Wow is it HOT here in the Bay Area! This is the time when I love to wear knit fabrics. In spite of the comfort factor of wearing a rayon knit garment, a lot of home seamstresses are intimidated with sewing on a knit. Because there is "stretchiness" to the material itself, people worry about seams that won’t drape properly and edges that may roll, and ultimately, what it will look like when it comes out of the dryer.
Actually, knit fabrics are very forgiving – you need not be an expert to sew an attractive knit garment. We chose a simple knit skirt with a side slit to demonstrate a few tips and tricks for sewing knits. The pattern we used is KWIK SEW #3139.
This long skirt has an elastic waist and a hemline slit on one side. We chose a pretty blue rayon knit fabric. One of the secrets of working with rayon knits is to pre-wash and dry your fabric. This process not only pre-shrinks the fabric but also allows you to lay the pattern out on the straight grain of the fabric. Just remember not to use too hot of a dryer as the lycra can melt and the fabric will hold up better.
We serged our side edges prior to sewing the seams, rather than serge the seams together, but either method is fine. If your machine has a pre-set knit stitch, that’s great, but even a narrow zigzag stitch works just as well. The important thing to remember is that knit fabrics s-t-r-e-t-c-h and so should your seams.
We also reinforced the top end of the slit with a small triangle of bias tape – there’s nothing worse than watching your side or back hemline slit start giving way during a brisk Salsa at the club.
We machine hemmed our skirt with two rows of stitching to add a little detail.
Put a little t-shirt with this long skirt and Voila! you have great look for shopping, dinner, whatever! Try making it in other knits too, such as a luxurious ponte knit for a dressier version. Whichever knit fabric you choose and depending on your skill level, you can polish this skirt off in an afternoon.
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| Casual rayon jersey knit |
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| Dressy Ponte knit - 90% Polyester, 5% Rayon and 5% Spandex |
Don't believe us? You can make this EXACT skirt in Stonemoutain's Sewing on Knit Fabric - Knit Know How Project class. Its only 3 hours and you can leave with your own finished beauty.
We have more goodies coming up next week. Keep sewing!
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| Vogue 8636 by Marcy Tilton |
Here's my finished outfit - it went straight to the mannequin for display! I need to take this home so I can wear it next week! This is so much fun having Laurel sew these amazing garments. We are both blogging about it and getting so motivated by each other. What more is possible? I hope that you are inspired by watching this process. We would love to hear from you.
Blessings, Suzan
P.S. Uh oh, Laurel. I think I lost another inch or so in my hips and waist from my whole9 nutrition 30 day reset - I am on day 18 and this is amazing! So much energy and it's great to watch my problem belly shrink before my eyes. Wow I didn't think this was possible, but it truly all Starts with Food!
