Slip Sew-Along #7: Sewing the Front and Back

And we're back! Sorry for the pause; I was having some technical difficulties. I lost some files and had to start my slip from the beginning. The bright side is that now you can see the slip in a different color! This is the lavender slip kit (also available in plus/tall size).

Okay, so the last thing we did was to put the bra together.

Now, get out your slip front. It's the piece that has the wedge-shaped cutout on the left thigh. Cut a length of lace to match the upper edge of the piece. Lay the lace on the piece so that the edge of the lace matches the raw edge of the fabric. If one side of your lace is more scalloped than the other, you'll want the scallops pointing down.

Pin the lace in place and stitch along the lower edge. Use a "square zigzag" (about 2.5 long by 2.5 wide) and follow the scallops with your stitching. The easiest way to do this is to hold the fabric taut from in front of and behind the presser foot, and steer the fabric as you go.

Using a small pair of scissors, cut away the fabric from behind the lace.

Now get out your bra piece again.

With right sides up, lay the slip front over the bra piece so that they overlap by 1/4". Pin in place. Zigzag in place:

Now your lace is stitched at the top and the bottom.

It looks like this on the inside:

Now get out the slip back piece, elastic guide #6, and your picot-edge elastic (that's the elastic with the small scallops on one side). Cut the elastic to your size, as indicated on piece #6.

Lay the slip back out with the right side facing up. Place the elastic at the top of the piece, with the scallops facing down (the wrong side of the elastic is facing up). Pin in place at either end of the back piece. The elastic will be smaller than the back piece.

Using your square zigzag, stitch the elastic to the slip back, close to the scalloped edge. Stretch the elastic to fit as you sew. (It's easiest to use both hands and stretch from the front and the back of the presser foot.)

Next, flip the elastic to the wrong side of the slip back. From the inside, stitch again, positioning your presser foot so that the center of the foot is along the bottom edge of the elastic.

One side of the zigzag will fall to the left of the elastic, and the other to the right of it. Stretch as you sew.

The scalloped edge of the picot elastic will show on the right side.

Now it's time to sew the side seams! With right sides together, pin the slip front to the slip back.

When matching up the pieces, use your notches as a guide. However, the most important thing is that the pieces match at the top at the seam allowance. Do not match the raw edges together at the top.

Stitch with a wobble stitch (about 1 mm long and 2.5 long) at 5/8". Stitch again just to the inside of that stitching line, in the seam allowance. Trim close to your second line of stitching.

Now your front is sewn to your back!

Next we'll move on to the straps!

Previous sew-along posts:

Slip Sew-Along #1: Inside the Kit, Plus Other Supplies
Slip Sew-Along #2: Pre-treating Your Fabric
Slip Sew-Along #3: Picking a Size and Making Adjustments
Slip Sew-Along #4: Bust Adjustments
Slip Sew-Along #5: Cutting and Marking
Slip Sew-Along #6: Sewing the Bra Top