Good Deeds dress with lined bodice and sleeves

The Good Deeds dress - my latest version

This is based on a great pattern that I have used before. It comes from Elysium. 

This probably doesn't look a lot like the original, but I wanted to develop it into something I could use as one of my Christmas dresses this year. I wanted sleeves, and I wanted the body lined, for warmth. However, that presented some challenges, and I wanted to write up exactly how I did it so that anyone else trying it in future will be a bit further up the learning curve that I was.

Note that a friend of the pattern author  has also written a tutorial on her own blog, Night Owl Menagerie, for a lined bodice version, (without sleeves) but in hers, she joins the skirt to both layers of the bodice (outer and lining) together, leaving an exposed seam. The skirt part is unlined. And I think she may join the side seams both layers together, exposing the side seeams. 

This IS a lot easier than my version, but for my grandchildren, who will quickly complain of itchy clothes, I wanted to ensure the seams were contained within the lining. (I also think it looks neater, especially if, like me, you don’t have a serger.) Here's the inside of my version.

As you can see, I've also added sleeves to mine. 

I've written up below what I did, but I've  will also later be writing a 'How To' for alternatives (for example, without sleeves, without a frill). But for a simpler version without sleeves, the Night Owl Menagerie tutorial may work for you.


First, some general notes:

• Press all seams as soon as they have been sewn, before moving on.

• Finish exposed seams. Those inside the lined bodice don’t need to be finished unless fabrics are fragile / fray very easily. But I usually finish the seam along the sleeve (if not lined), and skirt seams, including the lining, which may become exposed in the washing machine.

• In a number of places, I’ve suggested when sewing certain seams, to stop before the end. This is to give you a little wriggle room, and you can then close up the last bit afterwards. In practice, I think I may have been over-cautious, but I hate it if I need to unpick a bit when I have fastened off the end of a seam firmly.

• When clipping curves, be careful not to cut right across the seam allowance or through the stitching.

• You can use any sleeve pattern which will fit the armscye. I used this one (having measured it for the armscye seam allowance and adjusted if needed.)

The main challenge with lining the Good Deeds dress, if you want to cover the waist seam, is that the front comes in two over-lapping pieces.  I learnt a lot through trial and error, and this is how I found it would work. I don't have picture of all the steps, but if you take careful note of LEFT and RIGHT, you'll be fine.

Where I’ve indicated RIGHT and LEFT below, this assumes you want the right side of the bodice to overlap the left. You’ll have to reverse those if you want to overlap the other way.

So, here goes.

1. Remember to add extra seam allowances to neckline and armholes, as the original with only one layer has bias binding round the edge.  I forgot, and had to edge with bias binding, which only made it more difficult. I would have preferred to just join the lining to the outer fabric at the neckline, right sides together.

But I'll give you the method with bias binding later, if like me, it's already too late!

2. Split skirt main panel outer and lining into two, for front and back, so you now have side seams (you can add a bit of extra seam allowance if you like, but the skirt is gathered, so a tiny shortfall here won't make much difference, whereas it would on the neckline). 

3. Put the outer bodice pieces right sides together and sew shoulder seams; repeat for lining

Shoulder seams sewn together. 

4. Press up the hems ¼” and ¼” on the cuffs, but don’t sew the hems yet. With tiny hems, I often find it easier to press the full amount first, then turn under the smaller amount, and press. See below.)  

If making frilled cuffs, do this on the bottom edge of the frill. Then baste and gather frills and attach to bottom of sleeves, right sides together. 

Press the half inch first, then turn and press the quarter inch under

5. If you have a sleeve pattern that requires a bit of gathering, baste between the marks on the top curve, then pin and ease to fit into armholes on outer bodice; attach sleeves. Note the seam along the sleeve is still open at this point.

Sleeves attached, and front skirt attached to right front (see 8 below)

6. Press the armhole seams towards the bodice. Clip the curves carefully as you do this, to ensure the seams will lie flat.

7. Gather and attach back skirt piece to back bodice, and back skirt lining piece to back bodice lining.

Gathered back of lining attached to back bodice lining

8. Gather and attach front outer skirt to front RIGHT of outer bodice (this will overlap the LEFT side) - see picture at point 6

9. Gather and attach skirt lining front to LEFT side of front bodice lining

10. Pin bodice and lining right sides together, and sew all round neckline, leaving sides open; clip curves, press, then open up again. I don't have a picture of this because I blew it! So I had to bind them together wrong sides together.

11. Sew sleeve seams – stop just short of armhole seam allowance - you can also hem the cuffs at this stage if you wish.

12. Sew and finish skirt and skirt lining side seams, stopping just short of seam joining skirt to bodice

13. Sew up LEFT bodice lining seam, joining back to LEFT lining front, right sides together - make sure the seam is facing the outside. Finish down to join skirt. (Keep all other pieces of bodice – and skirt - out of the way.) Don't sew up the other bodice lining seam yet.#

Sewing left bodice lining side seam

14. Sew up RIGHT side of bodice outer to bodice back side seam, right sides together. Finish down to skirt and up to sleeve. Again, keep all other pieces out of the way. Don't sew up the other bodice seam yet. #

Sewing right bodice side seam

# Note that in 13 & 14, you are sewing the deeper side of the front bodice or lining to the back, leaving the other shorter end free for now. 

15. Using sharp scissors, put little nicks round the curves on the armholes of the bodice lining, carefully, and less than the seam allowance, so that the seam allowance can neatly be tucked under round the armholes. Pin the lining with the seam allowance tucked in, to the seam allowance of the bodice armhole, encasing the raw edges, and hand-stitch. (You can sew it by machine, if you prefer, and don’t mind the stitches on the outside.) I stopped short of the sleeve seam to allow some wriggle room.

Hand-stitching on armholes seen on finished garment

16. Now the fiddly bits. Take the free end of the RIGHT bodice front, both layers outer and lining (the bit so far unattached, which is shorter in height than the other end) and poke it between the (still open) LEFT hand outer bodice side seam. Flip it over (so it is separate from the already sewn up lining seam) and pin the bodice pieces right sides together, trapping the free end you’ve just poked through. Sew the seam together and continue down to the skirt and up to the sleeve.

17. Take the free end of the LEFT bodice front (should be on the inside) and poke it between the (still open) RIGHT hand bodice lining side seam. Flip it over (so it is separate from the already sewn up outer bodice seam) and pin the lining side seam right sides together, trapping the free end you’ve just poked through. Sew the seam together and continue down to the skirt.

18. Complete any remaining gaps in seams by hand-stitching

A bit of hand-stitching needed here to poke the rest of that tape end that missed the seam

19. Turn back the right way out, then either flip up the outer skirt and hand stitch the waist seam allowances together to stabilise the bodice, OR, pin through all layers just above the bottom of the bodice and edge stitch all the way round the waist. (That's what I did.)

Machine stitching through the waist, seen front and back

20. Finish bottom of lining by turning up and pressing ¼” and ¼”, and sew. (This could in fact be done any time after sewing up the lining side seams.)

21. Attach frill, if using

22. Finish cuffs

Machine stitching 1/4" plus 1/4" hems

Finished dress

Postscript: Well she has tried it on, and it's fits her beautifully. (She has it on over a T shirt in these pictures, so it's closer fitting than without. But try and get a picture when she is not running about or hanging upside down? I've done my best!

And she likes being able to spin!

And with big sister.

Further ideas follow, including my suggestions for the methods for:

• a version without sleeves (like the Night Owl Menagerie version but covering the waist seam)
• a method to avoid cutting the skirt into front and back pieces????
• a version without the frill
• lined version with bias binding