Sewing with Knits: The Miz Mozelle Dress

I've been pushing myself more with sewing lately, working with slippery fabrics and learning techniques I normally don't try. My latest challenge? Sewing with knits.

It took a while to get a decent shot of me in this dress because I had a cold and my nose kept running. Do you see any snot running down my nose in this one? Or maybe you're seeing my gross watery eye. I was not feeling glamorous.

Pattern: Miz Mozelle Dress by Jamie Christina
Fabric: Blue and silver metallic fabric on clearance at Joanns
First worn: To see the Wham Bam Bowie Band (David Bowie cover band, obviously) and it totally held up for comfortable dancing.
Make it again? Definitely! I'd go one size smaller, though. I know it's supposed to be loose, but mine felt kind of wide in the shoulders.

I don't have a serger, but after making a polka-dot knit pencil skirt over the summer I was pretty confident I could sew an entire dress on my sewing machine. I even made my own binding (gasp!) and hand stitched it to the inside.

Emma's post on Spoonflower about sewing with their new performance knit was very helpful to me. She talks about what the zigzag stitch should look like -- which was really important to me since I was previously using a narrow zigzag that was making the hem draw up the knit fabric.



My zigzag stitch test swatch

Do you have any tips for sewing with knits?

Sewing Pin-Print Clutch

I've been on a bit of a clutch kick since I made my Flowers and Butterflies clutch a few months ago -- and since I discovered how convenient clutches are when you don't live in NYC and have to carry your entire life in a bag.

I needed to make a bag that was a little more fall and winter-appropriate.

The fabric from this clutch came from the Anything Fiber Sale & Swap I attended last month. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I feel like it was around $1.

 

In other news, my sewing machine became ill after I finished this project. I took it to the sewing machine hospital/fabric store to be repaired today. I just hope it comes back safely and without emptying my bank account. Oh, how I miss it!

 

What do you do while your sewing machine is getting repaired?