Draft and Sew a Banded Collar Dress and Button-Down Tunic

You can never have enough clothing that feels as comfy as pajamas but still looks stylish. When you draft your own patterns, your clothes will fit and feel even better. Author, illustrator, and designer Sanae Ishida teaches you how to take your torso and sleeve slopers that you can make in her sloper classes and make adjustments to draft a pattern for the banded collar dress from her book Sewing Love. After drafting, you'll move on to constructing the dress while learning how to add pockets, sew gathers for the back skirt, and make a neck bias binding for the split neckline. For a fun variation and second piece of clothing, see how a few small changes in the drafting process can transform your dress pattern into tunic pattern. The tunic includes a button placket, with Sanae demonstrating how to sew buttonholes and buttons. Build so many drafting and sewing skills in this robust class, and find yourself with not only two beautifully finished garments but also the knowledge of how to design many more of your own. Learn how to:

• Draft a pattern for and sew a banded collar dress using your own torso and sleeve slopers
• Adjust the dress pattern to draft and sew a button down tunic
• Top stitch
• Understitch
• Finish raw edges with zig zag stitch
• Add pockets to a garment
• Sew gathers
• Make a neck bias binding
• Create a button placket
• Sew button holes