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Monday, March 31, 2008

Finally! I Can Sew With Knits!


I have been desparately wanting to sew something- ANYTHING- successfully with a knit fabric. I have tried and given up on 3 prior attempts. I feel like I just won an oscar though because I need to thank the academy of amazing and helpful sewers who by way of blogs and other online postings helped me finally complete this one!

Inspiration: I have started reading several sewing blogs and Christina from Assorted Notions, whose blog and sewing both are SO much fun, posted this entry: http://assortednotions.blogspot.com/2008/02/i-couldnt-resist.html where she discussed a similar pattern to the one I used. She linked to Toya's dress made of this same fabric here:
http://trinilove.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/vogue-1027-summ.html and I knew I wanted this fabric and wanted to make this dress. I didn't expect to find the same fabric but on another link I found the mother load of adorable knit fabrics, http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/shop/index.php and couldn't believe my eyes when they had this lust-worthy fabric! I already had the pattern onhand from when I first wanted to try knits. It is Threads Simplicity 3678, view A (http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=3678)

Construction: As I continued on my quest to learn to sew knits, I read all kinds of FAQ's, how-to's and troubleshooting posts. Anne from Gorgeous Fabrics replied to my email questions with some super helpful links (
On www.besewstylish.com I wrote a post, dated Jan. 11, 2008 on sewing with knits.
There's also an article on Threads' website:
Look through the videos and see if there is one on knits there too.)
and i liked reading through timmelfabrics.com 's sewing lesson. When I was still ending up with skipped stitches, I found the tip that I needed to be sure to hold the thread tails and I think this reallly fixed things. I also switched to a ball point needle and polyester thread. Either way things went much better and YES!! I have finally learned how to sew knits!! I can't wait for the Sew U book to come out in May but until then I am pretty happy with myself. It's comfortable and covers my knees, which are two things I'm looking for in a dress for our trip to Italy next month. Even with a jacket over it I think it will be cute. Oh, here is a close up of the bodice, a photo which I suppose could also be named, "Hello Girls!"


Sunday, March 2, 2008

My First Quilt! For Baby Hicks


Well my friend Patricia is expecting her first child and had her baby shower recently. I have never been that interested in making a quilt until this event. I made it based on the Lap Quilt in Bend the Rules Sewing and had read about a way to cut the quilt back bigger than the quilt top so that you can just fold the back over and use it as the binding. I used pastel green and yellow flannel and in real life the bright yellow doesn't stand out quite as much. They are planning to be surprised about the sex of the baby so they chose the green and yellow color scheme. It was fun! And it turned out pretty well but of course, not perfect. I also made them a receiving blanket and burp cloths. I hope to try out other baby items for other upcoming showers!