Sew-Along Day 4, Steps 24, 28-31

Hi there!  Back for more Portfolio Dress Sew-Along fun?  I've been tucking all the sew-along posts in a handy archive, which you can access HERE.  I'm so grateful to Gwen and all the hard work she put into making this sew-along.  As always, we want to see what you've been making!  Be sure to add your photos to the flickr pool.

Today I'll show you how I put together the neckband for my dress. Be sure to click over to Gwen's to see steps 32-33!

  Step 24.  Apply fusible interfacing to front and back neck band sections.  

Stitch band sections together at shoulder seams.
For this step, I sewed both the neckband and facing at the same time.

  
Step 28.  Clip neck edge of garment to stitching.  (I skipped that part.) With RIGHT sides together, pin neck band to garment, matching centers, seams, and large dots.  Back edges of neckband extend 5/8".    Just to be clear, you are pinning the wider part of the neckband to the dress.  It should correspond perfectly.

Stitch.  Trim Seam.  Press seam toward neckband, pressing garment out.  

Step 29.  Stitch band facing sections together at shoulder seam (if you haven't already).  To EDGE FINISH notched edge...stitch 1/4" from edge.  

turn under along stitching, and stitch or ZIGZAG over the edge OR overlock/serge over the edge.

p.s.  I went back and trimmed the notches, too.

Step 30.  With RIGHT sides together, pin facing to band along back and neck edges, matching centers and seams.  Stitch back and neck edges.  Trim seams and corners, clip curves.  

Some of you noticed, I got all fancy and embroidered the yoke.  I also embroidered the neckband.  This is the point at which I did so.  It looked funny to me with just the yoke embroidered.

Step 31.  Turn facing to INSIDE; press.

Pin lower edge of facing over seam, placing pins on OUTSIDE.

On OUTSIDE, stitch in the ditch or groove of seam, catching the facing on the INSIDE and removing pins as you come to them.

You've completed the neckband!

You're so close to being done.  Hop on over to Gwen's for sewing on the buttons and hemming the dress.  
Don't forget you can catch up on all the previous steps HERE.