Feliz Sew-along: Straps and Final Assembly

Various parts of this sew-along can be found here:

Feliz part 1: Yardage
Feliz part 2: Prep
Feliz part 3:Overdress
Feliz part 4: Underdress
Feliz part 5: Straps and final assembly

Okay, today we will sew together the straps and finish off the dress. To start, i'll align one front strap and one back strap together as shown here. Sew the center seam.

Then I'll sew the side seams (the long edges) of the strap, with right sides facing. Then turn the straps right side out and press.
Next, topstitch the straps on the long-edges. Set the straps aside for a moment.
Now we're going to put the over and underdress sections together. To do this, align the top edges of the overdress and underdress sections with the right side of the overdress facing the wrong side of the underdress.
Now we are going to insert the straps in between these two dress layers, so that the straps are sandwiched in between. The strap will attach at the marking from the pattern piece. Sandwich the strap so that the straight edge of the strap facing towards the center of the front panels of the dress and the curved edge faces out towards the sides of the dress. Pin or baste the strap in place. Now you will need to curve that strap towards the back of the dress and pin in place as well. Be sure you aren't twisting the strap, you want it to lie flat once you are done. This diagram will hopefully explain the strap positioning between the dress layers. The strap is the shaded outline.
Pin the rest of the top edges of the two dresses together and then sew.
Be careful not to catch the ties in your seam.
Remember that 1/2" overhang you left when you assembled the underdress? Well now you are going to trim that off. I usually trim the corner here so that it doesn't show once the dress is right-side out. I just nip off the corner at a diagonal as shown by the scissor point.

Now turn the dress right side out. It should look like this.
Press the top edge with your iron and topstitch. Now we're ready to make the casings for the ties. I align my dress so that it lies flat, positioning the strap where it should line between the two dress layers. I mark the sewing line using my ruler. Make sure the casing is wide enough for the strap to fit and not catch in the seam. On mine, I mark the lines about 1/4" from the edge of the strap. Pin the strap in place so it doesn't move while you are sewing.

It should look like this when you are done. We're almost done with this dress. I'm going to attach the ruffle to the bottom edge of the underdress, fold the seam allowance up and topstitch in place.
That's it!! The Feliz is ready to go! Press and enjoy :)