The Cadence - tips and tricks

Pattern - Love Notions' Cadence
Skill Rating - Confident Beginner
Fabric - Fabricland - linen/rayon blend, 100% polyester & light cotton in pictures
Skills - darts, understitching, stitching in the ditch, hemming for slits

Love Notions has done it again!  A lovely, easy dress and shirt for the summer heat that is so quick to make up that it almost rivals the Laundry Day Tee for a fast sew.  And as we've come to expect with Love Notions patterns - options!

There are a few new skills with this pattern, so I thought I'd go through some of them in a little more detail.  You can click on any of the pictures to see them in a larger format.

Darts

The front of the bodice has darts and if you haven't done them before, don't worry - they're not that hard!  The first thing to do is to mark them.

If the fabric I'm using is dark, I'll use tailor's chalk to make the marks and if it's light, a washable fabric marker will work well.  Actually, I didn't have a fabric marker - I used a ballpoint pen since it wouldn't show on the front anyway!  After I make the marks, I draw in the top and bottom of the dart and a line right down the middle to help me make the fold properly.

Then I fold the dart on the centre line and check to make sure my top and bottom lines are together.  I pin it in place using 3 pins to secure it.  I now have a line to follow with my sewing machine.

I start my stitching line at the side and stitch right to the point, removing pins as I go.  The line makes it easy for me to keep my stitching straight.

When I reach the point of the dart, I make sure the needle is down, then lift the presser foot and pivot my fabric right around on the needle so I'm now facing in the opposite direction.

I continue stitching down the fold of the dart for an inch or two and then cut the threads - you can tie them off if you like.  Press your darts down and you're done!

The Facing - Finishing the Raw Edge and Understitching

The Cadence has a facing.  If you're doing the tank version, the facing goes on burrito style and there are clear instructions on how to do this.  I did the sleeved version, so the neck facing gets handled a little differently.

After the front and back facing have been sewn together, it's time to finish off the raw edge.  I serged around the edge just next to the blade so I didn't lose any fabric, but if you don't have a serger, there are basic edge finishing stitches most sewing machines have that will do the job just as well.  I find the middle of the front of both the bodice and facing and mark it with a pin.  The facing goes on right sides together, matching the shoulder seams, centre back and centre front and then is stitched in place with a sewing machine.

I clip the curved seam about every inch or so.  This is an important step as there will not be enough ease in the seam if you don't.

Press the seam towards the facing.  I can't stress enough how important ironing is when sewing.  I'm one of those people who hates ironing, but I never skimp on ironing while sewing.

Now you're ready for understitching.  This serves two purposes.  It makes the facing stay on the inside of the neck giving you a clean sharp finish and it reinforces the seam against fraying.  With the facing on one side (and the seam underneath it) and the bodice on the other, stitch on the facing about 1/8" from the seamline.  Hold the bodice and facing apart as you stitch.  When you're done, give it another good press.  The understitching makes this part easy.  If you're doing the neckline with the vee in the middle, you won't be able to understitch that section.

The Facing - Stitching in the Ditch

We've all dealt with a facing that kept popping out at one time or another.  There's a quick and easy way to stop this from happening.

Pin the facing in place at each shoulder seam.  Make sure your bodice and facing shoulder seams are right on top of each other.  With the right side out, position your sewing machine needle right in the seamline and outside of the facing.  Slowly and carefully stitch down the seamline for an inch or two.    You don't need to stitch to the neckline.  This keeps the facing where it's supposed to be and is barely visible.

You can do the same with the back seam or you can tack it in by hand.  If doing it by hand, grab the end of the facing with your needle and tack it to the edge of the seam.  Now give it another good press and this is done!

The Slit - Hemming

The Cadence includes a shirt length with side slits (which, unfortunately, don't show in the above picture!) I did a blog post on how to prepare pattern pieces for slits with the Allegro Maxi Skirt so you can refer to that for how to serge corners.  I'm going to concentrate here on the hemming process.

The angled top of the facing piece makes it much easier to serge the raw edge.   You can see how the serging is done by clicking the link just above. After you sew your front and back seams together - raw edges serged to finish the pieces, press the seam open, and press the slit openings as well.

There are clear instructions on the pattern tutorial for how to hem the slit.  I approach it from a slightly different angle as I prefer the folded opening on the bottom where it will be less visible.  This method makes it easier for me to ensure that the slits match exactly.  I fold open the slit facings and pin up the hem 1"

Now I fold back the facing - see how it's not even with the bottom of the hem?  Time to make a slight adjustment.

I tuck the offending edge back up and pin it firmly in place.  Then I press the hem well.

Now it's time to put in marker pins to show me where to pivot my needle.  I start with a point 1/2" above the end of the seam and place a pin there.  The angled corners are also marked with a pin.

I also place pins at pivot points where I turn from the hem to the slit and from the slit to the hem.

Now to stitch.  I start at one seam, stitch to the pivot point, then down to the hem, pivot and then on - keeping a little over 3/4" from the edge.  A nice crisp hem, edges of the slit perfectly matching and with the opening of the fold facing down where it can't be seen.

From the inside, it will look like this.

And as it happens, the Cadence blouse (with 3/4 flared sleeve) looks pretty nice over the Allegro Maxi Skirt!  You can get the patterns here:

Love Notions' Cadence - Dress and Shirt
Love Notions' Allegro - Maxi Skirt