If you caught my review of Tilly and the Buttons’ Love At First Stitch – a book that took me from beginner status to confident beginner stage in a matter of weeks – you won’t be surprised that my next move was to order Tilly’s second book, Stretch.
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I read it – like Love At First Stitch, it’s a wonderful sewing companion and a great introduction to working with stretch fabrics. However, the styles of the projects did not appeal to me – the only exception was the final project of the book (the Joni dress) which I will come back to some day, I’m sure.
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I think the reason I didn’t make it is that I wanted something more challenging to work on in the sense that Tilly’s books don’t leave much to the imagination – you don’t really have to work anything out for yourself: the step-by-step photos and descriptions are fool proof. So, I decided to bite the bullet and set myself the challenge of working on a commercial pattern without someone holding my hand, so to speak.
I’d previously started following a couple of people on Youtube who were talking about getting started with jersey fabrics and New Look’s 6301 really stood out – I personally love a wrap effect dress and the neckline looked just about right for my personal taste. I bought some super vibrant floral print jersey fabric from Crafty Sew & So, whom I’ve bought from a few times now – they have a beautiful collection of fabric and are absolutely lovely to deal with.
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6301 is a mock wrap dress with just enough detail to make it interesting; pleats to the sides of the bodice wrap front pieces, variable sleeves and a couple of different skirt options. It is hard to go wrong with a wrap style dress – they flatter most woman and are a good wardrobe staple. They’re also supremely comfortable, which is always a bonus.
Given that the fabric was super colourful, I opted to make a shorter sleeve version for spring / summer with the fuller skirt (I always prefer this style of skirt as it’s more flattering to my body type than more fitted styles).
The first lesson I learned was that tracing commercial patterns is a timely effort so I may, in the future, start buying PDFs. As for cutting knit fabrics, it took a little longer than I had been used to with all the non stretch fabrics I had been used to. After trying several cutting methods, I decided that the best way for me was to trace the patterns directly on on to the fabric (with dressmaker’s carbon and a tracing wheel) and to cut the fabric with a rotary blade.
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The bodice came together quite quickly and I was surprised at how easy it was to work with jersey. I had read in so many places that knitted fabrics were difficult to work with but I found it the opposite – just make sure you use a jersey needle. I had also read that you’re best buying a walking foot to ensure that the two pieces of fabric feed through at the same time but I experienced no difficulty.
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The skirt construction was straightforward, too. The trickiest part for me was creating a ditch for the elastic at the waist. I had read a couple of reviews admitting to skipping the elastic but I was in it for the long haul and to learn as much as I could so I persisted as I figured it was in the pattern for a reason, even if I couldn’t think of what that reason was.
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The last challenge was sewing in the sleeves – I always dread this part of the process; with the risk of gathering the fabric up incorrectly a usual concern for me, I knew the chances of mistakes and having to rip out stitches were even higher with jersey so I used many pins to try and mitigate the risk (and the swearing).
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Et voilà.
The dress came together so easily in the end and has made me feel comfortable sewing with jersey. I’m definitely going to make this pattern again – I’m already thinking a couple of plain brights as well as a couple of long sleeved versions in heavier knit fabrics for the autumn and winter months.
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