3. Damn Good Dress Tutorial – Cut Out Your Fabric

3A‭. ‬Place your pattern pieces on your self fabric as shown in the following layouts‭. ‬Use the layout correct for your chosen fabric width and size‭. ‬Size layouts are on the pages that follow‭.‬

Lay out your fabric on a flat and even surface safe for cutting with the right side of your fabric facing up‭.‬

The grey pattern pieces indicate that it is the back layer of your fabric folded‭, ‬OR you need to flip your pattern piece to be laying face down if you are cutting a single layer of fabric‭.‬

The dotted lines indicate where you can fold your fabric to cut in 2‭ ‬layers‭. ‬The‭ ‬#1‭ ‬Front Bottom‭ ‬and‭ ‬#2‭ ‬Back Bottom‭ ‬pieces are cut on the fold to create one full piece‭.‬

3B‭. ‬Pin the pattern pieces in place making sure the grainline is parallel to the selvedge of the fabric‭.‬

Grainline‭ ‬is indicated on the paper pattern pieces with the straight line that has an arrow at either end‭. ‬Cutting on the‭ ‬‮!'‬straight grain‮!(‬‭ ‬means that this grainline should be parallel to the selvedge of the fabric‭. ‬You can also cut on the‭ ‬‮!'‬cross grain‮!(‬‭ ‬or on the‭ ‬‮!'‬bias grain‮!(‬‭ ‬of your fabric‭, ‬but you do not need to worry about those options for this project‭.‬

Selvedge‭ ‬is the edge produced during manufacturing on a woven fabric that stops it from unravelling‭. ‬In this photo you can see the selvedge has a tiny little green line parallel along the full edge‭.‬

3C‭. ‬Keeping your fabric and scissors resting on the table‭, ‬cut out your self fabric along the edge of your pattern pieces‭.‬

‭*‬Make sure to use a sharp pair of fabric scissors‭. ‬It truly makes the world of difference when cutting fabric‭!‬

3D‭. ‬Save your scraps‭! ‬Keep all the excess fabric leftovers after cutting‭. ‬I will be sharing loads of project ideas and tutorials‭ ‬for your fabric scraps specifically so keep on the look out as you gather more leftovers‭!‬