Dress Success!

I did it! And I'm so stinking excited! I made a wearable dress! This was less of an on a whim type of thing. I saw a dress online that I liked and then I drew it out and broke it down in to pieces. My dress doesn't look like the original one because I used a totally different type of fabric, and I changed a few things, but it was a great starting point.

I used a knit fabric that I found at JoAnn's on red tag sale. I'm normally not an animal print type of gal, but, I thought I could make some really cute leggings for my girls. Once I went to get it cut there was only like 3 yards on the bolt so I just decided to buy it all. Yay for that decision because now I have a new dress!

To make this dress I used some of the same, successful, techniques that I used to make my first dress. I took my measurements and measured the the space between the dress collar and where I wanted the top piece to end. Then I took my hip and length measurements. Both pieces were rectangles cut to match my measurements. The sleeves were rectangles cut to the length I wanted and the width of my upper arm. To make the collar I folded my top rectangle in half and then cut out a piece.

When I opened it up it looked like this:

Then I just pieced everything together and sewed it all up. 

I ended up cutting my collar space too big so I made a facing for it and then threaded elastic through to pull it up.

finished collar

I also added elastic to the portion just under the bust to pull it in more so it would be fitted and less bag like. I have so many ideas for cute summer dresses I just need to find the right fabric. I seriously love sewing! :o)

Working with Knits!

The first time I ever tried to sew with a knit fabric it. was. a. disaster. The fabric got all stretched out, the hem was too thick, and the thread kept popping. Clearly I had no idea what I was doing. But I didn't let that deter me and I decided to try again.

As I've mentioned I'm sewing through Brett Bara's book Sewing in a Straight Line. In her book she has a very cute cardigan that is made from, you guessed it, a knit fabric. So I went out and I found a very nice knit fabric that went really well with the fabric I got for my one hour skirt.

I'll admit I was really nervous because it was the first time I had made a top, and obviously because I was working with knits. But I think it came out pretty good. 

                                                     

Now that I've completed this project I'm actually a huge fan of knits! There are just some things that you have to do to make it successful:

1. Let the fabric move at it's own pace, you can't rush knits.
2. Don't tug on the fabric as you're sewing, that will stretch out your fabric.
3. Use a zigzag stitch or another stretch stitch.
4. Leave your hems undone if you're nervous about hemming, knits don't fray! :o)