Tag Archives: Knits

Jungle January – Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee

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Hi guys,

Alas I’ve succumbed to the madness that is Jungle January. After seeing animal print upon animal print over at Pretty Grievances, I knew that I too had to kick off 2013 with animal print. I had less than a yard of inexpensive poly knit fabric, just enough for the Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee (another free and awesome pattern). This was going to be a wearable muslin because…

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…have any of you seen a print as hilariously ridiculous as this? There are leopard (cheetah?) spots, flaming paisleys and if that’s not enough for you, a light dusting of crocheted doilies. I must admit though, after wearing this “wearable muslin”, I actually liked it. I tried it on and was like “hey, it’s not so bad”. This is what Jungle January does to people.

Peace,

-Salma

Sewing Loot

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After I sent these off in the mail to Teresa, I got some goodies of my own!

I bought the Carry Me book, some of you might remember I reviewed it a while ago. It really is the best bag making book I’ve come across and I’d like to make some more from it. I also purchased the newly released Stylish Dress Book, it has some pretty cute casual designs. I can’t wait to make my Juniper pants, I’m a pants (especially wide-leg!) girl so imagine my delight when they released this pattern! The thread is from Pick Your Plum, I paid 10$ for all those spools (each has over 300 m of thread). I can’t really attest to its quality since I haven’t used it but if anything it’ll do for hand-basting and muslin-sewing.

I’m not done yet…


Look at my sweet new stash! I’ve some lovely black featherwale courduroy (yes, Juniper pants!), a Valori Wells cotton spandex knit, yellow t-shirt knit, striped rayon ponti de roma knit and some coral jersey!

It’s going to be a busy sewing season this fall!

-Salma

Faux-Serged Seam Finish for Knit Fabrics in 5 Easy Steps!

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Hi there!

I love sewing with knit fabrics but I know they can seem intimidating to some us of, especially when you don’t own or use a serger to finish off your seams. No fear! I’m going to share a quick and easy way to get a seam finish that is similar to using a serger and all you need is your sewing machine and the zig zag stitch! Let’s begin:

Step one:

Here is my 3/8″ (roughly 1 cm) seam allowance, as you can see I’ve used a smaller zig zag stitch to sew up my side seams as per the pattern instructions.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

 Step 2:

Snip your seam allowance in half.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

Step 3:

Using your zig-zag stitch at the widest setting and a stitch length of about 3 (or whatever suits you!) position you fabric under the presser foot and just test out your stitch (manually) and make sure that when your needle goes to the left, it comes down right beside the farthest part of your original seam.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

Then move your needle (manually) to the right and make sure that the needle falls just outside of your fabric.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

Step 4:

Start stitching away, don’t forget to backstitch in the beginning and go slowly at first if you need to. If your fabric is fiddly under the presser foot gently tug on it to straighten as you sew.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

Stop and check to see if it’s coming along nicely, you want to make sure that the thread catches the ends of your fabric, think of it as “left stitch on the fabric, right stitch off the fabric” (I just realized that I didn’t snip all my stray threads off…lol).

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

Step 5:

Finish it off! Voila!

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

All images property of Beautifully Sewn

How easy was that?! Now you try and keep on delaying that serger purchase you’ve been mulling over in your head (be honest we’ll all cave in one day!).

As always feel free to share your own tips and tricks for sewing with knit fabrics, the more the better :)

Peace,

Salma

First blog post and two completed dresses!

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Hi there!

I’m so excited to be posting my first entry! To celebrate I thought I’d share two projects I recently completed for a client of mine who is also the model for my pictures. She has a total hourglass figure and sewing for her was such a pleasure as the finished dresses drape so beautifully on her! As always, I followed the steps in sewing patterns and they were easy as pie. This was also my first time sewing with polyester knit fabric, I’ve always been wary of knits because I don’t have a serger yet but I’m not afraid anymore! Hemming was kind of tricky because polyester knit’s aren’t easy to press and they keep rolling around under the presser foot, so I used fusible hem tape  before finishing the hems and I highly recommend it to others.

The first one is McCalls M6070. I made this for her to wear to her niece’s baptism. I made minor changes by using a single piece of  2 inch elastic in the midriff waistband casing instead of two 1/4 inch pieces at the top and bottom of the band like the pattern called for.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn, 2011

Don’t you just love the way the design details on her shoes match perfectly with the print? It really complements her dress!

And the second one was for the same client, I used New Look 6936 and a polyster knit print (so easy to sew!) You can’t see it but I added a satin ribbon casing on the inside of the waistband for added comfort.

All images property of Beautifully Sewn, 2011

Her pose reminds me of a 1950′s model, so classic!

And there you have it, my first foray into beautiful sewing with knit polyester fabric!

Stay tuned for more projects, tips, and tutorials (there is one currently underway). I know its a bit bare at the moment but I’ll add some more stuff in the coming days. Thanks for stopping by!

Please don’t distribute my images without acknowledging me and my blog. I don’t mind if you like my work and want to show others but  just credit me and link back to the original post, please and thank you.

Peace

-S