Monday 14 August 2017

McCalls 6886, Double-Take


"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise."
Galatians 3:26-29











    Hey my lovely friends!:) What have you stylish sewers been up to lately? Soon it'll be time for Fall sewing, wow! Gotta get a few more Summer projects in before then!

After my recent swimsuit challenge (took a little over two weeks), I needed an instant gratification project (or two, lol). I had a daisy print dress (fabric from my stash) on the brain when I ran out to Fabricville to get some more swimwear elastic & spotted the Hawaiian-print cotton knit which was on sale!! Regularly $16.99/metre and I got it for $4.99 a metre! I've since gotten a bit more so I can make a little skirt and another dress of some kind! Not often I come across a Hawaiian print cotton knit so I took advantage, lol:)





      I made these pretty much like my last Tribal-print dress (used a slightly smaller seam allowance on the side seams). I didn't make any adjustments to the pattern because I was dying to make something quick, lol. I also wanted them done for my weekend away with my husband:)





   I did finish the necklines differently however. I made a neckband for the Daisy dress but decided I didn't like how a neckband was going to look on the Hawaiian dress. I had already trimmed the 5/8" off the neckline (like I usually do) so I didn't have much seam allowance to work with. The fabric isn't very opaque either, so I decided to make a facing for the neckband with the wrong side showing.
I cut a strip of 1.5'' (pretty sure it was 1.5":p)  wide fabric, cut to be 15% less the neck circumference. I should have cut it even shorter though because the neckline doesn't lie completely flat.  I under-stitched, then turned it inside, topstitched & pressed it to death to get it to lie flat.

I tried using a double-needle, but I was getting a lot of skipped stitches (I had used steam a seam, that may have been why. I used SAS because I was getting unsightly tunnelling, bah). Also, this particular print left tiny holes in flowered parts, yikes! Knits can be tricky to top-stitch, at least for me, lol. Oh well, it turned out all right in the end! I used a triple-stretch straight stitch and it looks...passable. The Hawaiian fabric gets wrinkled fairly easily so I pretty much have to press it before I wear it but thats ok. I love it! Plus I have enough fabric to make another dress if I need to;)







      Well, thats all for today. I wore the daisy print dress to church yesterday & loved it:) Feels dressy-casual (is that a term, lol?). Anyone moved on to Fall sewing? If so, what are you making? I'd love to hear:) I'd also love to hear if you're still on Summer stuff.

Have a fabulous week everyone!:)

6 comments:

  1. What a great deal on this fabric Rikki! These are just the kind of everyday dresses I love wearing. They're so easy to pop on and dress up or down, and they're so kid friendly. Triple straight stitch is the one stitch that works when everything else fails on knits! I love it for foldover elastic, and I've never seen it pop any stitches. I need to make some tees. I have 3 refashioned ones, 2 totally done and 1 that's about 90% there, but I have a couple of lengths of nicer knits I'd like to get some long sleeved tees out of. All of my tees have worn out at the same time and it's time to replace them!

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! Yes, I'll have to use the stitch more often now! I sew mostly knits, I don't know why I didn't really use it before??
      Lol, these kinds of dresses certainly are kid friendly aren't they?:)
      Funny you mention refashioning shirts, I realized while I was in PEI, that I need to start scouring thrift stores for oversized clothing I can re-purpose for projects! Especially when there's no fabric stores to be found! I think theres on in Charlottetown but we didn't make it out there:p

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  2. I'm a big fan of knit dresses as they are so comfortable and easy to wash and wear. Love both your versions. Being from Australia, we are still in winter. I have a few more winter things to sew, but I am starting to dream of spring sewing.

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    1. Thanks Margie! Yes, knit dresses are the best! I've been living in these:) Does it get pretty chilly where you live?

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  3. Hi Rikki! I love both of your dresses! Knit dresses are so awesome as you don't need darts or zippers! LOL Your prints are so cute.
    I'm glad to know you're christian too! It's funny to read your blog today as I was exactly planning my fall sewing! Then yes, I'm about to start my fall sewing. Here in Montreal it gets cold quite fast. have a good week!!

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    1. Thank you Evelyn!:) Yes, knits are sooo much easier to fit! Glad to hear you're a Christian as well!:D Its nice now in Nova Scotian but I find once Fall is ready to come, the temperature changes quickly, lol.

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