 Hi you guys, I am Lindsay. I am the host of Inside the Hymn on YouTube and I am so excited to be here working on the Seamwork Chantel dress. So doing a so long series with you guys, a few videos that are gonna walk you through every single step of sewing the Chantel dress. So this dress has a lot of different features on it. We've got a collar, we've got a button placket with a facing, we've got a set in sleeve, lots of really great opportunities for me to share all my best tips and tricks with you guys. If you missed it, I have an episode zero that talks about fit alterations that I made, fabrication. So if you need help with all of that kind of stuff, go check out episode zero and it'll help you with all of your prep work. I also have a free download that corresponds directly with this so-along. It is a workbook. So if you need help staying organized, staying on track, all of those kinds of things, download the workbook. I've linked it in the description box for you guys. It's completely free like I said. So be sure to check that out but without further ado, let's get sewing. Okay, so our very first step is to stay stitch along the necklines of A, C and J. So I have all of those here. Stay stitching is just a regular stitch length at, they say a quarter of an inch seam allowance. So I'm gonna come in a quarter of an inch. You wanna start at the shoulder and come to the center. Same thing with A, you're going to start at the shoulder and go to the center. And then for C, you're going to start at the shoulder and go to the center here. Break your stitches, go to the shoulder and stitch here. And that prevents all of this from stretching out along the body. Okay, so the next steps are to take your center back, which is C, the biggest one that you cut on the fold and attach it to the side back, which is D. They tell you in the instructions to sew this together and then finish your seams separately. I'm gonna finish the seams first, then sew it together and then press it open. I think that it's easier to finish the seams, especially in a serger before all the seams are done. So let me go do all of these vertical seams at my serger. Okay, easy peasy. For what it's worth, if you don't have a serger, Hong Kong seams, flat-felled seams, even faux flat-felled seams would be really pretty on this pattern as well. Okay, so we've got our center back. She looks like this and we are gonna take each of these panels, the side backs and attach them along these long edges. So the one that's opposite of your arm, so the one that has the curve goes to the inside. All right, so you've got lots and lots of little helpful hints through here to keep you lined up. So if this is our side back D and this is our center back, C, they go together actually like this. Yep, and so you've got your circles matching. You've got these notches matching and you've got these notches matching. So I start with the notches first. All right, then go to the lower notch. There we go, and here we go. All right, so once these two are lined up, then you can line up your bottom hem and your top hem or your top, I don't know, this is just shoulder, I guess. So all the parts that are weird are gonna be in between here and in between the two notches as well. So we're just gonna ease these in. Remember when you're easing, because this one here is bigger than this one here. So when you're easing these two things in, remember they match up at the seam line. They do not match up at the raw edges, but you just have to trust the process and trust that when you get to your machine, even if they're wrinkly-winkly on the edges, they will match up at the seam line. Okay, so now I've got three pins there. That's pretty good. Okay, and then through the middle here, this looks pretty good. I'm glad we're starting with the back to the front. The side panel is gonna be a little bit harder, but it's the same process. It's just a little bit more curvier on the front, obviously, because you have more curves. Okay, we're just matching it up, kind of splitting the difference between, like start in the middle, and then split the difference again like this. That way, it's all evenly distributed throughout this little area here. Okay, so that's gonna be good enough for me. Obviously, feel free to pin more, but can you see how this is bigger than this here, right? And then up here, this one on top is bigger than the one on bottom. That's the plan. That's how we're gonna get those really pretty curves. That's how you get this really pretty shape through your side. So you're gonna do this to this side, repeat for the other side as well, and then you're gonna do the exact same thing for the front pieces, which are A and B. You're gonna attach A and B the exact same way that we've done here. All right, I'm working on the front now. Do not forget to surge your raw edges or finish them however you're finishing them. However, you do not have to finish this long straight edge on the front. That's gonna be covered up with your facing. I finished my own accident, but you don't have to. Okay, remember, I said at the seam line, they will all match up. So even if they don't match at the raw edges, they will match as you sew them at the seam line and it looks really beautiful. So just go really slowly. Use a larger stitch length if you have to. I'm one of 3.5 and really use your fingers to feel and make sure that it's flat and smoothed out at the seam line as you're sewing. Here's the front as it came together at the seam line as well. So pretty. All right, so if you've ever watched any of my videos, you're probably looking at these instructions right now and thinking, uh-oh, what is she gonna do? Sorry about the shaky camera. I don't do floppy pockets. And normally when there is a waist seam or some kind of horizontal seam, I will alter my pocket so that they get anchored into that seam. There is not a horizontal seam on this pattern. I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I was gonna anchor the pocket into this seam, but ultimately decided that for this semi-clothesfitted body skimming design, I didn't want pockets. So I am not going to be doing any of the pocket instructions. If you want the floppy pockets in your dress by all means, you add the pockets. There are a couple ways that you can see a video tutorial of the pockets. One is through Seamwork's tutorials. I'll have a link in the description box for that. As well as I have an e-course that has not in addition to pockets, it also has a ton of other tutorials about princess seams that we've done here, but also hems, facings, a lot of things that we'll be doing throughout this process. So a couple of different ways that you can see how to do the pocket installation. If that is going to be your design preference. Okay, so good news is, if you're skipping the pockets, we are just gonna move right along and pin up our side seams. This should be a pretty straightforward one-to-one situation here, meaning they line up equally. There's no easing in or anything like that. But still, I like to do the top and then the hem and then get everything going in the middle. There are some dots and notches. If you wanna match those up, make sure you're on the right track. You should be doing that. All right, one more pin up here and then we'll do the other side and then sew them together. For what it's worth on this design regarding pockets, I do think it would be super cute to do like a patch pocket on the outside, either two on the front, two on the back. You can definitely get your pockets going, get pockets on this dress, if you love dresses with pockets, without putting them in the side seam. You know, think outside the box a little bit. Okay, maybe one more pin up here and then to the sewing machine. All right, so the next step is to sew the shoulder seams together. We're just gonna stay here at the machine because it's a pretty straightforward little thing here. For what it's worth, you might want to baste your shoulder seams and then go ahead and try this on for fit. We have a lot of different vertical seams here working to get a good fit. So try it on, let it out at the bust or take it in at the bust, hip, waist, all of those areas, you have many different places where you can adjust for fit. Princess seams on the front, side seams on the side. So now's a really good chance to go ahead and do that. So if you're gonna test fit it now and you think you might have to make adjustments, go ahead and just baste your shoulder seam, otherwise sew up that shoulder seam if you know the fit is good. All right, so that is going to be our video for today. That's gonna be today's lessons. Princess seams are not for the faint of heart, especially if you've never done them before. So take it easy, right? Don't try and rush through this process. I'll be back in the next video for the next few steps, which focus on the collar.