lazy susan in knit sew along - day 3

sew along objective (yeah, i just did that...i promise i wont bust out an outline): to take your bodice from the lazy susan pattern and learn how to construct it out of knit fabric for a more versatile pattern.

wednesday july 24 - attaching skirts to bodice: i will be going over attaching a gathered woven OR knit skirt to the knit bodice and also how to attach a paper bag style skirt to your knit bodice. whew...busy day!

welcome back ladies! if you are just now joining us, check out this blog to learn about the sew along, and then check out day 1 and day 2 to see what we are up to.

alright - BEFORE you go cutting. listen to this very important piece of information. these sew alongs work just like my patterns. please read through to the end of the post before you do anything. i promise it will help things to go smoother and make more sense!

 

let's first go over some tips for sewing the skirt in a knit. you basically are going to do it the same as you did with a woven in the pattern, but i am going to point out some helpful tips that will make sewing with knit more of a pleasure. read: decrease the amount of swearing, temper tantrums and tears.

my first secret weapon:

 i do not sew knits without this stuff. lightweight fusible interfacing with stretch. it will make such a difference, especially when dealing with a thinner knit! you can buy this on a bolt as well, i just happened to luck up at wal-mart a few years ago and they had the bags on clearance for $0.33 and i hoarded stocked up. i use this when i go to hem a lightweight knit, since it keeps it from rolling. it basically gives the knit a little bulk, while maintaining the stretch, so it makes it easier to work with.

NOTE: although you sized down in your knit bodice, when going to cut the skirt make sure to cut the length for the size your child normally wears, NOT sizing down.

what i do is cut 2" sections to place around the bottom of my knit skirt piece. i like to hem about 1" with knit just to give it some extra weight so that it hangs better and doesn't flip up. now, in the pattern i have only allowed for a 1/2" hem, so you want to make sure to add a bit of length if you are going to be doing a larger hem.

NOTE: also, if you chose to do a drop waist on the bodice, you need to account for that when cutting the pieces for your skirt. the easiest way that i have found is to subtract whatever you added to your bodice from the skirt measurement. so, since i added 3.5" to my bodice yesterday, i am just going to take 3.5" off the length of my skirt. :)

here are my pieces of interfacing all cut and ready to be fused. 

now, take your knit and your interfacing over to the iron and you want to place the fusible side (usually it is bumpier) on the WRONG side of the bottom of your skirt fabric lining up the bottom edge. MAKE SURE THE STRETCH OF YOUR INTERFACING RUNS WITH THE STRETCH OF YOUR FABRIC. i mean it.

 now, iron it on along the edge of the bottom of the skirt. i have found a dry iron works best for this. the steam makes it not cooperate. once you have it all around the bottom of your skirt piece, go ahead and press up that 1" hem. see how much easier it is to deal with now? no roly poly!

i also added the interfacing to the top edge of my skirt where i will be gathering just to make it easier to deal with. :) but i only cut 1" strips there.

now to hem that skirt. another one of my knit secret weapons is this guy.

a double needle. this not only gives you a more professional look for a hem, it also gives the stitch a little bit of stretch which is needed with the knit fabric. now, if you have never used a double needle before, i highly suggest doing some google research before you try. but once you start using one, you will get hooked! i just wish my sewing machine had a better set up for the 2nd thread so that i didn't have to jerry-rig it with my thread holder in the back. haha. 

just like you would with a regular needle, use a straight stitch to hem and i go ahead and bump up the length to 4.0.

 once you have the hem stitched, it gives you a nice look on the right side of the fabric and an almost zig-zag look to the backside that gives the stretch. now let me tell you how that interfacing just saved your life. if you have a thin knit (i keep typing thin mint...think my belly is trying to tell me something) and try to sew with a double needle with no interfacing...let's just say the sight isn't pretty!

okay - now that we have our knit skirt mini-tutorial done, let's move on to attaching a skirt (knit or woven) to the knit bodice. i will discuss the paper bag skirt later.

you will run a gathering stitch on the top of your skirt portion just as you do in the pattern making sure to gather to the amount of the bodice.

 now, for quite possibly one of my fave tools for sewing knits...clear elastic tape.

seriously, yall...at first i thought of it as just an extra step involved in knits, but TRUST me when i say you will get so much more wear out of your garments if you take the time to add this stuff. truth be told. i have been known to put it in EVERY seam i sew in knits. this stuff is worth its weight in gold. you know how the interfacing adds bulk and stability to the knit? well, this tape adds strength to the knit and comes in especially handy when sewing something like a waistband. i find it helps to protect your knit from the weight of the skirt and it holds up better and helps the knit to keep its shape. have i sold you on this yet? i should probably be a spokesperson. hello dritz, yeah...this is amy. ;) i am a die-hard stretch rite elastic kind of girl, but the dritz clear works just as well and is easier to find in my neck of the woods.

anyways, what you want to do is to place this tape right along the bottom edge of your bodice (this works with the lined tutorial from day 1 as well, i just happened to take photos with this bodice). before you sew it down, stretch it out a few times. this kind of elastic needs to be "broken in" just a bit before it is used. if you have a serger, serge right along the edge not catching the tape in your blade. 

if you don't have a serger, use a zig-zag stitch to sew it down along the edge. i usually sew it to the right side of the fabric, but i honestly don't think there is a right or wrong here. louisa has a few dresses that has it sewn on the wrong side, and it is just fine. someone please alert me if there is a correct/incorrect method to this. :)

once sewn you will realize that you still have stretch to your knit, but it is stronger and more stable. pay no mind that my tensions are off. i could probably stand to clean my serger too, but let's not go there today.

now, place your skirt on your bodice, just as you would in the pattern, pin in place and sew the skirt to your bodice. 

now, since i sew my elastic tape on the right side, i always take about 1/8" of the seam off when i serge the two together.

remove your gathering stitch (i do this always, but it is helpful with knit so that you still have some give to the seams) and take over to the iron and press that seam out. look, you can almost see the strength of that seam now!

pat yourself on the backs ladies...as you have just finished up your knit lazy susans. rock on my dearies!

but wait...don't forget that awesome addition of a paper bag style skirt to lazy susan bodice! i do so LOVE this dress!

i used the taylor pattern by the mean princess. when it came time to add the elastic, i measured my bodice along the bottom edge and saw that it came to 23". 

so, for both of my casings, i cut the elastic at about 23.5" and sewed them together and placed in the casings so that the width of my skirt was the same width as my bodice as shown below.

 now to do some measuring and tinkering since i want to add clear tape to my bodice where i will be sewing it in place. so, with both the bodice and skirt turned inside out, you want to slide the waistband of the skirt into the bodice until the bottom of the bodice lines up with the bottom of the waistband as shown below.

 now, to attach the skirt and bodice, you will be stitching FROM THE RIGHT SIDE along the elastic waistband. i like to stitch along the bottom of the casings and the top of the casings as shown by the arrows.

so, i need to measure how high up from the bottom of my bodice i need to go to determine where to place my clear tape for that top casing seam. for my skirt, the top of the casing falls 1.5" up from the bottom of my bodice. i put a pin in place to make it more clear.

 now, draw a line on the bodice all the way around where the pin is. this is where you will stitch your band of clear tape (just as above, make sure to give it a good stretch first) to the WRONG side of the bodice with a zig-zag stitch.

now, this is completely up to you. you can add another band of clear tape along the bottom of the bodice, but i usually don't because the seam that will get the most abuse is that top one which you just secured your tape to. however, it would certainly be fine if you wanted to!

on a flat surface with skirt and bodice still inside out, place the waistband of the skirt back into the bodice and match up your bodice with the waistband as you did before (ie the top casing and bottom casing) and pin in place. pin until the cows come home in fact.

now, turn your dress right sides out and head over to the machine. with patience, sew along the top of the elastic casing first. i use a straight stitch with a length of 4.0, and stretch just a bit as you sew. this is NOT a time to be speedy mcspeedperson at the machine. take your time, you want this to look awesome.

 once you made it around your top seam, head on down to the bottom of the casing and do the same.

guess what ladies - pat yourselves on the back. you are done. you are well on the way to knocking out some GORGEOUS knit lazy susans in your sewing room.

join me tomorrow for the last day...and don't you know, i saved the best for last...DETAILS!!

lazy susan in knit sew along - day 2

sew along objective (yeah, i just did that...i promise i wont bust out an outline): to take your bodice from the lazy susan pattern and learn how to construct it out of knit fabric for a more versatile pattern.

day 2 - flutter trim bodice & drop waist: cutting and bodice construction for knit bodice that is not lined but has "flutter" trim along neck and arms. perfect for thicker knits. and just so stinking cute!

welcome back! i hope you have been having a great time so far! i have really had fun dressing up these lazy susans. i love when you can take one pattern and give it twists so that you end up with a few versatile looks! talk about bang for your buck! i know you girls work hard for your money and i want to get you the most for it! if you are just now joining us, check out this blog to learn about the sew along, and then check out day 1 to see what we are up to.

alright - BEFORE you go cutting. listen to this very important piece of information. these sew alongs work just like my patterns. please read through to the end of the post before you do anything. i promise it will help things to go smoother and make more sense!

now on to some business. just like with the lined bodice we did yesterday, you want to SIZE DOWN. so, grab your pattern pieces and trace off the FRONT bodice piece from the size below what your little one would usually wear. since we are not lining this bodice, we are going to be using the same piece for both the front and the back - so no need for another pattern piece. easy, right? you will be cutting 2 on the fold from the front bodice of the original pattern.

now, if you do not want to drop the waist...carry on below 2 photos. BUT if you do want to drop the waist (i am currently obsessed with drop waists), listen up. :) to figure out how much to drop the bodice, measure your kiddo from the underarm to the top of where you want the waist to be. my model is in the bed getting her "booty seep" (hehe that is what she used to call it) so let me show you on my dress form. as you can tell, i am still learning on how to draw with a mouse.

my measurement was 6.75" roundabouts (this doesn't have to be rocket science). so what you want to do is to measure from the bottom of the underarm curve on the pattern piece down and extend the original bottom of the bodice until you reach your measurement. for instance, with my measurement being 6.75", the bodice already extended 3.25" from the underarm, so i just needed to add an additional 3.5". hope that makes sense. as i said, it really isn't rocket science and i will totally admit that i did another one and i just eyeballed it. :)

now, place your pattern piece on the fabric, pin in place and cut 2 on the fold. remember, just like yesterday, you want the stretch of your fabric running perpendicular to the fold.

once cut, place your bodice pieces right sides together matching up the shoulders and pin ONE shoulder together and sew (3/8" seam allowance). repeat after me, only sew one shoulder. :) also, just a quick reminder - if you are not using a serger, don't forget you need to use your stretch stitch!!

now, take it over to the iron and press out that shoulder seam. then, take your bodice to a flat surface and lay it out so that the neck opening is extended. you want to measure the neck opening as shown below. again, this isn't rocket science and you don't have to be exact, but you certainly want to be in the ballpark.

see, my measurement comes to about 14". this number is going to tell us how to cut the strip to use as the flutter that will also finish off our neck and arms. :) generally the rule of thumb with ruffles/gathers is that you want to go 1.5 to 2 times the amount of the area to be gathered. i like to err on the side of having plenty, so i just go ahead and go with the most generous measurement. so, i am going to double my 14" and cut a strip that is 28" long.

NOW, to give you some options...you can do this flutter trim one of two ways, you can either have a double row of flutters as shown here:

or a single row.

i did both, duh. and i will tell you as nice as the double looks, i actually prefer the single. the double, i fear is going to be too heavy and will pull that neck over time, which makes me sad since i love the dress. it also created a crazy wonky situation in the underarms that i had to jerry-rig so that it was halfway presentable. so, i would say just play around with your knit and try to determine which one you like best. 

so, to pull out our math skills again, if you are doing a double row of flutters, cut your strip:

(length of neck opening * 1.5 or 2) by 1.5" and iron it in half lengthwise

if you are doing a single row of flutters, cut your strip:

(length of neck opening * 1.5 or 2) by 0.75" no ironing needed

now, you may think that 0.75" doesn't seem wide enough, but trust me, it is! i actually cut it 1" the first time and ended up ripping the seams out as the extra fabric created too much weight and weighed down the neck. not cool!

okay...off to gather that strip.

if you have a double flutter - run a gathering stitch along the FOLDED edge of your strip. i know this goes against all of the woven sewing you have done, but you WANT that raw edge to show. thankfully knit doesn't fray and instead will give you a really great textured, fluttered look with the raw edges.

if you have a single flutter - run a gathering stitch along one of the edges. now, i will tell you my little secret, with just one layer - i find it MUCH easier to gather with an elastic bobbin here. that way i don't have to rip out my gathering stitch later and well, let's just face it...it is quicker. if you are not familiar with this technique - do a quick google search. that is how i learned as well, there are some awesome tutorials and you tube videos out there! and if you sew with knit often, you will find yourself gathering with an elastic bobbin often. it is a lifesaver with knits!

 see how pretty and gathered it comes out?

now, if you have gathered with an elastic thread, head over to your iron and hover it and steam the snot out of it and watch it shrink. i swanny, this never gets old for me! it amazes me each and every time. PS - i adore how my iron created a fishbowl effect of my sewing room in the background. i cannot hardly believe it is actually clean too!

steam magic aside, if gathering the old fashioned way, run your gathers (while trying to not lose your mind as the strip wants to coil this way and that) along the strip until you end up around your measurement for the neck opening, or until your desired level of gathers. some people like a ton of gathers, and some don't. honestly, it is up to you. i told you this isn't rocket science but you do want to have enough of the strip to cover your neck opening and you want your gathers consistent.

now, lay your bodice on a flat surface, and place your gathered strip right sides together with the bodice with the gathered edge flush along the opening of the neck as shown below. pin in place. as you can see, i have some fabric strip left over. this is totally fine since i am happy with the amounts of gathers that i have. :)

take this over to your machine, and stitch it down to your bodice neck opening with a 3/8" seam allowance. now, if you didn't use elastic thread - once you have your strip sewn down, you want to make sure to remove your gathering stitch. if not, you will not have the full amount of stretch your knit will allow since that gathering stitch will hold you back and the neck is one place you NEED that for going over the head. :) i know it seems like a silly step, but i always, always, always remove my gathering stitch, even with wovens. once you start, you cannot stop. and since there are methods to my madness, i always gather in a completely different color than what i sew in so that it is easy to differentiate which one to remove.

take the bodice over to the iron and press that flutter trim out. take your time here since this is a detail that you want to look a million bucks!

 just a side note, but my sewing room smells like heaven right now. my friend phoebe got me hooked on these candles from anthropologie (these are all i can afford in that store) and i have yet to meet one that i didn't want to eat. yummy smelling candle in my sewing room make me happy. this is one of the few things i will treat myself to! ps - look at my sweet brown dog as a puppy on his first swim. man i miss that doggie!

once you have your trim pressed, take to a flat surface and with right sides together match up the shoulders of the side that you haven't sewn together, making sure to match up your flutter trim as well. pin in place and sew with 3/8" seam allowance.

 press that seam and now we are going to turn our attention to the armholes. we are going to do the trim on these EXACTLY as we did the neckline. so, start first by measuring and then go to cutting your strips, gathering and attaching. i feel silly repeating all the steps since we just did them, so i wont. ;)

NOTE: if you want to add flutter sleeves in addition to the flutter trim, attach your flutter sleeves to the bodice as you would in the pattern BEFORE you add the flutter trim. That is a whole lot of fluttering going on and Capt. Jack Sparrow isn't even in the room. Oh be still my pirate-loving heart.

 once you have sewn the flutter trims on both armholes and ironed out the seams, match up the armholes right sides together, taking care to match your trim as well (shown below), pin in place and sew down your side seam with 3/8" seam allowance.

guess what ladies...it is about "pat yourself on the back" time. :) 

now for all of you top-stitchers let's get to work on that neckline and those armholes. remember, when you top-stitch on knit, make sure to lengthen your stitch length (i use 4.0 or 4.5) and stretch your fabric as you sew. this ensures that the stitches will stretch some with the knit while going over the head and over arms instead of popping. while top-stitching isn't for everyone, i recommend it for this type of flutter trim, and more for a functional than fashionable. it helps to secure that flutter trim in place so that it doesn't want to roll out. remember, take your time! you want this looking amazing!! photo props to my husband since i have yet to grown that other arm. this is how i stretch as i top-stitch.

and on that note girls...we have completed day 2 of the sew along. i cannot wait to see photos and don't forget to get your "booty seep" and come back tomorrow to learn about attaching skirts to our awesome knit bodices!! remember to post all photos/questions/concerns/tips to the brownie-goose lovers page on facebook!

PS - if you don't already have some of this in your sewing arsenal, you may want to grab some. i find it EXTREMELY beneficial in the sewing room with knits. especially when it comes to attaching skirts and things of that sort. :)

lazy susan in knit sew along - day 1

sew along objective (yeah, i just did that...i promise i wont bust out an outline): to take your bodice from the lazy susan pattern and learn how to construct it out of knit fabric for a more versatile pattern.

day 1: cutting and construction for a LINED lazy susan bodice in knit. perfect for those thinner knits. :)

okay ladies. here we go. this is going to be fun! better yet, this will all be in a neat, organized place on the blog so you can continue to come back to reference. :) ps - if you are just joining us, make sure to read this blog that talks a ton about knits and has some great reference sites!

alright - BEFORE you go cutting. listen to this very important piece of information. these sew alongs work just like my patterns. please read through to the end of the post before you do anything. i promise it will help things to go smoother and make more sense!

so, to begin...our first task is choosing a size. as a general rule, anytime that you do a pattern that was constructed for a woven fabric in a knit fabric, you need to size down. woven fabrics don't have the give that knits do, so therefore when you make a knit version in the usual size, it will appear too big. for our project, the lazy susan...the bodice runs a bit wide anyways, so you are good to go sizing down. now, a little disclaimer - since this is constructed WITHOUT the button opening in the back i know you are probably wondering if it will fit over your child's head in a smaller size. both of my children have big ole heads and i tried it on both (even the largest of the two heads...sweet baby Nash) and it still worked. ahhhhh, the beauty of knits. :) BUT with that said, you must use either a stretch stitch or your serger or else you will be up the creek, promise. but, you generally need to use those types of stitches sewing knits no matter! if you don't have a serger, your regular sewing machine has a stretch stitch that looks almost like a lightening bolt. if confused, reference this blog post for more info. http://sewaholic.net/a-big-list-of-tips-for-sewing-knits/

here we go...

SIZE DOWN. i would usually make louisa a 4-5, so i chose to use the 2-3. first trace off the FRONT of the bodice. 

for this construction, we are going to ignore the back piece and instead make our own because we are all crafty like that. so, on the same piece you just traced, make a mark 3/8" to the LEFT of the fold line and connect along the bottom of the bodice and extend your neckline to meet that new mark. 

why the 3/8" you ask? because that is our seam allowance and to make this top lined (it is the seam allowance for the entire pattern actually), what you want to do is be able to construct it so that all seams are inside for the most professional look.

now we have our 2 pattern pieces for the bodice. let's get cutting! 

for the front: you want to cut 2 on the fold with the stretch of your knit fabric perpendicular to the fold. let me tell you a little secret about working with knits. PIN like your life depends on it. seriously. yall, i am not a pinner but you better believe i have my pins out in full force with knit. especially a slinky, rolly one like this green stripe!

okay, once your 2 front pieces are cut, set them to the side and still using the same pattern piece, we are now going to cut our 4 back pieces. 

here is a little aside on matching stripes. what i like to do is to place the bottom of the underarm curve of my FRONT bodice pattern piece at a memorable spot on the knit. in the photo above, see how i placed it right at the top of the white stripe? well, i remember that since i want the SAME placement for the bottom of my underarm curve in the back so that the stripes match up. 

for the back: i cut 2 on the fold and then cut down the fold to end up with 4 pieces. you don't have to do it this way, but i find it is SO much easier to match up patterns and stripes when done this way. SO, place your pattern piece with the extended 3/8" line on the fold (so basically your back pieces are 3/8" wider than the front) matching up your pattern/stripe as need be with the stretch of your fabric once again perpendicular to the fold. ignore the colored pencil, it had a point when i took the photo but that point has since escaped my mind!

now that you have it all lined up and pinned, cut out your back pieces. next, take the pattern piece OFF but keep the back pieces pinned together. run your scissors along the fold of the 2 back pieces so that you are cutting the fold and ending up with 4 back pieces. 

 NOTE: if you are not worried about matching patterns, then before cutting, then you don't need to cut on the fold and instead just cut 4 back pieces along the 3/8" extension line.

construction time, wahoo! 

these next few steps, aside from a stretch stitch or serger, are exactly the same construction as you would for the bodice in woven. so, place 2 of the back bodices pieces RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER with one of the front bodice pieces matching up the shoulder seams. pin in place and sew along the dotted lines. repeat with other 2 back pieces and front bodice piece. REMEMBER YOUR STRETCH STITCH.

 now head over to the iron and press all of those shoulder seams out.

on the way back to your sewing table, did you almost trip over all this? because i did. oh well, i'd rather a big fat lego than a barbie shoe anyday!

now, on a flat surface place one of your bodice pieces right sides up. NOTE: if you are doing a flutter sleeve, now is the time to add one just as you would as instructed in the pattern. place the other bodice piece right sides together matching up the shoulder seams with the other bodice piece. pin until the cows come home for real and make sure that all of your points/sides/neck curves/etc are matching up since the knit may want to move around on you a bit more than a woven would. once you are all pinned, head over to the machine and sew along the dotted lines as shown below. caution, you will NOT be sewing up the back bodice seams like you would in the woven version, instead start along the neckline.

once sewn, clip the curves. knit will work with you a bit better than a woven so you don't have to be as aggressive clipping your curves! now, go and pull the back pieces through the front via the shoulder seams and then take over to the iron and press your neckline and arm curves out.

okay, now to sew the bodice front and back together at the underarm seams. i always say, this step is way more difficult to explain/photograph than it is to actually do! here is a photo pointing out what i call the underarm seams in case you are not sure what i am talking about.

right sides together, match up the 2 underarm seams and pin them together. continue to open the bodice pieces so that the right sides are touching and pin these together. you will sew from the bottom raw edge of the bodice front, through the underarm seams and down to the bottom raw edge of the bodice back as shown by the dotted line. 

repeat for the other side and then take over to the ironing board and press out those seams. 

okay, hope you are clear as mud with what we just did with those side seams...because we are about to do the same thing for the back seam. this way, we will have one complete piece as the bodice, meaning no buttonholes in knit to fool with. you can thank me later. my machine likes to eat knit when it comes to buttonholes. :/

just so that we are all on the same page, when looking at the back of your bodice, this is what i am referring to as the back neck seams. 

right sides together, you want to match those two back neck seams up and pin them together.

now, open out the back bodice pieces so that right sides remain together and continue to pin down along the back side seams. you want to sew along the dotted line as shown below (i couldn't get my fabric to lay straight for photo, but this will be a straight line) stitching the 2 back sides (both outer and lining) together. i promise, this is SO much harder to explain!

 now, take over to your ironing board and press that back seam out and get ready to pat yourselves on the backs!!

 you have successfully completed a lined knit version of the lazy susan. rock on ladies. this is what the front of your bodice should look like.

and the back, with the back seam (NO buttonholes here!)

 as i said before, i was worried about the neck opening and my louisa's large head. however, i was happy to see that it fit over the adorable pumpkin head of this one. so, i knew i would be good for lou! can you even tell how proud he was. poor kid thought he was getting a new shirt.

 

now if you are a top-stitching fool like i am, you are itching to finish this puppy off. and go for it...just make sure that when you top-stitch you lengthen your stitch length (i usually top-stitch knit in a 4.0 or 4.5) and stretch it as you stitch so that those stitches don't pop when going over the head. :)

ladies - that is day 1. awesome work my dearies! please share any photos/questions/tips/etc on the brownie-goose lovers page on facebook. tune back in tomorrow to learn another construction of the lazy susan bodice. this time, we aren't lining it and we will put a fun edge to the seams as shown here!