HOW I CREATED A STUNNING SMOCKED ANKARA DRESS

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It's your favorite girl @debbie-ese 😍
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In this post I will be sharing with you how I made a smocked dress for a customer using African prints. What does it mean to smock a dress? When a dress is smocked it means the fabrics is stitched in a couple of gathers using elastic threads to create a stretchy effect. A smocked dress has a stunning fitting it gives to the body and it is perfect for all body sizes. However, smocking a dress is time consuming because you have to use an elastic thread to stitch the dress diagonally or vertically before you begin to join the pieces together.

Materials Needed

4 yards Ankara
Elastic thread
Threads matching Ankara fabrics
Zip
Tailoring chalk

Step by Step

The measurements I used for the top is as follows: Shoulder (16"), bust (46"), under bust (38"), bust line (16"), half length (20"), waist (44"), top length (27"), sleeve length (20"), round sleeve (16").
The measurements for the trouser is as follows: waist (44"), hip (48"), lap (30"), kneel length (21"), round kneel (22"), trouser length (44").
Start by folding the fabric into two and make it 18” wide and draw the starting line which also doubles as waist line.
Next, draw the hip line. The distance between the customer’s waist to hip is 9” and I proceeded to drawing my crotch line, which is her hip (48”) divided by 4 which is 12”.
So, draft out the trouser measurements and cut it out. Be sure to add extra 2” to all the measurements because we are going to be smocking the fabric.

Next, I folded the fabric into two to cut the back piece.
For the top I took my shoulder measurements which is 16” divided by 2 which is 8” and for the armholes I measured 8.5” and for the bust line, from shoulder to nipple point is 11.5”, underbust (16”) and half length (20”).
As it is an off shoulder dress, from the shoulder take 5” and cut it out then proceed to take the bodice measurements divided by 4 and cut it out.
Then use the front piece to cut the back piece and add 1.5” for zipper allowance.
Next, head over to your sewing machine and roll elastic threads on your roller which will be used to smock the fabric.
Go ahead to smock every part of the fabric and afterwards join all the pieces accordingly.
After joining the pieces, shape it to the size of the customer and using your pressing iron give it a good press.

Thanks for reading and see you in my next one.

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