Knit Midi Dress

I stopped sewing shorts to make a dress!

Last year, I bought a few different printed rayon spandex knits.  My intention for the 2 yards of this big pink roses on navy background print was to sew a birthday dress.

I cut the dress long, and was undecided how I wanted to finish it: maxi, midi, a drawstring or elasticized waist, add pockets or not, or maybe make two pieces.  My indecision led to not finishing the dress in time for my birthday, and I wore a ready-to-wear dress out to dinner instead.  I decided to put the unfinished pieces in storage and move on to something else.

This year I don’t plan on going out, although outdoors dining is allowed in my city.  But my present to myself is to finish this dress.

Butterick 5607 is an old pattern, and is meant for woven fabrics.  Well, I broke the rules and used it to sew a very stretchy knit! The pattern has 3 neck variations; I chose the scoop. The dress style is a simple shift with a slight A-line shape, and an all-in-one facing is provided for the neckline and armholes. It has bust darts which were not needed on a knit fabric. This pattern would also work well for sleeveless tops.

I had previously cut out the dress and basted it together, and cut out the facings.  I sewed the side seams, and followed the directions which have you sew the shoulder seams last.  Then some hand sewing is required to finish the top of the armholes. While sewing I suddenly realized I could have used the burrito method for a clean finish, but didn’t want to change course.  In the burrito method the shoulders are sewn first, the side seams are sewn last, and the whole garment is  rolled up to sew the armholes.

I stabilized the shoulders by sewing on top of a twill ribbon. This was especially important because the whole garment hangs from the shoulders and my fabric is very stretchy.

Later, I took the ribbon off half of the seam to reduce bulk. (The outer garment shoulder and facing is sewn in one continuous pass). I also edge stitched the neckline and armholes because the weight of the dress was pulling the front down exposing the facing.  I  didn’t skip the understitching, but my fabric was still misbehaving.  I added side slits, sewed a 2 inch hem a little above the ankle, and I was finished.

I sewed a sash with the fabric I cut from the bottom, although I like the fit of the dress just as much without.

I had mixed feelings about the print: first I liked it, then I thought it cloying.  I didn’t add pockets because the dress looks dressy to me, and not like an everyday dress, even though it’s as comfortable as a nightgown.

I enjoyed posing to show off the slit in the photos!

I’m glad I took this birthday (plus one year) dress from UFO to done!

Love Notions Patterns Summer Outfit

I sewed up another pair of shorts and a tank top. They are two Love Notions patterns, the Laundry Day Tee, and the Allegro bottoms.

 

I love that Love Notions pdf patterns are quick to put together because there is no cutting of page margins.  You can choose to print only the size or sizes you select, and the instructions tell you which pages to print for the variation you have selected.  Love Notions pattern are very affordable, often just $5 or $6 during their frequent sales.  They also offer many cute and practical patterns!  This is my first time actually sewing their patterns, although I own a few more.

Let’s take it from the top. The Laundry Day Tee is close fitting through the shoulders and bust, and then flares out into an A-line shape.  The pattern comes with many  neckline, sleeve, and length variations, and is free when you join the Love Notions Facebook group.  The idea is you can whip one up in the time it takes to do laundry.

I had a rayon spandex knit with a tie dye type print in stash in mind for this.  I thought the swinginess of the A-line shape would be ideal for the hottest days of summer, and I opted for a sleeveless tank.

I folded away a few inches of length at the shorten/lengthen line and added some width to the straps.

I bought the fabric online so didn’t see the variable colors of the dye pattern of the fabric.  There was more light space than I expected, and I played around with the best way to cut it.

I have since decided I don’t like sewing with this type of rayon knit because it’s so very very stretchy which means it easily stretches out of shape and grows.  I cut a size large and then had to snug it up at the underarms quite a bit.  I should have also cut it an inch higher at the underarm to give me some leeway, because I don’t want to deal with too low underarms.  The neckline and armholes are finished with 2 inch bands folded in half.  I don’t have a serger so I used a stretchy zigzag stitch of 1.5mm  long and 3mm wide to sew the seams.

This is such a fun and cool top!  It feels as light as a whisper. I put it on before pressing the hem and bands, and didn’t want to take it off!

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For the Allegro, I cut a size 10 of the 5 inch inseam shorts. The pattern is for woven fabric, but I had a yard of stretch denim I had ordered to see if I liked it enough to use for pants.  It is the Robert Kaufman super stretch denim.  I didn’t like working with this denim.  It’s supposed to be indigo but looks almost black and attracts lint.  As soon as I touched it, the color came off on my hand. I prewashed it twice, and started sewing with it.  And the result was still a deep blue stain on my hands.

I didn’t want to use the denim for the pockets, so substituted a scrap of cotton with a cute dolphin print.

I lengthened the rise and narrowed the legs on the shorts pattern.

The waistband has an inserted piece of elastic that was hard to get through the channel.  The elastic is then stitched down in two rows. I had never made this type of elastic waistband before. The elastic called for is 1 and 1/2 inches wide.  I didn’t have any so substituted a 2 inch elastic which I cut down.  I omitted the drawstring.

I  topstitched  with the same gold thread that I used for my previous denim pants. Partly because I lengthened the rise, the slash pockets had too long of an opening.  I added some bar tacks to help with this, but need to change the slant of the pockets in the future.

I considered doing a turned up hem on the shorts, which I see on denim shorts a lot, but sewed a deep hem instead.  The funny thing is I could see a blue ring on my lower thighs from the turned under hem after wearing the shorts for only an hour.  Hopefully, a few more washes will make them wearable because it’s super annoying shedding dye everywhere.  They pass my test of not slipping down while walking and total comfort while sitting.

The photo below shows the comparison of the waistband to my favorite denim shorts I made last year.  I wear them so much I thought I would sew a similar pair.

I love the smooth fit of the Itch to Stitch Mountain View Jeans waistband.  It probably would have been better to use that pattern for these, because denim is a little thick to be all bunched up, but I wanted to try out the Allegro pattern.

I will be sewing variations of both the Laundry Day Tee and the Allegro bottoms again.  They are patterns that make the kind of comfortable, casual clothes that I live in.