Skip to main content

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

Comments

  1. That's a great mix-up of knits with wovens. Very cute! And I love the little tab on the back.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like this idea a lot! Sometimes I want the comfort of a knit but I also want a little structure as well. This idea fits the bill perfectly!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Revisiting a Pattern After Five Years

Have you ever used a sewing pattern and then immediately vowed never to sew it again? Well, I have. It all began in the spring of 2020 at the start of the pandemic lockdown. I tackled sewing projects that were more challenging to help me grow as a seamstress. There was one pattern in particular that almost did me in, the Seamwork Penny shirt dress. The Penny dress pattern has a classic button-up dress shirt style bodice with a gathered skirt and pockets. It is a beautiful take on a shirt dress, and my sister and I loved it. The only downside is that it was recommended for intermediate-level sewists and I was only an adventurous beginner back then.  I think I had only ever made one button-up shirt before attempting this Penny Dress and it didn’t even have a collar! Despite all of this, I thought “Why not try it, what’s the worst that can happen?”  Thankfully the worst didn’t happen, and the dress turned out surprisingly wearable, but I had some intense frustration at the end. I...

Made By A Fabricista: A Simple Frock for Spring

Hello friends! I’m really into sewing and wearing tent dresses at the moment. A tent dress is basically a wide A-line style gown. For this month’s project, I’ve opted to try out The Assembly Line’s Square Neck Dress. This style is a little avant-garde in its enormity and shape, and boasts the squared neckline it’s named after, plus some cute hem side slits.  All that volume is fun to move around in, plus there’s loads of air circulation which is cooling. This dress’s main feature–its wide and high squared neckline–really piqued my interest recently, and I added it to my Make Nine plans for 2025. I find it so satisfying to check off those boxes as I sew!  This beautiful shirtweight linen is a color I simply adore; a muted medium blue. Stormy skies, worn-in denim, and ocean waves all come to mind, and that is exactly what I want to be all wrapped up in. While I think a wild or large print would be amazingly on display in this big canvas of a dress, I also thought that a subtle ...

Made By A Fabricista: Bold Aspen Dress for Spring

 As I write this in mid-April, central New Jersey weather is showing small signs of spring. My neighbor’s daffodils are blooming and our magnolia tree is trying to unfold its vibrant magenta petals. I am in the midst of preparing my wardrobe for the warmer months, even if we are still huddling against windy 30 degree days. For me, warm weather means linen. I love breathable, floaty linen sundresses and drapey, loose linen wide-leg pants. My vision for a spring piece was something bold and bright, inspired by the natural colors of blooming flowers, but also something that could transition well between the warmer and cooler months. When I saw Fabric Godmother’s Apsen Dress, I knew that it had the sensible transitional opportunities I was looking for while also providing a blank canvas for fun prints, patterns and colors. With the pattern in mind, I then turned to the stunning linen collection that Fabric Mart always has on hand to see what colors or patterns would best suit my visio...