Category: poly jersey knit

Dress or top

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This week I was tossing up which version to make up from Kwik Sew 3658. The top or the dress.

Initially I made this up as a dress for Christmas eve dinner. Our weather today is mild but overcast and my planning is to have a couple of knit outfits available.
This dress uses a large knit print Pitt Trading in September at $2/m. The fabric has a dry knit feel to it, so it should wash/wear well. The other aspect of this print was it’s on a black background, which I liked. The print colours are bold enough and the only way I could keep the pieces continuous was to have the print aligned rather than match up, if you know what I mean.

This next version was the Christmas day version but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where to measure from to get the hem right. The reason for this is the collar is all part of the bodice and it is self faced. At the hem I’ve added continuous piece but this hasn’t worked out. This version was also earmarked to be without sleeves but there was too much fabric in the front shoulder seam so I’ve added the short sleeve.

 

The red/grey fabric is from the winter Knitwit direct collection and I’ve still got plenty left for different styled knit dress for weekend BBQs. When I wore this version with my bare legs I realised it was a bad look, so I think this will need some work outfit for autumn. I’ll have to do a bit more planning with the next version made from this print.

This last top was made (cut and sewn) in an hour on Christmas eve morning before I left for work. What motivated me was that my key task at work was to clean so it was ‘down tools, gloves on and cleaning products in hand’.
The fabric is from The Fabric Store $8/m from a sale last year. I’ve used this fabric for a dress and then realised that it’s works best for tops.
Merry Christmas to you all, happy sewing and enjoy the festivities over the holidays.

Talk about fast…

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Last Monday night I went to the Knitwit showing at Artarmon. Today I received my order. That’s fast. The beauty of attending is seeing the larger print fabrics, so you know what you’re buying (and how to use it one day). Wendy’s team do some good work making up garments to take full advantage of the fabric. The danger is the dent in your credit card.

Above are the four pieces that I bought. Every year I notice that every Winter fortfolio, the red fabrics go fast so this time, I bought the two red prints that I can use. The Kwik Sew pattern was a special ‘throw in’ when you have a Stitches mag subscription.

While my right hand (thumb) is healing, I’ve been slowly, adjusting and making up a couple of toiles. Once I make up this skirt toile, there are two other fabric pieces in my stash waiting in line, to be made up. I’ve kept the width adjustments to the larger front and back panels.


Next Saturday the Rhodes group are running a chanel jacket class and this is the pattern that I’m going to take for some expert advise. There where five other chanel jacket patterns that were suggested, so there’s another chanel-type jacket that is still to be cut out and adjusted this week while DH is travelling for work.

And, I’m going to convention at Ballarat this year.

zebra print – m5752

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View A is the cap sleeve version and I’ve used this zebra print in a poly knit fabric.

The key pieces to get this pattern to sit right are the midriff panels.

Before I attempted making this dress I had to face up to the my actually sizing, take a deep breath of reality and adjust the midriff. The adjustment lines are on the pattern with an additional instruction sheet to help adjust the pattern to fit your shape.

The midriff facing is a nude colour knit and I think if you really want to have some support, use a power knit that you would use for swimwear, as an option. I’ve also used seams great on the shoulder seams for long term stability.

This is definitely going to be a social dress and not one that I wear to work, although I’m tempted to put the zebra amongst the pidgeons 🙂

New knit dress – M5752

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Yesterday was a good day sewing, hosted by Sharon (thanks Sharon).

Our weather is still warm but not humid anymore, and it’s autumn. This knit dress is a Palmer/Pletsch classic fit that has some really good reviews on Pattern Review, so I used this blue printed knit bought at Lincraft (50% off) in February ($6).

I didn’t try to match the print because this is a toile dress. As you can see below, I used a dark blue fabric as the midriff stay. The midriff gathers requires two layers over the midriff stay, so i only used one layers of gathers.

Now that I’m getting more practice at adjusting patterns, I will keep ploughing through the new patterns I bought last year. The great feaure in this pattern is there is a whole section dedicated to adjusting this pattern. Bonus for anyone who is making this up without any help or reference material.
Lots of the previous reviews mentioned the fact that as some points, you are sewing through more than six layers of fabric. The reason for this is that the front piece doubles onto itself, so the picture above shows where I’m cutting the pattern back, so there’s less bulk in the front bodice.
The midriff gathers also requires two layers over the midriff stay, so I only used one layers of gathers.

So this dress has:
– sway back adjustment
– dropped the back skirt hem to cover my rear
– full bust adjustment – c cup
– roll shoulder (2 cm)
– waist adjustment to fit the size 12 for my waist.

I’ve also made the short sleeve version in a zebra knit now.

In knots – Butterick 5283

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This pattern is doing my head in.

I made this top last week with spotted fabric and sleeveless. This time I’ve used a comfortable knit that has one way stretch and good memory. I’ve also only cut out one front piece, so this is not self faced. That saved me a bit of fabric but also made the top hang nicely without making me feel chunky.

I traced off the original outline under the chest and then dropped it by 3inches. The pencil on the pattern shows you how far I’ve moved the piece down.

The front now is looks very gathered because of the knot so I can live with it. As the sleeveless version hangs over the shoulders, I had to take 4cm off the shoulder seams to bring the sleeves back to my shoulders instead of down my arms. Did you notice that the twist is on the same side as the pattern drawing?

I took out the centre back fold so the back fits better. There’s still some work to do here as my right hips is higher than my left hip. This pattern could be another top that gets lengthened into a dress soon.

PS. The skirt is one that I made 4 years ago and I work it to work last week. It still fits, but it didn’t look like me so I’ve added a trim to make it fit into my current wardrobe look.

Tomatoes – Kwik Sew 3617

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I was trying to plan my sewing projects for our sewing weekend, so to start, I pulled out a stack of fabric, then placed them together in a few different variations. I looked at the greens from the Melbourne fabric shopping trip and took out the latest prints that I’ve bought this year. I am determined to use these prints before they become dated.

Then I checked out what outfits were available online and took inspiration of plain border fabrics with prints as the main fabric. I’ve got plenty of basic patterns that I know fit me. Most of my patterns can be tweaked to update my look (LOL). I need bit of courage to tweak but then I take comfort in the fact that most of my fabrics are cheap and won’t break the bank if the outfit doesn’t work.
This print was bought from The Fabric Store when they had a sale in August. The trim is from our shopping trip to Melbourne. I deliberately bought green fabrics a) to add green into my wardrobe and b) to act as a reminder of where I bought my green fabrics from. I know, it’s a bit complex but that’s how I remember things…

To accommodate for my backside fullness, I did a quick measure of this area, shook my head in dismay and then accommodated for it in the skirt section. This is another top that’s been extended into a dress. I stick with 3/4 length sleeves, so I can were this in between seasons.

Completely pink

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Here’s the jacket. I love how it’s worked out.
What I avoided was adding buttons and buttonholes by using ‘snaps’.

After trying to use an overlocker, I cut the stitching off the seams and the seams will remain unfinished. Hopefully the princess with wear this outfit to bits.


I know the fashions is to mix it up and not to match clothing, so she should now have a twin set that can have separate identities…