Completed: An Oddly Psychedelic Jalie 2921

I’m no stranger to little indie pattern companies – I loveeee Colette & Sewaholic patterns, and I LOVE when I can get away with not buying current Big 4 patterns (yeah! Stickin’ it to the man!). However, I’ve never sewn with a Jalie pattern before – and I honestly wasn’t planning on it, really, until Mikhaela had to show me up in her amazing scarf collar knit top, the top that made me so jealous I actually saw red for about 3 seconds. The pattern was Jalie 2921 and I NEEDED IT. And, so, uhm, I bought it. Pattern ban? What pattern ban? It’s (almost)my birthday, I deserve this.

I’ve actually been sitting on this pattern for about 2 weeks – blame the delay on my Bombshell-frenzy. I was finally able to sit down last night & start cutting… and sewing! I finished this lil number in record time, forreal! And it barely used any fabric. Hey-o, new favorite pattern!

A couple of thoughts on Jalie – while the pattern was easy-easy to put together into a cute finished shirt (and the finishing is sooo coooool, you just wait & see!), the instructions were extremely short & sparse. The pictures were difficult for my pinhead-brain to decipher, although obviously I was able to figure it out eventually. I also do not like the way these patterns are packaged (sorry!) – it came in a shrink-wrapped plastic sleeve, with a large color photo of the pattern front, and the pattern pieces printed on heavy white paper & folded neatly. There was no actual envelope to store the pattern pieces in. Not a huge deal – since I ordered this from fabric.com, I just used the envelope it was shipped in. But it did give me pause, since normally envelopes aren’t something I just happen to have on hand. Also, the sizing/yardage information was difficult to read, since it’s in both French & English, and the sizing varies from baby to big momma. But hey – at least it was easy to cut out! And no, I didn’t trace this sucker AT ALL. No hate for the pattern tracers, I just don’t want to put for the effort and anyway, I don’t mind buying another pattern if I need another size (it’s a small business! I support y’all!). I did save the rest of the sizes that I cut away, so I guess I can tape it back together if I need to. Not that I plan on sewing this for anyone else, heh heh heh.

For sizing, I cut an R & tapered out to a T at the bust & lower armhole, then back down to an R at the shoulder & neckline. I think it fits pretty perfectly with no other alterations! Yeah!

Of course, Landon thinks the fabric is too loud. I guess it is kind of hiddy, but I love it anyway!. It’s some super stretch polyester I bought from Walmart like 5 years ago. We are considering this my wearable muslin.

I do love the tie-neck, but my fabric is a bit too heavy so the bow droops pretty bad. Next time I make this, I will use something lighter… and probably shorten the ties, as I think they are a bit long.

The construction on this top is pretty cool (once I figured it out, I mean). It leaves a nice clean inside at the neckline- no seams! So pretty!

I hemmed the sleeves & the bottom with a twin needle on my regular ol’ sewing machine.

Here is your photo-story for the day:
Notice those pretty rosebushes in my background? Weeeeell they belong to my neighbors, and I’ve been eyeballing them pretty hard since they started blooming. They smell AMAZING, btw (and I have lots of honeysuckle on the other side of my house – so, despite living in a shitty neighborhood, it smells delicious right outside my front door lol). The light has always been way too harsh right there, though, which is why you get porch pictures. Today is overcast, so I thought I’d take advantage of those roses!

Until I heard a car driving down my (dead-end)street.

And then I realized they were not turning around, but actually parking.
Right next to the rose bushes, that they were going to trim.

“Well, this is awkward.”

Picture me high-tailing the fuck back into my house (they were STARING at me!).

AWKWARD.

So, sorry about the lack of decent pictures.

Here I have photoshopped out the wrinkles in my skirt, I hope that makes up for it.

Conquering Knits: A Self-Help Guide

So you wanna sew some knits, huh? Maybe you picked up the Renfrew pattern and haven’t worked up the courage to slice into the pattern tissue yet. Or maybe you’ve been romanced & wooed by all the amazing printed knit fabrics out there. Or maybe you’re just ready for a new challenge that doesn’t involve zippers! Whatever you reason, it’s time to talk knits. Get a coffee and get comfy, this is gonna be a long ‘un.

First off, let me say something very important.

Knits are not scary or super difficult to work with!

I don’t know who is responsible for freaking out millions of sewers to be afraid of knit fabrics, but I wish I did know so I could stick some needles in his (or her!) face. Knit fabrics are actually MUCH easier to work with than a basic woven fabric. Yes, you have to pay special attention to the grainline, but aren’t you doing that anyway with your other sewing projects? Yes, knits do curl up – but they don’t unravel! Yes, you have to use a special stitch & needle to keep your seams from getting too wavy and/or snapping – but what’s so scary about that?

Here is what is so awesome about knits. I made you a list.
- Don’t wanna hem? Don’t hem! That shit ain’t going nowhere.
- No tedious fitting! Cut your size correct size based on the pattern measurements and let the stretch of the knit do all the work handling those sexy curves you were blessed with.
- No zippers, buttonholes, or closures in general! Pull that shit over your head and get on with your life!
- Finding the grainline is easy – just follow the direction of the greatest amount of stretch.
- Knits are great for using teeny tiny scraps – you can piece the hell out of them (call the seams a ~design feature~) and use them for things like side panels, cuffs and collars, contrasting yokes, colorblocking, insets, creating stripes, pockets, etc. As long as you are paying attention to that grainline, you are pretty much limitless with what you can make!
- You are not limited to *only* using knit yardage to make tshirts – use your pattern to resize a large shirt! Add zippers and hoods or just play with the colors to jazz it up!
- While you don’t need a serger to sew knits, it’s your bestest excuse for buying one

Now that I’ve gotten you all excited about your new life with knits, let’s talk about those stitches.

Whether or not you plan on using a serger to sew up knits, you will want to keep a pack of Ballpoint Needles on hand. These are perfect for knits because the tip is slightly rounded, which means they push between the loops of the fabric, rather than pierce little holes to make their way through – this is bad for knits!

You may also want a twin needle for topstitching – especially if you don’t have a coverstitch machine (Does anyone here have a coverstitch machine? Can I borrow it?). Twin needles are awesome because they will do a perfect row of double stitching on top, and a neat little zig-zag on the bottom. You can get these in all sizes, weights – including ballpoint! – and stitch widths. I use them in place of the zig zag for my top stitching, as I think it looks a little more professional. Keep in mind these are for topstitching only; the stitches they produce are not strong enough to handle seams. You do need two spools of thread to use a double needle; wind some thread onto a bobbin if you don’t have a second spool on hand.

Special stitches are used to construct knits (assuming you aren’t using a serger – if you are, high five!) – you want the stitch to stretch with the fabric, or else you’re going to hear a lot of popping when you pull on your new tshirt. A straight stitch won’t do. And by “special stitches,” I am referring to the good ol’ zig zag stitch. If you want to make your seams a little more sturdy, adjust the zig zag width to be slightly more narrow – but not too narrow, or you’ll make the stitch too dense to actually stretch. Play around with a few scraps of your fabric and see what works best for you.

If your machine is computerized and has the ability to end a stitch in the “needle-down” position, go ahead and engage that – it it helpful for stretching as you sew, without risking pulling everything off the sewing machine. If your machine doesn’t have this feature, just turn the handwheel until the needle is down before you start pulling on your fabric.

If you have a walking foot or dual feed, these are also very nice for keeping the knits from getting too ripply. If you don’t have anything like that, no worries! You can still sew up some pretty knits

Knit Tips!

When sewing with woven (aka non-stretchy) fabrics, you can kind of fudge the grainlines. It’s not ideal, but the garment will still work as long as you’re not trading bias for straight. With that being said, this does NOT work with knits! It is important to place your pattern on the fabric according to the stretch direction (if you’re not sewing up a 4-way stretch jersey or whatever), otherwise you may not be able to get that shirt over your head.

You want your stretch to run horizontally across the body, not vertical. For neck/sleeve bands, the stretch needs to run the length of the band. I know this sounds really “Well no shit, Sherlock” but you’d be amazed at how many failed knit projects I chucked in the trash due to not figuring out where stretch was necessary. Learn from my mistakes.

Using the stretch to your advantage is the easiest way to get your knit garments looking supa fly. I am a big fan of foregoing an actual hem on my knits and just making little neck and arm and hem bands to keep everything nice & clean. However, these can really make or break a garment – especially if they end up too loose & floppy when sewn in. The bands need to be a bit shorter than the edge that they are being sewn onto, especially when dealing with necklines & arms. This allows the band to curve nicely and lie flat, without the use of additional stitches to hold it down. If you are sewing up your Renfrew top with something more stretchy than a stable knit, you will want to cut your neckband pieces down an inch or so to take advantage of that nice stretch. When you sew up your pattern, carefully stretch the band to fit – you should just be able to pull gently. It helps to sew with the band on top, so you can control how much you pull.

If you do want to make a hem on your knit that doesn’t involve bands, you can do a nice basic hem using your twin needles. Patty’s Knit 101 post has a lot of great info for this!

Make sure you stabilize your shoulders – otherwise you will risk stretching them out. A little piece of twill tape or clear elastic is perfect for this. I like to pin mine to the back, centered on the seam, and then top stitch with a double needle. Quick and gets the point across!

PROTIP: Knits look wavy when they are laying flat on a table. This does not mean you failed at sewing. Nine times out of ten, when you put the garment on, the fabric will stretch to accommodate and smooth itself out. Don’t stress unnecessarily over a wavy seam!

I think that about covers the basics – really, the best way to learn is to just jump in & play around with fabrics & stitches! Try starting out with something really basic & easy – the Renfrew is a great, hand-holding pattern. You could even use it to resize a larger tshirt, which will help you get more comfortable with stretchier fabrics & that zig zag stitch. Don’t worry if your first few attempts leave a little to be desired – it takes practice!

A giant stash of knit fabrics to play with doesn’t hurt either

I am by no means a professional, but I’ve definitely sewn up my share of knit fabrics Have any questions you don’t see covered here? See any designs you want a tutorial on? Leave a comment & I’ll see what I can do!

Completed: The Renfrew Top (and why I love knits!)

Omg you guysssss have you been lurking the Renfrew top as hard as I have? I was seriously excited when Tasia released this pattern – I love working with knits and I want everyone else to love them, too! Honestly, I already have a tshirt pattern block and I’ve got a pretty good handle on knits – not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’ve been pumping out knit tshirts/dresses for a few years now (mostly LLADYBIRD stuff. But I bought this pattern anyway – for SCIENCE. Despite making hundreds of tshirts, I’ve never actually sewn with a pattern for knits. So I was curious to see what it was like, and I wanted to report back to y’all. Also, SCIENCE.

I do love how versatile this pattern is – and not even with just what is offered on the envelope! You can seriously butcher this pattern up to make all kinds of other designs! I do like it better than my personal block, although it took some tweaking to get the fit correct. My biggest issue with Sewaholic patterns is the bust size – the measurements are so much smaller than mine, and since I already have to do a FBA with normal patterns, it’s not usually worth it to go the extra step with something that will take even more flat pattern adjusting. Knits, however, are very very forgiving. You don’t have to do a FBA so much as you just cut a bigger size

I was a little confused with the finished measurements – they include a few inches of ease, which is guess is necessary for a stable knit. Me, I use super stretchy knits – I have a whole cabinet full of them! I cut my pattern to accommodate for this – a 4 at the bust, reducing to a 0 at the waist/hip. I left the sleeves at a 4 (I have big upper arms for my size, I guess) and the shoulders/neckline are a 0. I also reduced the shoulder width just a hair past 0 as my first prototype was in danger of falling off my shoulder.

Speaking of my first shirt, I’m not going to show it to you. There’s nothing wrong with it – the fit is great – but it’s a boring red long sleeve shirt with a scoop neck. BORING. Who wants to look at that?

The whole pattern is great. I love the fit and the instructions are very clear and concise. I love the bands – this is not a new concept to me, personally, as I’ve been using this method for a few years, but it was reassuring to know my method was the right method

I do have one small change I made to the pattern that I think makes a huge difference with the finished neckline, though – if you are sewing this up with a stretchy/slinky knit (i.e, not something stable), cut the neckline band an inch or so shorter than the pattern piece indicates, and then stretch it to fit as you sew it on. The ending result is that the band shrinks down to fit the neckline and you get a perfect curve without needing to top stitch it down. As far as how much to cut off – well, I wish there was a formula to tell you, but it’s really dependent on how stretchy your knit is. Usually an inch is enough, but you might need to experiment! It is definitely worth it for the end result, though.

The fabric requirements on this pattern, btw, can easily be fudged. If you play around with the cutting layout, you can definitely save on fabric. Fabric can also be pieced at certain points if you don’t have enough length – this particular shirt is pieced right down the front. Partially to form the chevrons, but mostly because I barely had any of this stripey fabric.

And look – the back is solid black

I love the way it looks from the side (and no, I have no idea what is going on there with my hand)

I tried to get a picture of my top stitching but you can’t really see it, even with my super obvious ‘shopping Instead of using the zig zag (which I think looks kind of amateur on knits), I used a double needle and stitched with the seam in the middle of the needles. This is something I see on lots of RTW and I think it looks pretty professional! The bobbin stitch in a double needle is kind of a zig zag, so you still get a little stretch even though the top stitching is straight I also did this with my shoulder seams when I stitched down the twill tape.

So… as a lover of knits, my final verdict on this pattern is a definite WIN. I can’t wait to play around with this pattern some more; I’ve already pulled out a giant stack of knits from my cabinet to see what else I can cook up