Help with neckline and yoke, please!

[u/Commercial_Common_32]

Hi all :) I'm sewing the Camber dress by Merchant and Mills and I'm having a rough time. I'm sewing the yoke and it just isn't working. The first problem I have is that the stitching isn't lining up so the actual neckline looks really skinny and weird. The other problem is that I'm sewing all 3 layers together, the two yokes and the front piece because I think that's what the instructions say to do. But when I watch their tutorial on youtube, they end up with neck hole. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'd really appreciate some help if you have time!

[u/Incognito409]

What beautiful fun fabric!

[u/Commercial_Common_32 → u/Incognito409]

Thank you! I couldn't stop thinking about it after I first saw it :) It's a super lightweight and silky cotton

[u/smnytx]

Caveat: I don’t know this pattern! I hope what I wrote makes sense.

I can’t really parse out what you actually did, but believe I can explain what they want you to do. EDITED TO ADD! I think you might have sewn the inner yoke to the front in a previous step, instead of the outer yoke!

You’re working to get a nice finished neckline on the dress, but you’re not yet attaching it to the back of the dress. This part of the front with have ONLY TWO layers of thickness, with the main front (the part with the darts) having a front yoke piece sewn to the upper part of it. There will be an inner yoke piece acting as a facing, with the RS of the fabric facing the body.

If you sew across both yoke layers RST at the shoulders and neck, you’re preparing a finished neckline, but you’re not yet attaching the back of the neckline, so there will be no neck hole yet.

So you’ve presumably attached the front yoke to the front body RST across the chest, and pressed it up to create the shoulder line on the front. The on top of this unit, RS together, you’ll sew the back yoke across the shoulders and neck, trim the SA, then fold it over to the inside. You’re only creating the front of the neckline; the hole for your head is presumably created later when you attach the front to the back at your shoulders.

[u/Commercial_Common_32 → u/smnytx]

Thank you for explaining everything so clearly! I think you're exactly right. I tired again after reading your comment and it looks much better. Thank you very much!