Sew Sew Def

In the last six months or so, I’ve noticed that all the clothes I love wearing are knit, but I’ve never really sewn with knits. So I bought a couple books to read up on knit sewing techniques. I’d already tried sewing a knit top once before, and with not so great results. But, I thought, I didn’t do any research and I was just winging it, making it up as I went.

Y’all, the problem is I’m comically bad at sewing with knits.

Well, it’s more complicated than that, so let’s catalog all of the things that I heaped on myself for this project.

1. New pattern (clearly, since I don’t sew knits much, I’d need a pattern)
2. The pattern was from BurdaStyle Magazine, and was traced by someone and sent to me. The directions do not include sketches.
3. New machines! I have a serger now, which is great, but also a new sewing machine, the Pfaff Varimatic 6091 (“Stretch & Jeans”).
4. Since leaving well enough alone is not my style, I also didn’t exactly follow the directions.

The hilarity began with my fabric. I was -apparently- distracted when I bought this fabric at Joann. It’s thin sweatshirt type material from Joann. I purchased it specifically for this project, so I’d have something to experiment with that I wouldn’t freak out about if I messed it up. I didn’t realize it was in a tube. I’m probably using the wrong words to describe it, but essentially, no selvage. Another new thing! Awesome! I managed. I didn’t cut the tube until I needed to cut the long pieces for the front pieces. I used fabric Lose Weight Exercises, which I enjoyed.

Reading the instructions, I had no idea what Burda was talking about. There are no illustrations, so I had to try to figure it out. So, I laid out my fabric pieces, and voila! It all made sense.

So, we began. First of all, I made a serious mistake with the clear elastic. Be Ye Not So Stupid – mark the centers and then tack the ends. Pin the centers, and then again, until you have enough pins that you feel like you’re going to be able to sew it properly. I managed to make the worst front neckline in the history of front necklines, and then I had the pleasure of picking out all those stitches. Having washed it once, I should have sewn in the elastic as I did, and then flipped the edge down one more time. It’s rolling on me when I wear it. I managed to stretch it out oddly in this process, another symptom of my hilarious lack of facility with knit fabric.

Next you’re supposed to deal with the back neck by making bias strips (the directions are a little overly detailed considering how few directions there are in general). I thought this fabric would not respond well to making bias strips (or, I wouldn’t) so I chose to use my mutilated bit of elastic to stabilize the back neck. I stitched it in, and then flipped the fabric over to fully encase the elastic. I have no idea why I thought to do that on the back neck and not on the front, but there you are. Well I was doing it so that the edges would ultimately match, so I guess I accidentally made a good decision!

After that, it was all about hemming edges – which I did with the double needle I realized I had in my accessory box. You can see some hilarious examples of my bad double needling here, followed by better double needling when I was paying better attention. When I tried it on, I found that it was, as others had said, very short. I’m five feet tall, and none of my height is in my torso, so I was surprised that I had that problem. I chose to add a 4 inch band at the bottom to make the length more comfortable.

Other people who sewed this also said the ties were too wide and too short. Both of these are true, but because my fabric is heavier than I think you’re really supposed to use, I don’t want to wrap it around twice anyway. I’m eventually going to shorten the ties so that I can tie it behind my back once without having really long tails. If I make this again though, I will narrow the ties and make them a bit longer.

All in all, I’m very happy with this top. There are lots of things about it that are not perfect or even great, but I was able to use my new machine and my new serger to great effect, and I learned a lot! And, the top is cute, if not perfect. My pattern review is here!