7/31/2014 0 Comments My Hunting DressHave you ever heard the phrase "kill two birds with one stone"? Well I killed multiple birds with this one dress. Not literally, but theoretically. So I've officially dubbed this as my "hunting dress" because sometimes I name my sewing projects epic names. Hey, parents name their children and the way I see it every sewing project I work on is a labor of love, thus these are my children. Call me crazy if you'd like but that's just who I am! :) Bird #1 I've been taking a few sewing classes online as a way of expanding my sewing skills. This is what I've been doing for the moment instead of college. I call it "homeschooling through college". It's not for everyone but it works for me. One of the classes I've been doing is how to sew with knit fabrics (like t-shirt material). This is my final project for the class and definitely my absolute favorite! Bird #2 The fabric I ordered online at Mood Fabric. Before whenever I needed fabric for a project I always got it from either Joann's, Hobby Lobby, my personal stash and occasionally Hancock's. But as I was taking the class the instructor said that the only place to get quality knit fabric is to order it online. The ones in the stores aren't good at all. After trying some I bought at Joann's I decided she was right. One of the places she suggested was Mood Fabrics. The fabric was pretty expensive, the color was darker than I thought it be and the fabric was REALLY clingy and thin! I was not pleased with the overall product but the service was pretty good and the delivery speed was timely. I think I'll try ordering from them again because I ordered some other knits at the same time and they seemed to be really nice. So I'm thinking that maybe this fabric just wasn't that great. But it was a learning experience and I definitely learned a lot from it! Bird #3 I was still in need of one more costume for my character in Literal and since I had yet to make a costume for myself I decided to use this as one of them. Christopher helped me pick out fabric that we both liked for Ann so now I have one more costume. That I made! See if you can spot it in the episodes to come. The dress pattern came with the class so I didn't have to buy it separately. It has an empire waist, quarter length sleeves and an A-line skirt. The dress shape is more or less created by clear elastic sewn into the waistband that helps hold it against the body. You would think that it would be tight but it's really very comfortable. I hemmed the sleeves in a way I've never done before. I cut a band out of the fabric that was the length of the sleeve end and 3/4" wide. I pinned it up underneath the sleeve with just a 1/4" still peeking out then I sewed it in place. After that I sewed up the rest of the sleeve as the directions called for and, because jersey tends to roll, I just let the fabric do its thing creating the effect you see here. Basically I just worked with how the fabric naturally acts to achieve the look I wanted. Even though I loved how the sleeves turned out, they are not my favorite part about this dress. No my favorite part is still yet to come. Wait for it... Wait for iiiit... POCKETS!
Yes that's right, pockets! The pattern did not originally call for pockets but I used a pocket pattern from another pattern from the same class and added it in. See, in my opinion, all skirts and dresses should have pockets. You know just in case the need for one arises. Guys are so lucky because almost every pair of pants out there has pockets. So if you're a girl and want pockets, you're going to have to wear pants. But what if you feel like wearing a skirt? This is a major problem in the clothing industry that I think needs addressing. If anyone is interested in the class I took to make this dress (or the patterns) you can find out about it at Craftsy: Sewing with Knits. I would TOTALLY recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to sew with this tricky material. The instructor is amazing and carefully walks you through every step so you know exactly what to do. Well worth every penny! Love, Susan
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