I just remembered the name of the book that I was supposed to tell my friend Katie about. I was telling her it was the best book that I'd read in a long time and I could not remember the name of it. It's Fairy Tale by Stephen King. Okay, we got that one. Let me get this one and then we'll move on. I really hope noise cancellation makes this wider for you. All right. Okay. Now I should probably go ahead and press and hem these and then do the elastic very last. Okay, that is what I'll do. Thanks for asking. Let me switch back to my regular presser foot. Should I do blind hem on them? I could. Yeah, maybe I will. Okay, we'll do blind hem. And then I guess I'll bring you over here while I get these sleeves put in place. Sorry, I know this isn't the best angle. Slip you. Okay, you're a sleeve and your sleeve and you are the parts that I need to have. So, flip you over the smallest amount possible.

Oh my gosh. You over here. I wonder if once I'm monetized if I'll be able to delete the videos that are like embarrassing 'cause I feel like this one will be. Who's going to really watch this? But this lady said to me, "Hey, I really think you should do a sew along." And I've never watched a sew along personally because I don't think that I would enjoy it. But she was like, "I really think that you should consider it. I know you're already so busy." And I was like, "I am so busy, but at the same time, if it's just essentially recording while I sew, I can do that." I think she also suggested sewing live with people. I don't know that I have that in me, but I do — I don't hate the idea. I definitely don't hate the idea. Like it could be — maybe I could do a video where I say, "Hey, on this day and time, I'm going to go live and we're going to sew. If you want to come, you should. These are the things that you should do in advance so that you're ready" and then they can sew with me while I do a project. That could be fun.

Okay, that one looks good. This one's a little bit smaller than that one. That's okay. Sisters, not twins. I like this length. I say as if I have any idea what it'll look like on a human body. It's always like about an inch. It's about two fingers. Sometimes a little less than two fingers, sometimes a little more. Always somewhere around there. Okay. Now put your seam and your seam together and then slip you to make you the same length. Okay. Yeah, I'm inside out. Okay. Matchy matchy. So, I'm still just working on getting these little hems pressed so that I can get them hemmed. Pressing the hems so I can get them hemmed. You know what I mean? And I think I will leave the blind stitch hem again just because it was fun last time. I want to get a little more practice. You obviously could just use a straight stitch or a zigzag or a decorative stitch. Honestly, no one can stop you. You could make everything a leaf if you wanted. I assume your machine has a leaf stitch. My previous machine didn't have any decorative stitches. It had a zigzag. It had a straight stitch. Not even.

Satisfying sizzle. Okay, let's get these. All right, blind stitch time. So, we're inside. We're flipping over. Start right here. I don't know why. It just felt right. This guy's going to give me trouble right here. She struggles. And I can tell that I'm getting sleepy. So, I'm definitely not as precise when I'm ready to be done with my day. Almost done. This is so janky compared to how perfect the bottom hem — I don't know where my words are — is. Stuck. Hate when threads get wrapped around. Get out of there. Two and a half minutes is not bad though. And then she'll look pretty good. I'll need to — you already know I'm going to have to press her. Okay. And then get you in here. Trying to remember exactly how the last one was. But Rock has the zoomies and he is just attacking everything right now. Stop. Oh, he's in a box. He doesn't have to stop. He can do whatever he wants. How did this one take four minutes and the last one took two?

Okay, let's press these open and then start getting ready for the waistband and the neck band. Um, okay. Be right back. We'll press these boys open. Slip you back the right way. I wish you could see this cat right now. He's so funny. This one's going to be a little wonky, I think. But maybe not. It looks pretty freaking good. Okay, I know you can't hardly see, but I am pressing open the seam. Even if you did a straight stitch, you should still press open your seam right now. And I will show you how cool these look. It really honestly gives it like a super vintage look. So, finished outside — you see the little white lines — and then inside looks like this. And then this one, there was one spot. So here you can barely see them at all. And then right here they get real visible. And I can feel that it's — oh, here we go. It's like extra tight. I bit too much. I bit off more than it could chew.

Okay. So next up is sewing the channel for the elastic waistband. And to do that, you're just gonna make a tube the whole way around. And you're going to do that by folding it a little and then folding it over and sewing it down. There are 300,000 ways that you can do this. This is just the way that I am doing it today. And then for the waist, I think we're going to be able to reuse some of this, but we might also just sew it directly on. We'll see. We haven't made it there yet. Okay, so we're flipping and gonna move you here for now. Okay. Hi. Hello. There's me. This skirt is heavy and I don't want it to weigh everything down in a weird way. So, I'm trying to make sure it stays on the board. I'm also trying to keep it kind of out of your line of sight. Well, you know how this works. You know how to fold over something a little bit all the way around and then fold it again. You don't need me for that.

Okay. So, we are pressing. I'm using a little steam because I just refilled the tank. Okay. And then we're going to take this one. We're going to fold it over. The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe I wouldn't mind doing live sewing stuff because it could be like, oh, we'll make rack tops and then I give all the details in advance, stuff that I've already done tutorials for. So maybe people who need the motivation to finish can do that. I'm so glad I finished those edges already on this because it would be fraying so bad right now. Tonight our show is on. I might have to wait and finish this in the morning if I don't get it done pretty quick. I'm really hooked on this blind hem because I'm already thinking, can I use it for this channel? And I could definitely use it for the channel. It does just take a little bit longer. Oh, I got a little hole down here. I got a spot that I need to sew. I didn't catch it all the way. That's okay. We'll get it next time.

All right, moving right along. Should have brought some pins over here. I guess I can get them in a minute. I probably would have skipped this step if it weren't for the accountability of video. You guys would know if I skipped it. So, it's the only reason I'm not, because I would just donate — like and roll them and hope. I got to set a good example to my little zoo crew, my little zoo army. I bet — I wonder how many hours this project ends up being. I guess I'll know 'cause every bit of it's been recorded. Oh, but battery might die. Shoot. I better hurry up. Let's get you pressed. You're pressed. I don't have a charger long enough to record and charge at the same time. The only one I have that's long enough is in my room, and if I take it out, then it won't make it back, and then my phone will never be charged because I know myself.

Okay, there's our first fold all the way around. And then we'll do our second one right here. And I'm just going to use a narrow piece of elastic. It looks like it's maybe a quarter inch. It's like this finger for scale. Okay. So, little bit of boop. The grid makes it so easy to get these to be mostly straight, like the grid pattern on this bodice fabric. And — well, I say that and then it proceeds to go wonky on me. I have no one to blame but myself. And when I sew this up together in a minute, I'm going to need to remember to leave about an inch open so I can thread my elastic through. There are, as mentioned, other ways to do this part. Sometimes I put the elastic in first. I'm feeling kind of lazy. And this way is tried and true. You are good but you are not yet folded. Beautiful. Now that's beautiful. A couple pins in it. And then we flip. Just kind of pressing into place. Have any more pins? I sure do.

And then we slide on over to this last part. Did I already say there's a new episode of Below Deck tonight? Oh, my posture was just so bad. I'm looking forward to it. Okay. So, now we're going to sew up this tunnel for about an inch. And then we're going to do our waistband, which I still haven't decided how we'll attach it. I'm kind of leaning toward encasing it in this, but I think it might hold up better if I don't. Maybe a zigzag. We'll see. Okay, first this — now it's just a straight stitch all the way across the whole top leaving a couple inches open to slide the elastic through in the end. I switched my foot back to a regular foot and I traded out to black thread because it seems like it would maybe not show up as much on at least the body part. And that's all I know. Okay. So let us commence sewing. Back stitch. A straight stitch goes so much faster.

Proud of you here. Thank you, baby. I'll be in there by 8:30. And around and around and around we go. Let me get you. Okay. Well, at least we're on the back side already. And we're off. Actually, let's hold this straight so it doesn't get too weird. The pink cushion is never in the same place twice. And don't forget to leave a little room for Jesus. And by Jesus, I mean the last inch. Almost. I thought I was done. All right, one more sleeve. So, I'll leave the space for Jesus over here somewhere. Golly, that wasn't nearly as far as I thought. That was as bad as when you think that it's Friday and it's only Thursday. I'm glad I recorded this so that I can remember how to make it. Less glad that I'm sniffling all over you constantly. Hopefully I can take some of that out in post. Why would I start in the middle? You are so strange, Sam. Okay. So, right here. So, I'll put my little pin where I'm going to stop, which is right here.

All right. That elastic in here. Got some loose threads hanging off. What's going on? Oh, just some extras. You're attached, though. You got to go. I wonder, are you a person who plucks the threads as you go, or are you a person who does it all at the end? These are important questions. Okay. So, my shoulders to shoulders around are 39 in. We measured that earlier, which means I need probably 35 in unstretched. Well, this one's very stretchy. I might even only need about 30 in. Let's see. And then it still has a lot of stretch. You can move. It might get tight. This feels better. Yeah, that feels right. Okay. Now, let's put some elastic in, shall we? So, there's a million ways to put elastic in. There's a million ways to get a mouthful of thread. But what I'm gonna do is find my little opening. Not bad. I would normally press — you should press here when you're done sewing to make sure it's nice and flat. I don't feel like it right now.

Okay. And then this guy goes through your hole with this guy. But my problem is that my hole is very big. And I was hoping that I had one of my plastic ones here, but nay, I do not. So, we'll see how long this takes. Maybe if you're watching this and also sewing along, you have a different way that you're doing it. And I would love to know if you finish before I finish. I lost it again. We're going to have to do this a different way 'cause I don't have the patience for this part today. Oh my god, this is going to be so stinking cute. We are going to pin. Where'd she go? I lost — I sewed it so well that I can't find my opening. There she is. Okay. I feel like the safety pin method might be the way. So, if it's not abundantly clear, the safety pin method is literally putting a safety pin at the end of your elastic and then feeding it into the channel. In a perfect world, the weight of the safety pin pulls it down and you don't have to do as much work. That is in a perfect world.

It'd be sick if I had like — oh my gosh, they should invent a 5 lb safety pin, just some tiny super dense guy and then it would just drop your elastic straight in. Maybe it would also rip through fabric. I don't know. That's not my job. I'm just the idea man here. I'm kind of irritated at how much faster the safety pin is going because I swear by my loop turners. It's just harder when it's a full circle 'cause it can't get all the way through, you know. Okay. Right now, it is a race against the clock because my baby wants to watch our show by 8:30. I promised I would be in bed by then, which gives me about 10 minutes to work on this with you. And then I got to feed DJ the raccoon and then get all my jammies and pop in the bed. Might be a morning shower situation today. I meant to take one earlier tonight, but I got caught up doing — what? Who knows? You've watched the sun go through all of its phases with me today, or its whole trajectory over the sky.

Starting to get a little hand cramp. I get hand cramps so much these days. I don't really know what that's all about. Maybe because I use them. Okay, so again, we're just feeding the elastic through. I just got a notification. Let me tell you about this app that pissed me off. One of my sweet followers suggested I get in this app that she's in, and it's like a cute little gratitude app. And I was like, "Hell yeah, I'm in." And I didn't sign up for Plus. It must have automatically signed me up. And so now I have — I just paid like 20 or 30 dollars for a freaking app that I didn't even mean to. And of course, you can't get a human on the phone to be like, "Hey dude, please refund me. I'm not even using it." Like I remembered to use it one day, but now I get notifications from them all the time. Wasn't getting notifications during that trial period. Now that they have my money, they send in those notifications. It's called Gratitude Plus. I'll tell you what I'm not grateful for.

Obviously, my follower didn't know that. And I wish that I could remember to do fun little things like that more. And also, I wish I could remember to not subscribe to trials. I didn't even know I did it. Okay, we've almost made it back around. 3 minutes and 46 seconds so far. Look how tight it's bunched up on this side. So, on the video that I looked up to figure out what I was not thinking about with my sleeves, I really hope that I remember to tag her when I post this. She left her dress super flowy. Like she didn't make it tight in the waist like I'm going to. And I thought that was a fun little slightly more bohemian play on it. Okay, got the elastic back through. Got this pin holding this end. So now we're going to stitch the ends of the elastic together and then stitch up that little hole.

Okay. This little guy put together and slid under. Zigzaggy. And it doesn't even matter what it looks like because it's going to be on the inside. Put that in there. Pull these out. Okay, I already know that I'm going to want my arms to not be super tight, and I want the rest to be much tighter. Pull that in. Some of these loose threads. Full of seam. And find that little hole. Back on a straight stitch. Just right. If you've got a wider elastic, be careful not to sew over it. Although, if you just sew that little portion, nothing bad will happen. You'll still have plenty of stretch. It just might not be as even. Okay. So, where are we at? So now inside out, we've got this cute top. We've got this bottom. And now we need to put on our waistband. I think I'm going to try a different method for this. So first I'm going to slide her into here. And we know you're going to be bunchy bunchy bunchy there, be less bunchy bunchy bunchy here.

Trying to think out loud. And in my head — I mean, no, out loud is what I mean. So, I'm going to take the elastic and let's say I'm going to need it to fit up to a 50 inch waist, but I want it to fit my waist, too. So, on my waist — okay. And then how big do you get? Should work. Okay. So, I'm going to cut this just a little bit. And then I'm going to mark it at its halfway point, which is right here. Of course, I pick the pen that doesn't want to write. So that is halfway. Put it on both sides 'cause sometimes I won't see it. And then its quarter point will be here and here. And then here. Okay. So now it should be marked evenly. We got 0, 1, 2, middle back. And then you can sew one end here and then the quarter point there, the 3/4 point here.

Okay. Uh, I'll be right back. Okay. I made some decisions. And what I'm going to do is, using my seam allowance, I am going to sew the very edge of my elastic to one of the seams. So, we're just going to put it right here. And that's so it doesn't show through on the other side. That's my thinking with this. Okay. So, we are straight stitch and one, two, forward, a few back, a few forward, a few back. Can't hurt to do a bunch. Okay, so we got that one there. And then this one should go here. This is halfway, so it should skip straight there. Halfway goes here. And so now I'm just going to stitch little halfway guy there. Go this way. And over back and drop and turn it. Just really getting it nice and stuck. All right. And then this end will connect back over where the first one is. Making my way around. Okay. And we're going to just overlap it a little. And same thing. Oh god. All of a sudden I was like, have I not been recording? Okay. Forward and backward. Freaking fingers are locking up on me.

Okay, so you're probably wondering now, how am I going to sew with everything all janky like that? Because right now you might be looking at this going, "Uh-oh, what?" Now it's not so bad. It just looks so bad. Okay, so what we are gonna do now — find one of our sides, and we're going to slip this bad boy over the edge. Keep that skirt nice and out of the way. She is bunchy. You can't see, but I'm just showing tons of skirtage right now. There we go. Okay. And then we got our little corner here. So the elastic is sewn here to this. And my thought was that maybe I could encase it like this all the way around. Oh, but then it's still going to — we'll have the one line through. That won't be so bad. Okay. So, I feel like the play is to just encase it like so. So, we'll take it and we'll flip the top half over and then we'll flip it all the way over.

And then you want to make sure your elastic is not going to get sewn through. And then you just block everything with your finger. Okay. And I'm going to make this stitch a little longer so we can go quicker. And then just as you sew, you're just going to pull this part this way, flip this part this way, and try and keep your line straight. Okay. Pull. Pull. Not doing a very good job staying straight, I'll tell you that much. But you can just keep tugging on this because it's sewn into place to keep stretching out your elastic. And this got stuck on something. Of course it did. When I'm trying to use my fingers as pins. Okay. Pull that. Pull. Sometimes it really pays to have a plan. Other times winging it works just fine. We'll find out which this is soon. I pulled too hard. Okay, we're back. And we're over. And we're flipping. And we're flipping.

I do have a little problem coming up here. Figure out how to attack it when we get there. But I have lots less seam allowance than previously. Like, this is like nothing. So, I'm like, what am I going to do? I guess we're just going to keep doing what we've been doing. Maybe make this a little tighter for now. Rock, what are you doing, crazy? Let's get you flipped around. Make sure everybody's coming through. It gets all bunchy. Hi. Hello. I'm actually not sure what the rules are on YouTube. Like, am I allowed to hit my vape? Can you get banned for that? I don't want to get banned. I definitely don't have a for-kids show, so it should be fine. I feel like there's borderline porn on most of these apps, and I'm like, "Oh, what about my vape? Are they going to be mad at me?" Okay. It's so close but so far away at the same time. I'm so mad about this seam situation. This side's even worse. Guess I'll have to use some cute hem tape in the end or something.

My lanta. And then we get where we can flip it again. My consistent stitching is truly beautiful. Okay, we are so close. I am going to finish this and I'm going to be able to put it on and I'm going to have time to go see D probably with the dress on so I can be more efficient with my time. I tell you what, guys. When my kids are grown and I'm not paying for anyone to go to college anymore, I'm getting out of the workforce. I almost said the blue collar industry. Girl, you work in tech. Your color is not blue. I just — I love my job, but man, I love sewing. I love figuring out these silly little problems and just seeing what happens. I read somewhere, someone told me one time, it's good to not love your job because — well, number one, it is good not to love your job because your job can't love you back and you'll get laid off, but it's good to not love-love it because it encourages you to pursue other passions or hobbies or something. But I do like my job. I just don't like capitalism. Labor.

All right, tug you in here and we wrap you up. Look at this bird's nest. I guess you can't see exactly how bad it is, but I promise it's pretty bad. I got to get glasses with this point of view. I have met glasses, but I can't use them because of my bangs. Betrayed by my own hair. Okay, got you all straightened out. And then I just want you — get in here the way you're supposed to. I think you're just not going to cooperate. All right, we're done. We are done. Frantically trying to get this [ __ ] off of here so we can look at it. I do need to do a little bit more pressing obviously first. Let's look at her. All right, we turn her right side out. Oh my god. Oh my god. She's so cute. Putting her on. Okay. I'm into it. I'm into it. Thanks for wasting your time with me. Waste more time by liking and subscribing and watching another video. Thanks.