Moneta

I promised myself I would try some new things with my sewing this fall.  One was to try some new patterns and the other was to experiment with knits.  My first run out of the gate with a new pattern (the Ginger skirt from Colette) I can safely count as a fail.  So much so, I'm not even going to show it on the blog.  It doesn't fit me properly, and I'm sort of thinking it is the style and that tweaking the fit isn't going to help.  

Which brings me to knits.  I bought Colette's Moneta dress pattern as an easy way to get into sewing knits.  The style is one that I like to wear (and buy frequently from eshakti), and I thought if I could get it right, it would be a great staple dress pattern for me.  

I decided to start with interlock knit, because it is a bit more stable as knits go, and I wanted to start with a solid color that was 100% cotton.  I found this organic cotton navy interlock at fabric.com (it is from Cloud 9).  I bought my jersey needles, ball point pins, tex 30 thread, and even tried to find a walking foot for my Bernina (that alas, was a fail).  I did discover, however, that the vari-overlock stitch foot works best with knits on my machine anyway.  I pulled it out on Saturday, intending just to play with scraps to get a feel for it, but ended up sewing the whole dress in a couple hours' time!  I probably get it done it faster with more experience under my belt, as I had to take time to learn how to do some steps, and because I wasted some time trying to figure out my twin needle (and then decided to chuck it because I couldn't get the tension right).

But it was a satisfying sew, and I think I'm going to try again!  I have a knit dress cut out for one of the girls, and I have some more interlock waiting to try a Coco dress.  I added length to the skirt pattern (I forget how much, but enough to make the skirt at least 25" long) and cut a straight up large size.  My main complaints about this dress are in the shoulders and sleeves.  I added length to the sleeves to make them true 3/4 sleeves (the pattern is written for half sleeves) and the cuffs are just slightly snug.  I would just decrease the seam allowance below the elbow next time.  

The neckline is also too wide, both in the front and the back.  My bra straps keep wanting to show; it will be fine once it is cold enough to wear a scarf or shawl around my neck. Next time, I'll use another pattern neckline that I already like the fit of and go from there.  The nice thing about knits is that they don't have to be so perfectly fitted.  And the finishing goes so quickly!  

I will admit that wearing this dress feels a bit like wearing pajamas, which I think I can say is a good thing.  The interlock is very soft and light.  If I can fix the neckline issue, I'll be totally happy with this dress pattern.

I thought the zig-zag finishing would look shoddy to me, but actually, I hardly notice.  I did two lines of zig-zag around the sleeve cuffs and I really can't tell that it isn't twin-needled.  

So a good start to knit-sewing.