Menu
MN2005 Matilda / Sewalongs

Matilda Sewalong: How to sew sleeve bands and hem your skirt

Matilda - How to sew sleeve bands and hem your skirt

Time to add the sleeve bands to your Matilda dress! I really love sleeve bands, I find they are just so satisfying to insert and result in a completely different look than a regular sleeve which is nice for a change.

Since inserting your sleeve bands is quite straightforward, I’ll also show you how to hem your dress (also super easy!) and after that, all you need to do is add buttons and button holes and you can wear your dress! I am so excited to finish and wear my dress!

Ok, let’s get sewing!

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Fold the Sleeve Band [9] in half with right sides together, and so that the short edges are aligned.

Sew 5/8” (1.5cm) from the raw edge along the short edge. Press the seam open.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Fold the sleeve bands in half with wrong sides together and press.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Open the sleeve band and turn in one raw edge by 5/8” (1.5cm) and press. Repeat for the second sleeve band, ensuring that you fold in the opposite raw edge so that your sleeve bands are mirror images like those above.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Turn the sleeve bands right side out. Place the sleeve band inside the bodice of the dress with right sides together and so that the notches on the sleeve band line up with the notches on the bodice. The seam of the sleeve band should line up with the side seam of the bodice.

Sew 5/8” (1.5cm) around to attach the sleeve band to the bodice.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Press the sleeve band away from the bodice.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Fold over the raw edges of the sleeve seam, and topstitch or hand sew to enclose. Press.

Repeat for the second sleeve band.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Sew 1/2” (1.3cm) from the raw edge along the skirt hem. Turn in the hem along this line of stitching and press.

How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
How to sew sleeve bands and hem the skirt // Matilda dress tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Turn the hem in by 1/2” (1.3cm) once more and topstitch to enclose the raw edges. Press well.

That’s almost it my friends – all you need to do now is add your closures and your dress will be done! In a few days, I’ll be showing you how to sew buttonholes without an automatic buttonhole function, which is useful if you have a machine without an auto function, or if the auto function just ends up with terrible buttonholes.


| LOOKING FOR MORE MATILDA POSTS? |

Here’s the full list of Matilda posts and tutorials:

We’d love to see what you make, so don’t forget to tag your creations with #MNmatilda and @megannielsenpatterns to share what you’ve been working on, and check out what everyone else is up to

Don’t have the pattern yet?!

Don't have the Matilda pattern yet?

Order Matilda today in sizes 0-20 or Curve sizes 14-34!

About Author

Meg is the Founder and Creative Director of Megan Nielsen Patterns, and is constantly dreaming up ideas for new sewing patterns and ways to make your sewing journey more enjoyable! She gets really excited about design details and is always trying to add way too many variations to our patterns.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Elaine Laswell
Elaine Laswell
6 years ago

Love the style of this dress!