Throwback To My First Knit Dress
Excuse the poor quality photo, but we're throwing it back to 2014 (I'm the one in the blue dress). The first time I worked with knits was in high school, and I had no idea what I was doing! Here’s the story:
It was my senior year in high school and I was sure I wanted to go to school for fashion, so I planned to make something to wear for my high school graduation. I had sewn a ton before, but only with woven fabric. When I got a gift card for my birthday to an online fabric shop that sold knits with all sorts of fun prints, I was in heaven. I loved wearing knits, but had never sewn with them and figured it couldn't be that hard, right? Wrong! I went ahead and made this knit dress I had patterned myself using a straight stitch on my old Singer. I'll be honest, looking at it, it turned out pretty well. Functionality-wise, it struggled. For those of you who don't sew, let me fill you in on why this wasn't functional. If you grab one of your t-shirts and start to pull on the seams, what happens? It stretches along with the fabric. Now go to your closet and grab a dress shirt (made of woven fabric) and pull on the seams. What happens? They don't stretch. That's the type of stitch I used for this knit dress.
It was a solid effort for my first try. If someone would’ve taught me the magic of either a serger or a zig-zag stitch, I’d probably still be wearing the dress today! Here are some things I wish I would've known before I started sewing with knits:
- Use a ballpoint needle while sewing. This prevents snags in the fabric.
- Use scraps to test how different stitch types react with the fabric.
- Use a stretch stitch (zig-zag, overlock, etc.)
- Do not stretch the fabric while sewing (except while sewing on neckbands or cuffs).
- Practice! The best way to learn to sew with knits is to practice on small, basic projects.
Do you remember your first experience sewing with knits? I want to hear about it in the comments below!
