Tag: Knit fabric

I have been participating in a month long Instagram event. #bpsewvember. Every day a topic that we need to follow. An early one was WIP Work in progress.

 

So it was time to get cracking.Of  course I used my serger, this is a knit fabric after all. But unlike my previous dress, I had to rely on more than one machine.I thought it would just be two. Here I am using a twin needle for all the hems. Gives a nice double row of stitching. Mimics a cover-stitch machine, no I don’t need one, really I don’t have the room…..  just trying to convince myself that I REALLY don’t need one.The problem with my relatively simple machine is there is only room for one spool. I’m not the first sewer to come across this problem, hence the external spool holder. Works wonderfully! Twin needles need two spools of thread.

And then… turns out I needed to sew two short rows of gathering stitches. The thought of changing out the twin needle was too much. It is very hard to thread that thing, the machine can’t thread both side. SO….Machine no. 3, the straight stitch only one.Top is finished and lovely, are you seeing what I’m seeing a big black dot right in the middle. The more I look at this fabric I realize I was plain lucky – I could have had circle in very inconvenient places – like right over my boobs.  Never thought of that when I bought the fabric.It all worked out and the dress is adorable, which begs the question, WHY AREN’T I SMILING?  You’ll have to ask the photographer that question. (me).A very quick sew, 3 hours at most, using ITY knit which is soft and clingy.  The V-neck line sits beautifully, I credit both the pattern and the fabric.And… here is my black dot again, right in the middle of my back!  Closer look at the lovely fit in front.  No special treatment here. I have read enough advice about how to reinforce such a neckline so it won’t gape. I’m wondering if because it is a separate piece of fabric it lies so well.  It isn’t on the bias as it would be if the fronts were one piece instead of two.  Of course I will use this pattern again. If I use a thicker fabric I won’t have the pleasure of twirling the skirt like this, another fun aspect of this fabric.

Leah

Although it still feel like summer, I’ve started my winter sewing. I must confess to really liking the Big Four pattern companies.  I HATE to print and tape together patterns at home, which is what one often has to do when buying an indie pattern. Or else I have to pay $15-18 dollars plus shipping for a printed indie pattern. I will do so from time to time if the pattern is unique enough, but I find that the Big Four know what they are doing and I am getting very adept at hacking the patterns.

Love the peplum, do not love a V-neck for a winter dress, I tend to get very cold on my neck.I didn’t take a picture of the fabric before I cut it. Suffice to say, this is an ITY knit (probably poly-lycra) that I bought for $5 a yard at Michael Levines, in the regular store, not the bargain loft. $10 for a dress isn’t bad. It was a border print and I’m happy that I was able to cut the peplum out of the border section of the print. As I get older I find myself more willing to wear black – that is if there is some very interesting print on the black. This one fit the bill.

Now was the time to make some finishing decisions.This fabric is rather thick, so folding a hem didn’t seem like a good idea. Instead I serged  this with a rolled hem stitch. Because most of the fabric is cut on the bias and it’s a very stretchy knit – I didn’t get a lovely clean finish, but no-one will ever get this close the the skirt. A finish is better than non at all, which was an option.I was thinking of using the border print as a neckband, but thought better of it.  Rather than framing the whole dress with this print, why not only have it on the bottom of the dress and sleeves. I feel it gives a more balanced look to the dress.Also, I ran out of fabric, I had enough for the sleeve bands, but not enough for the neck.Yes, this looks more natural and finished than the jarring border print.The whole dress was made only on the serger, no sewing machine at all. Which means the darts as well. I could have lifted the knife and sewn the dart whole, but I don’t think that would work.  Sergers aren’t made to have any fabric on the right side of the needles. So it’s just as well that I let the knife cut the excess fabric off.I folded the cuff in half and serged onto the sleeve, nice clean and neat.The inside. I love my serger!And now, for some cool weather.  I think my photography has improved a lot since I started this blog, yet there is always room for improvement. I need to pay more attention to the background. That rose bush is distracting!  I have signed up for a Craftsy Class on how to photograph ‘product’, we’ll see what that does to my photography.

Leah