Summer Sewing Time

I have an irrational fear of sewing with knits. I decided I needed to finally conquer my fear of knits by diving in and making a summer top. I chose this knit of unknown content-I think it’s viscose. It’s a beautiful piece I purchased from Fine Fabrics of Santa Barbara a few years ago. In retrospect, it probably was not a good choice for a “starter knit” as it is very stretchy and quite fiddly to work with. I thought with the busyness of the print, at least it would hide any construction problems.I chose Vogue 8536. I was pleased that the facing around the neck laid perfectly-pretty good for my first try at knits in awhile. The shoulder seams are about 3/4″ longer than I want them to be-they go over my shoulder joint and make my arms look bigger and shorter. I will definitely make that easy correction next go round.I do like the detail of the deep hem with the side slit.In my inexperience, I reasoned that the knit was so stretchy that I needed to stabilize the side seams. You see the unfortunate result. Experienced knit sewers informed me that this was a bad choice-now I see all the puckering and rippling down the sides. I do like this pattern and I will sew it again-in a smaller size, with a sturdier knit.I have been hearing about this Sorbetto tank by Colette Patterns-a free download. It’s been getting rave reviews so I had to try it.The hardest part about this pattern is the download. You print out the pattern in  blocks on your home printer using standard 8 1/2″x11″ paper. You then trim each block and tape them together. Honestly, I think that took longer than to sew up the top!I do love the way this is drafted: close in and high cut arm holes, the front lays flat against the breastbone, cute and easy inverted pleat detail, no facings or closures and a flattering silhouette. I will make some minor adjustments when I sew it again-it’s definitely repeat-worthy.The next time I will probably bind it with the same fabric as the garment-I avoid anything that might scream “homemade”. I did not pull out my best fabric for this and I consider it almost a muslin, but next time I will make it up something fabulous!

Both of these tops are in the category of what I call “investment sewing”. The knit top is too large to wear and the puckering of the side seams bugs me. Sometimes you just have to sew up a pattern to see if you like it-even after making a muslin. I will make both of these up again-I am confident that then I will like and wear them.