A Valentine's Day dress...

I love February! It's such a sweet month, and the last day (3 out of 4 years) is my birthday. So I try to make a suitable something every year.

Anticipating this year's make, I picked up Girl Charlee's 'LOVE' knit jersey during the Thanksgiving sales. It comes in a white/red colorway as well, but I really like this gray/black combo. More subtle, if that's possible with this print - and it's very playful.










I've worn it twice already this month and received nice comments each time. The dress is my version of the Dixie DIY Ballet Dress, i.e., the top from the pattern and a length of fabric for the skirt. Lazy me, but the width of a most knit fabrics work great for my skirt without any shaping.

The neckline binding is black rayon jersey - I thought it would look strangely speckled if done in the main fabric.

This cotton/poly fabric, which is branded under Girl Charlee's own name, is light to mid-weight (7.5 - 8 oz.) and is easy to sew and wear. It has a nice amount of width-wise stretch without being 'spongy' or clingy.

A couple sewing notes:

I just can't wear the elastane tape  that is often recommended to support shoulder and waistline seams. For the waistline on a casual garment, I usually sew the seam with a lightning stitch, serge/cut the allowances together, press them up, and topstitch them to the bodice. That waistline is not going anywhere...

Waistline seam, inside view

 
I like to serge/cut my armhole seams together, and then let the fabric tell me what to do with the seam. On this dress, I pressed the seam in, towards the bodice, and topstitched it. Some fabrics want to go the other way, towards the sleeve.

Armhole seam, inside view

There's a recurring discussion of the 'which direction for seams' question on Pattern Review, and not just for sleeves, but for any seam. I go with the flow unless there's a compelling design reason to use a particular approach.

Because when the garment is laundered, the seams are going to tend to their natural placement...most of my garments wave goodbye to the iron once I've finished sewing them :-)

 

Fun project. But now I'm stuck. I've had three serious wadders already this year, all with new patterns. And I've no idea what I want to do next.

This happens once in a while, so I'm knitting while I wait for that lightning bolt moment. I decided to learn how to knit socks. Those skinny double-point needles have always intimidated me - but I've done 7 socks now, none of which are matching, and I'm getting good at it!

Bye for now - Coco