Congratulations on getting started with your Elodie Dress!  This is a lovely dress for linen, with its gorgeous drape and swishy skirt.  And Closet Core is, from my perspective, the gold standard for clear instructions so we are sure you’ll have a marvelous time making your dress!

Here are a few tips and tricks for sewing with your new linen:

• Always prep your linen for cutting properly.  It’s totally worth your time as it creates a much better result and it’s easier to sew! Here’s a video to help you prepare your linen to cut it on-grain: Part 1 and Part 2.  Think too about whether you want to wash and dry your fabric before cutting, and prep appropriately - I have tips in my Caring for Linen video.
• Any time you work with a drapey fabric like linen, it’s especially important to make sure the thread tension is balanced on your sewing machine, and that you’re using the best feet and footplates you have for sewing linen!  So check out those videos for sure! For most sewing machines it will also be important to start your stitching lines a little away from the edge of your fabric, so your linen doesn’t get tangled in your footplate.  These quick checks and knowledge will make this a very fun sew.
• When cutting your pattern, make super sure you have found and marked all of the notches.  
• When the instructions ask you to overlock, if you don’t have a serger or an overlock capability on your sewing machine, you can use a zig zag stitch.  I like to use a stitch length of 2 and a stitch width of 2.

Your kit includes lightweight fusible weft interfacing.  I made a video for you here if you’re new to weft interfacing or need a refresher!  The most important points:

• No need to pre-rinse this interfacing - it is ready to go.
• There’s stretch in one direction.  This is the cross-grain.  The non-stretch direction is the grain
• Use your pattern piece to make sure your linen is exactly shaped like the pattern piece BEFORE you fuse the interfacing to it.  It’s really easy to get linen out of alignment and you want to fuse it nice and straight on the grain.
• Use a presscloth when you interface!  If you don’t have one or don’t want to use yours for interfacing, you can use the acid-free tissue in your box as a presscloth.  
• Hold each section without moving the iron for 15-20 seconds.  Overlap when choosing the next section.  Use lots of steam!

Hope you have a wonderful time making your Helga Shirt!   Keep in mind that we sell Refill Kits of our boxes (no pattern but all the other goodies) if you want to make more than one!  Also please share your experience with us - we are a new business and all feedback is a gift!  You can share feedback or ask questions privately by emailing waxwingsewing@gmail.com, or share your make on Instagram by tagging #waxwingsewingkit and don’t forget  #closetcoreelodie!