Here are a few knit items I managed to sew up in between this or that in the last week. All are from patterns I have used before, so that made them go even quicker and use up less brain power. Not to mention I am so tired and foggy these days that I can't even bring myself to read and/or figure out anything new. Lazy sewing at its best!
Floral Tank and Color Blocked Yoga Pants
Pattern(s): Ottobre Woman 2/2007 #1 tank top and heavily modified Kwik Sew 3155 yoga pants (based on a pair of well-fitting yoga pants I already had).
Fabric: Floral and solid cotton lycra from Fabric.com, cotton lycra french terry from JOS co-op. The french terry didn't have quite enough lycra in it to function well as a yoga waistband, so I used the purple cotton lycra instead. I actually like to wear it up over my belly for the insta-spanx effect, but it does look cuter down. Unfortunately I have to massively suck in my ripped up stomach muscles (thanks, kids!) to make that look work though, so most of the time I opt for comfort.
Gotta have the back view, right?? What's the point of yoga pants if they don't flatter your rear? Okay, okay, my pants should probably not be this tight, but for some reason I gained a few extra lbs. over the Winter, so my clothes are a little sluttier than usual these days. :pInstead of doing a binding on the tank top, I just added 3/8" to the neckline and armholes, pressed it under, and top stitched with my coverstitch machine. I love how it turned out and it was actually easier than dealing with a bunch of long, fiddly binding strips. I recently purchased a clear foot for my coverstitch, so I was able to get my hems nice and even without all the cursing and swearing that my old opaque foot demanded.
Floral Sundress
Pattern: Simplicity 3882. This pattern is at least 3 years old, and was one of the first knit projects I ever sewed. When I first bought it, I remember thinking, "gee, this pattern goes a little far into 80s territory." Silly me.
Since this was my third time making this pattern, I finally cut the humongous 5/8" seam allowances down to 1/4" on my pattern tracings. I hate huge seam allowances on knits. Also, now that I have a serger, I don't do casings anymore. I serge and topstitch all my elastic on, just like you would on a swimsuit. I cut the elastic pieces a few inches shorter than indicated to account for the extra stretching out.
Fabric: Floral cotton lycra from Fabric.com.
That lace you see at the top is not part of the dress, it's part of a $2 Old Navy cami I'm wearing underneath. This dress doesn't have enough bra coverage unless you have a demi-cup, and I pretty much only have t-shirt bras. Ideally I should just sew some old bra cups in, but I'm too lazy. So right now now I just have a mess of 3 different colored straps going on. Whatevs.
That's all for now. I still have charcoal gray in all my machines from the yoga pants, so I think my next project will be a light Summer hoodie for DS out of the scraps. Until then!
Leah, I'm always so envious when I see what you've made with knits. I live in knits, and would LOVE to be able to sew with them, but I'm scared of them. I also don't have a coverstitch machine, so I'm afraid anything I attempted to make would look amateur.
ReplyDeleteYou make it look so easy :)
Jen, you can sew all of these items with just your sewing machine, I promise! You don't have to wait for the "right" machines. :) I sewed tons of knits before I had a coverstitch or even a serger, and they looked plenty nice. I only ended up getting the additional machines because I was sewing so many knit items, I wanted to speed up my sewing and try more techniques.
ReplyDeleteYou can use a narrow zig-zag (2.5mm long by .5mm wide or 2.0mm by 1.0mm for very stretchier seams) and a ballpoint needle with great results. Pick up a Kwik Sew or Jalie pattern--they have wonderful instructions for knits. Try it and you might be surprised! :)
Eeek! I'll take a look at Joann's next time I'm there, I think they have Kwik Sew patterns. I'm still not sure I would like the zig zag though, I think I may be snobby and prefer the way a knit piece looks using a coverstitch or serger. I'll let you know when I work up the courage to take on a project!
ReplyDeleteAh, the dreaded zig-zag topstitch! Lol. No, I wasn't advocating that (although rtw *does* use often have zig-zag topstitching on bathing suits), I was thinking of your seams. Trust me, once you wash a knit garment a couple times, it really doesn't matter if those seams are serged on the inside. No one will know, and in 6 months you won't care about it, you will just think how much you love your top/dress/pants. :)
ReplyDeleteFor topstitching knits with a sewing machine, I used to, and sometimes still use:
- a strech blind-hem stitch. Looks nice for t-shirt hems, as seen in many nicer rtw clothes.
- a ball point or stretch twin needle. Consult your manual for how to thread. I used this constantly before I got my coverstitch, with good results. Just lengthen your stitch, go slowly over seams, and never ever backstitch. Sometimes it tunnels a little, but no one ever seemed to notice this.
- a lengthened straight stitch, for neckline bindings. I need to do a tutorial on this one, as I still use this technique a lot.
The main tricks to stitching knits are to use the right needle, lengthen your stitch, let up on the pressure foot pressure, and give every seam a nice hit of steam with your iron before you press it.
Yes, a serger/coverstitch will speed up your sewing and give you ultra professional results, but unless you already know how to work with knits, you may still be disappointed. Sergers are a whole other skill with quite a learning curve. Best to learn how to work with knits first, that way when you upgrade your machines that will be one less hill to conquer! :)