What Is An Extended Neck-Front Combination Facing In Dressmaking
An extension neck-front combination facing is added to the main garment layer (and its corresponding sewing patterns) as a built-in extension that once folded, clean finishes the garment's front opening edges and front neckline. Compared to a conventional front-neck combination facing, if you take a look at the garment's opening edge, you'll see a defined folded edge as opposed to a seam.
In an extended facing application, each front garment piece has a built-in facing that when folded, matches perfectly with the garment's front neckline and bottom hem edge. The resulting fold line corresponds to the garment's finished opening edge and thus separates the facing from the garment portion. In the construction process, this fold line (often corresponding with the garment's center front) should be transferred to the wrong side of the garment as it it will serve an important guide in the alignment process.
While the front neckline edges are simultaneously clean finished by the built-in facing extension, the back neckline requires a separate facing piece. This facing portion is conventionally the same shape as a traditional shaped neck facing.
To complete the facing compartment, the front extension and back facing are stitched together at each shoulder seam. Once the facing and garment shoulder seams are stitched, ironed and clean-finished (if needed), the extension facing is folded at each garment opening edge with fabric face sides touching and neck edges aligning. The garment's shoulder seams should perfectly overlap those of the facing.
To complete the application, the raw edges are stitched along the neckline and notched for tension release prior to flipping the entire facing layer to the inside of the garment and exposing the clean-finished edges.
Once complete, all faced edges, including the garment opening folds, should be ironed for a professional, smooth finish.