Guest Post: Diane from Gatorbunny Sews - Fabric Mixer

Remember Diane from Gatorbunny Sews? She was one of our contestants in the Fabricista Fashion Challenge. She loved being challenged and blogging so much that she asked if she could guest blog periodically. Of course I said yes! I love being able to share ideas and inspiration with our readers and it's even better to have help from other bloggers! Thanks Diane!


It's always been a little taboo to mix knits and wovens in sewing, but with the comfort of knits and the fun of wovens, I decided to break the rules and realize the best of both.

I've been drooling over this top from my Pinterest board for quite a while and I used it as my inspiration.

I chose a super soft navy slub knit from Fabric Mart for the body of the blouse and rooted around in my scrap basket for the wovens for the yoke. (The navy slub is not available anymore, but there is a black and red slub knit available!)

I chose New Look pattern 6187, View C because it's a simple design with a yoke.

When mixing knits and wovens, the wovens are best placed in the most stable parts of the top like the yoke, collar, cuffs and placket. It helps keep the shape of the garment without losing the comfort. For example, it's nice to have a yoke that stays in place but a sleeve that stretches and moves.

I made a few simple changes to the pattern.

1) Omitted the collar and lowered the neckline 1/2".

2) Shortened the sleeve 4" and added elastic instead of a cuff.

3) Pieced the yoke out of scraps, lined it in voile and added a fabric "tab" to the back of my blouse.

4) Replaced the neck facing by lining the front yoke and binding the back neck with 2" knit stripes (see the photo) and then sewing in the shoulder seam.

To make the hem lay smooth, I pressed 1/2" wide strips of knit interfacing to the hem, folded up the hem and used a twin needle to sew it in.

This was a fun project and it's comfortable and cheery. I highly recommend breaking the rules and mixing it up!

Happy Mixing! ~ Diane