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There is a box, in the corner of my sewing[br]room.

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It is a box whose contents have not seen the[br]light of day for many a month.

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Many crafters will be familiar with this box,[br]in all of its forms:

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There’s the ever-growing amorphous lump[br]that lies underneath your desk…

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The monster underneath your bed…[br]The stuff you vacuum-packed in a fit of organization

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and stuffed into your garage in the hopes[br]that you’d never have to deal with it again…

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This, my friends, is the UNFINISHED SEWING PILE.

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So, this is the item that I pulled out of[br]the box and that I’m going to work on for

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this episode.[br]This is a really lovely strapless blue gingham

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dress. The problem, however, is the strapless[br]part.

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When I attempt to wear it, it falls down![br]So, I want to add straps – more specifically,

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tie-up halter-neck straps!

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The first thing that I do is to measure roughly[br]how wide I want the straps to be at the top

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of the sweetheart neckline. I want them to[br]be about 3 inches wide, and then taper off

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and get thinner as the straps reach my shoulder.[br]I want most of the strap to only be 1.5 inches

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wide. And I also need excess length at the[br]back so that the straps can be tied up, and

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the straps should also curve a little bit[br]so that they will sit flat around my neck.

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Awesome. So, I put all that down onto a piece[br]of newspaper and here’s my pattern!

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The fabric that I’m using for the straps[br]is stretchy white jersey.

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I fold it over so that there is two layers,[br]so that I can cut out 2 matching pieces at once.

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I place my pattern onto the fabric, pin it[br]on, and cut around the paper.

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Then, I flip the pattern over and I repeat this.

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So, I’ve ended up with 4 pieces of fabric,[br]each pair sandwiched together like this. And,

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I’m going to then sew them together just[br]like this. I’m making sure that I leave

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a gap in my stitching at both the top and[br]the bottom.

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To sew them together, I’m using a zig-zag[br]stitch because I’m working with stretchy

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fabric. I’m also using a walking foot attachment[br]to help the seam lay flat.

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After I’ve sewn the two pieces together,[br]it gives me this tube thing. So I stick a

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safety pin in one end of the tube to help[br]me turn it inside out, and I turn the tube

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all the way around, so that the seams are[br]now on the inside of the tube.

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Then, I simply sew the gaps closed by sewing[br]over the top of them.

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For this smaller end,that I left completely open, I fold the excessfabric inside it about half an inch and then

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sew over the top.

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Once I’ve done that, I attach the straps[br]to the dress where I want them to sit, pin

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them on, and sew carefully over the top here,[br]using a really small straight stitch.

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Then, I also decide that I want to replace[br]the buttons with something a little bit cuter.

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Now, I have a LOT of cute buttons, and it’s[br]honestly really hard making a choice, but

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in the end I go for something a bit more subtle[br]than cat or heart buttons – I got these

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white buttons are from my grandma, and I think that they’ll give the dress a more vintage, pin-up feel.

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I carefully cut off the old buttons, and,[br]using a needle and a thread in matching colour

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to the buttons, I sew the buttons on, using[br]the small holes left in the fabric from the

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buttons I just removed to know where to place these new ones.

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To sew these buttons on, I sew up through[br]the back of the dress through one hole of

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the button and back down through the other hole.

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I repeat this a couple of times,

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then, with the thread at the back of the dress I[br]tie a knot, and cut off the excess thread.

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And here is my new and improved dress![br]I think that the new halter straps go really

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well with the dress and it also has the added[br]bonus of not falling off when I try to wear

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it! So, that’s good![br]Here’s the tie-up straps in action – 10

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inches extra seemed to be about the perfect[br]length to allow me to tie a messy bow at the back.

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And - yeah! There we have it! Thanks for watching,

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and I’ll see you all next time!