Tips on hemming knits, a Chardon Skirt and a Plantain top.

These were sewn a few weeks ago now, I feel I am playing a little catch up with clothes and blogging.   After enjoying the warmth of my brushed cotton Chardon maxi, I found some lovely fine needle cord at this Etsy shop, paired it with a little Liberty lawn and made another along with a Plantain variation top.  I have covered the skirt process a few times so I will mention a few knit tips for the top.

I saw this variation on Flickr and found instructions and a PDF on her blog followed her PDF to adapt the neck of the top.  I used a 30cm rectangle for my neck piece.  I cut a size 36 and sewed ⅜" seams.  The result is pretty relaxed and slouchy.  I am not totally smitten; it's a little the wrong side of the Cagney and Lacey look, but it is soft and comfortable- the fabric is a cotton jersey knit.   Next time I make a Plantain I will make a straight size 36 with ⅝" seams and raise the scoop neck. For the hemming and the shoulders I used this great product- knit stay tape.   It is lightweight and has a fusible adhesive on one side. I use a strip in the hem of the back shoulders to stop the shoulders stretching out over time, and use it all round the edge of the sleeves and the top hem as it makes it stable and provides and easy way to fold the turn up when the hem is stitched.  It is not essential for creating a good hem and you could cut and use strips of knit interfacing- this is interfacing with a little stretch built in rather than fixed woven interfacing.  The knit tape is pressed all round the hem edge with a hot iron.  It is about ½" wide so provides a great guide for folding the hem.

I have made a few knit jersey tops now and each time my technique improves and I learn a little more.  These are my current tips and machine settings:

1.  Woolly nylon hand wound on the bobbin to provide elasticity to the back of the stitch.  I have one reel of this in light silver grey and use it for all my knit hems and neck lines.

2.  Size 75 4.0mm twin stretch needle

3.  Reduced the sewing foot pressure to 2

4.  Set my tension to 9 on my Janome Horizon to get a true zig zag on the reverse.

5.  Sew slowly, the twin needle places a little strain on the machine and the threads are more likely to snap.  Besides, you need to sew slow as you are guiding the hem and feeling the fold so that you can sew as close to the raw edge of the hem as possible.

6.  Leave long tails of thread at the beginning and end- you need to hand sew the ends in to secure.  Sewing forwards and backwards on the machine is not enough, the wooly nylon always works its way loose.  It is a faff but it is worth it as these edges get a lot of strain and stretching so need to be secure.

7.  Press the hem at the end.  Jersey knit benefits from pressing just like any other dressmaking.

It started to rain on our little garden photo shoot but you get the idea of the top and skirt!

And this does give a good view of the neck.  Not totally enamoured but worth trying out.

The skirt is squeezed out of 2 yards of fabric.  It is quite snug, the pile of the needle cord just adds a little bulk to the waist making it sit higher than I would like so I may change the waist inner facing for something a little finer.  

Pockets and hem are in Liberty tana lawn.

I grade my seams in al the bulky areas, one of my favourite dress making techniques.  

The patterns can be found here.  Plantain is a free download.  Deer and Doe have just released a new skirt pattern, Anemone.  It is a more formal style so I am still at the thinking stage on whether it will work for me- my life is rather informal, meanwhile I have more clothing on the go.

Me Made May 13 Weeks 2 and 3:Knits

I have been crazily dressmaking inspired by Me Made May 13.  Moderation is a hard thing for me; it's all or nothing and although I constantly try to amend this it doesn't seem to happen.  Prepare yourself for a rather picture heavy post. I have been making a lot of tops because tops and skirts is what I wear when I am not at work. (work is jeans and work t shirt so I never wear jeans out of work).  This post is knit tops and another post will follow with other clothing .

This T shirt is a free download from Kristin of Skirt as top.  It comes in one size which is small (around 10-12 UK sizing.  I made it a little narrower on the sides and added a self drafted pocket.  I also shortened the pattern all round by 1" as I am quite short in the body.

It makes a lovely T, lightly fitted at the top and loose at the hip with a dip hem lower at the back.   As the sleeves are part of the front/back it is very economical on fabric which made it perfect for the Nani Iro knit (this print is gone at Eternal Maker and Village Haberdashery) which is only 80cm wide.  This Nani Iro knit is double layered, a bit like double layer gauze, and is very soft.  Eternal Maker sell the same Nani Iro knit in a different print/colours here. 

I will definitely make more of these! Kristin has included all the making instructions on her blog and it can be made on a standard sewing machine.

I mentioned Meg McElwee's Craftsty knit class before- it is a great class.  Cotton jersey is the easiest knit to work with, especially if it is 100% cotton as the stretch is easy to control and the fabric behaves itself when pressing/cutting etc.  Viscose jersey (like the floral jersey top in this post) is much harder and slips and slides more.  This is organic cotton jersey from Eternal Maker and I managed to squeeze a long sleeved and a short sleeved T out of 1 1/2 metres.

This is size XS and fits really well. I gained a lot of confidence working with knits from Meg's class and it comes with a stack of knit patterns which made it an economical buy.  I wear long sleeve knit tops like this all through the year so this is a great basic.

This is the shorter T that I squeezed out of the left over jersey.

Megan Nielsen Briar pattern, in XS.  I went for the short style and cut straight across the front and left the back as the pattern with the dip hem.  Fit is just right, no alternations.  I underestimated this pattern.  I thought it was going to look like an 80s crop top but actually this ends up at the perfect length for the large collection of A line higher waisted skirts that I am currently creating.  Again, I see this as a wardrobe staple.  The hardest areas for me to fit are armscye/armhole and bust.  With knits, bust is not really something I have to think about (relief) and the shoulder line/armhole is perfect for me on this.

Having seen all the different versions all over different blogs I know it will work with lots of variation lengthened/long sleeves etc.  Maybe even as a cardigan or a woven?   I think it's worth a try- I love this one a lot!  I can't wait to make a version in the new Elk Grove knits! And the best thing about making it in this length is that it hardly takes any fabric.

I have found all the dress making highly therapeutic.  You have to look at yourself objectively when you make your own clothes, accept the lumps, (lack of lady lumps in my case) bumps, short bits, long bits and work with and around them.  I have had issues in the past, eating disorders in my very stressful early 20s, thankfully long behind me but body image is a toughie.  Making my own clothes helps.  They have to fit so sizing goes out of the window- one style like a dress might involve 3 different sizes at the bust waist and hip.  You also have to be prepared for a little failure- getting it right first time is the exception and sometimes you need to accept that you get it wrong.  Wrong fabric, wrong style, being swayed by what looks good on others but will never work on you- I've done them all and I still do it despite over 25 years of making my own clothes.  

My most recent failure was a Tova- not the style but the fabric choice.  Too busy, too small a print, too much going on.  At the moment it hangs in the sewing room so I can ponder it, and as a little reminder that not every fabric you love will make great clothing!  Reuse, recycle, I am guessing this will chop and end up in a quilt.