Modkid Maya Take 1

This week I've made two dresses from this pattern. I am finally getting around to sewing up my treasure trove of Michael Miller knits that I purchased in the Summer, right before we moved.

I think need to intersperse quick, simple projects like this in with the challenging ones if I want to increase my volume AND skills. My daughter is in dire need of new clothes after all my sewing neglect this Fall, so I need to step it up. I sewed 3.5 outfits for her this week, and it feels good!

Fabric: Carnival Bloom and Clown Stripe 100% cotton interlock from Michael Miller fabrics. Usually interlock knit is very stable and easy to sew, but I find these a bit stretchier than the interlocks I am used to. I think each garment I've made from it needs a good run through the washer/dryer to tighten everything back up. That's a good idea with all knit garments you sew, but especially important when you use knit fabrics without any spandex in them. If you are new to knits here are some really great tips for working with them.

Pattern: Modkid Maya. A great beginner knit pattern. Excellent directions, simple but cute. No complaints. The sleeves are a smidge long, but that makes for more growing room.

I made the dress view. No sense making a separate top and bottom, since I knew she would never wear them independently of each other.

The waistband of the dress version needs to sit up on the waist so that the top will blouse out over it. She kept pulling it down; I kept pulling it back up.

Since a 100% cotton knit like this has poor recovery (i.e. it doesn't bounce completely back to it's original shape once you stretch it), I think it's really helpful to gather the skirt section to the waistband with clear elastic. Here is a tutorial on how to gather with clear elastic, but to be honest, I don't measure. I pull either medium-much or a lot-much (kind of hard to explain the "feel", but after doing it a few times, it becomes natural) on the elastic as I sew. If I didn't pull the elastic tight enough I cut off some of the excess skirt and then sort of fudge it as I sew it the the waistband or whatever. Usually my fudging is about right, though. Once again, I order my clear elastic by the 10 yard-ful from Sewzannes.

I love, love the huge, bright flowers in this print. I fused a few scraps to a knit interfacing to stabilize them a bit, then cut out the flower shapes. I glued them onto a brown velvet headband, which you can't really see in her dark hair.

I gathered these strips the old-fashioned way. Sigh. Sometimes ruffle gathering like this feels tedious to me, even though it doesn't take very long. You just have to be so careful to get them straight, and I don't feel like feeling stressed when I'm sewing a simple t-shirt dress. I love the result, though.

As the sleeves were a little long, we just cuffed them to get them out of her way. I have a feeling that after a few washes, this won't be much of a problem anyway.

Coming up, another Maya!