Today I’m working on learning to sew knit fabric. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try but have been too intimidated, but with all this sewing I’ve been doing I figured I might as well try it now. I picked up the Mesa dress pattern as it looked easy enough and like something that might be flattering on my shape. Today’s attempt is a muslin, so I’m just stitching it all together to see how it fits as well as getting a feel for how sewing knits on my machine works. Since knit fabrics tend to differ in weight, drape, etc I can’t totally account for all of those with this muslin alone, but it’s a good place to start.

So far, things seems to be going quite well. My stitching is going nicely along the fabric, and things are lining up as they should (I was worried the fabric would stretch out for some reason). But the sleeves…. I don’t know what I’m doing. I thought I eased them in right but trying the thing on it appears that there’s some puckering/waving along that stitch line. I’m not totally sure what I did wrong, though, because it seemed like it eased in just fine and I wasn’t left with fabric leftover to try to do something with. Oh well, that’s why it’s a muslin, right? I have some lovely charcoal double knit in the dryer so that’s going to be my next run through with this pattern – hopefully it turns into something wearable!

The “one hour to sew” liner on that pattern seems… ambitious. I’m absolutely positive that if you’re not new to sewing, and sewing knits, then yes – one hour to sew it all up is probably reasonable. But it probably took me an hour to trace and cut my pattern last night, and more than an hour to start pinning and sewing it all together. Though, granted, I do that have little boy you see there and he makes getting anything done 10x harder… so maybe I should just ignore times for the next 5 years and just be happy I get anything done at all, yes?

I’ve finally finished my Wiksten tank. Looking back at prior posts, I bought this fabric clear back in March when I had this itch for some spring clothes. It’s now August. So much for spring/summer wear, I guess.

After I finished my Watercolor Sorbetto tank I cut out the Wiksten pattern, made myself a muslin to adjust fit, and then cut and began sewing up with my good fabric. I managed to get everything done except for the facing on one arm hole and the hem of the bottom. And then I just… stopped. It sat there, on the sewing machine table, waiting for me. Mocking me. Nagging me. Begging me to finish it. I knew it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to do those two things, and I knew I just needed to suck it up and make the effort, but procrastinating on it was easier. There were more important things to do. And then, suddenly, I realized it was August and I was quickly running out of time to even wear it. So, I finished it.

What do you think? The fabric pattern may end up looking dated next summer… but then do I really care about being “on trend” with this fast fashion thing? Yeah, no. Not really. The fit itself is… meh. My first muslin was based on bust size (large) and came out too big, so I went down to a medium in the bust and graded it out to a large in the hips. The muslin seemed to fit okay, so I ran with it. But now, with tank finished, I feel like I could have gone with a medium all around, or even possibly a small on top to a medium on bottom given how this fits. Which really baffles me because I’m most definitely not a size small and haven’t been for some time.

Regardless, all the girls at work are raving about it. I’ve gotten quite a bit of compliments on it, followed by shock when I admit that I made it myself. So that’s definitely a win in the not-looking-handmade department!

For my next wardrobe piece, I’m going to give the Mesa dress a shot. I ended up subscribing to Seamwork and, because I missed the issue it was in, I bought the pattern to make it. I’m hoping it becomes a bit of a wardrobe staple that I can wear to work with my jackets and cardigans. I’m not sure I picked out the right fabric – ordering online is rough until I learn more about the fabrics I’m using. And knits… well, that’s a challenge on its own. We’ll see how it goes, though.

Please forgive the office bathroom selfie. I’m afraid I’ll never get a photo of it, otherwise.

Another Sorbetto. This one was cut without the pleat but angled out to the hips to keep some width there. It’s a bit baggy still but comfortable and the voile fabric is light weight (i found it at JoAnn’s!) I might make yet another one and leave the width off the hips. They’re addicting, that’s for sure!