I've enjoyed my first year with my sewing machine, and I still can't believe that I have been able to make dresses that I wear and love. But, like most people, the bulk of my clothes are made with knit, not woven, fabrics. Which meant that, if I wanted to make clothes that I love wearing, I had to attempt sewing with knits.
At the time I didn't realize that being scared of knit fabrics was a thing, but given my general haphazard approach in life and craft, I thought it might be worth taking a class - Craftsy's Sewing with Knits gave me an awesome hoodie dress (that makes me look like I am ready for a pagan ritual of some sort). Since then, I have made three version's of Tilly's Coco tunic dress, some more successful than others. What has really been confusing is the actual fabrics rather than how to sew with them. I just wanted basic t-shirt-style fabric, but because I tend to buy them online, I never seem to get what I am after.
My first attempt was with a Ponte Roma from Plush Addict (that's the grey one), which was thicker and a bit shinier than what I wanted. The next one was jersey from Minerva Crafts (the stripey one), which was perfect - jersey, I concluded, is what I want to be buying. But then the jersey I ordered from myfabrics was much stretchier, a bit like leggings fabric, and not the nicest for a dress (the patterned one). I decided to give it another go and ordered interlock from Tissu, and once again, success (and insanely cheap)! So at this point, and despite reading a sewing book on knits and sewing advice on the internet, I am still confused about the perfect knit, t-shirt-style fabric.
Anyway, here is what I made with my interlock fabric - the ladybird skater dress. The Lady Skater dress is quite a popular one among sewing bloggers, and I can see why, I absolutely love it! It is a good fit (although a tiny bit of sag around the back), with a lovely full skirt and nice finishing around the collar and sleeves; I much prefer the neckline finish of the Lady Skater to the Coco (sorry Tilly!).
I got a little bit confused about what size to cut, as the pattern only notes the bust and waist size, but not the hips, where I normally grade up. I tried to work it out myself and decided to cut a size 2 for the top and a 3 for the skirt. In hindsight, a 2 throughout would have been fine, and I got a response from the designer, who told me that the skirt is full enough to not need grading.
Of course, this wasn't completely problem-free. The dress requires adding some clear elastic to the shoulders and waist, and this seemed to constantly be breaking my thread, which was pretty irritating. I wasn't using good polyester thread (I forgot to buy red thread and just used the thread that came with my sewing box), which might partially explain this. I also managed to break my needle at some point (!), but thankfully I have a full pack of them. I did buy a twin needle to hem the skirt and sleeves, but after the needle-breaking incident, I was a bit too scarred to use it, perhaps next time!
At the time I didn't realize that being scared of knit fabrics was a thing, but given my general haphazard approach in life and craft, I thought it might be worth taking a class - Craftsy's Sewing with Knits gave me an awesome hoodie dress (that makes me look like I am ready for a pagan ritual of some sort). Since then, I have made three version's of Tilly's Coco tunic dress, some more successful than others. What has really been confusing is the actual fabrics rather than how to sew with them. I just wanted basic t-shirt-style fabric, but because I tend to buy them online, I never seem to get what I am after.
Anyway, here is what I made with my interlock fabric - the ladybird skater dress. The Lady Skater dress is quite a popular one among sewing bloggers, and I can see why, I absolutely love it! It is a good fit (although a tiny bit of sag around the back), with a lovely full skirt and nice finishing around the collar and sleeves; I much prefer the neckline finish of the Lady Skater to the Coco (sorry Tilly!).
I got a little bit confused about what size to cut, as the pattern only notes the bust and waist size, but not the hips, where I normally grade up. I tried to work it out myself and decided to cut a size 2 for the top and a 3 for the skirt. In hindsight, a 2 throughout would have been fine, and I got a response from the designer, who told me that the skirt is full enough to not need grading.
Of course, this wasn't completely problem-free. The dress requires adding some clear elastic to the shoulders and waist, and this seemed to constantly be breaking my thread, which was pretty irritating. I wasn't using good polyester thread (I forgot to buy red thread and just used the thread that came with my sewing box), which might partially explain this. I also managed to break my needle at some point (!), but thankfully I have a full pack of them. I did buy a twin needle to hem the skirt and sleeves, but after the needle-breaking incident, I was a bit too scarred to use it, perhaps next time!
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