Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Two Knit Dresses

My original plan for this month's post was to make a knit dress with a knit cardigan, but as soon as our weather began to give even the smallest hint of warmth I abandoned all thoughts of cardigans and immediately turned my attention to knit dresses. 

I think I found two dresses to live in this summer and the good news is that they are both made from knits- meaning it won't take forever to make them!  

The first dress was made from a beautiful ponte that is a mix of rayon, nylon and spandex- maybe you were one of the lucky ducks who recently snatched up some of this ponte when it was on sale for $2.99.  If you were one of those lucky people you will love working with this rayon.  I had hoped to purchase more of it when it was on sale but so many of you are faster shoppers than I, and it was quickly sold out!   Please Fabric Mart, bring us more of this ponte! 




The dress was made using a modified version of McCalls 7348.  The two modifications I made were minor, the first was to shorten the neckband used to finish the neck.  I shortened it by 2/3 and inch.  The second modification was to remove some of the fullness from the skirt since I wanted to be able to cut the dress from 2 yards of fabric.  I simply folded in the pattern fullness from the side hem of the skirt portion until the pattern fit the fabric.  

You can see in the picture below the fullness folded from the skirt portion beginning just under the waist down.  I folded it in by  a total of 7 inches at the hemline. 


 
 

In keeping with making this dress as easy as possible I skipped hemming the sleeves and skirt.  You cannot tell in the least.  The fabric is so gorgeous and I really prefer it since it doesn't have any polyester content and therefore should be cool enough for warmer weather.  I now know what I will be living in this summer, dresses just like this! 

The second dress  was made using a rayon/spandex jersey knit that can still be found here in pink.  For this dress I used the famous McCalls 6886, I am sure if you travel sewing circles you've seen some version of this dress before.  Recently while searching for this dress online I found a great blogger who has altered it to get numerous fun looks from it- fun!

   
It is extremely simple to sew and fit.  I graded mine out (as usual) from a 10 at the bust, 12 at the waist and 14 at the hip and then to get an even better fit I tried it on inside out and pinned the spots that needed taking in around the high hip.  There is no neckline finishing pattern piece so you are somewhat on your own there.  There are tutorials for finishing a knit neckline out there but I winged it by attaching, then ripping out and readjusting- not the best methodA few tutorials that could be helpful are found here, here and here.


    
The most time consuming part of this project was the stripe matching.  It takes some patience and I usually end up laying the fabric on the floor and pinning each stripe down every couple of inches.  Even with all my careful stripe matching I some how managed to get the sleeves stripes off but the busyness of the fabric covers it up well enough for me.  

    
While making the photos for this post I marveled at so many of you who are able to take pictures without the above shenanigansThere were so.many.pictures with faces and arms coming out around meThese gals keep me smiling and laughing!  And they are also such sweet support often saying of anything I make "Mom that is so pretty!" and "You look beautiful."  Warm's a Mommy's heart!     


Thanks for reading!
Elizabeth 
 

Comments

  1. SEW VERY PRETTY! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So cute on you! Especially LOVE that black maxi!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, I love it when a project is so simple and yields such good results. I think I will live in that black maxi this summer and there will be more!

      Delete
  3. Two great winners!!!! I love your blog, you are so talented!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your sweet and encouraging words!!!

      Delete

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: Celebrating warm weather with Spring sewing!

Hi sewing friends! I don’t know about you but boy, was winter cold and dreary this year! The weather here in the Philadelphia area has been slowly improving, but Spring sure did take her sweet old time to arrive. So by April, I was definitely in the headspace of needing to sew up things that were either bright and cheery or meant for the warmer weather I am very much craving right now. I recently purchased a few SewBexx Patterns so I took them on a test run to create some Spring makes. First on my list was to make a top using this absolutely gorgeous ITY fabric I picked up last year. I had two yards which was enough for a long sleeve shirt. I chose the Olivia top, which is oversized with a drop shoulder, has multiple lengths and a split hem. I think the pattern is intended for heavier fabrics but I was envisioning how lovely this top would look with the drape of ITY knit fabric, and it did not disappoint. It came together for me quickly and was a straight forward sew…and I love the br...

Made By A Fabricista | Chasing Time: My White Rabbit-Inspired Look for Atlanta Frocktails

For this year’s Atlanta Frocktails, I found myself captivated by a character who’s been quietly tugging at my imagination for years—the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. There’s something so relatable about his frantic energy, always checking the time, always running late. While he’s worried about being on time, I’m usually calculating how late I can be and still technically arrive on time. Spoiler: I’m often wrong. It’s a cycle of procrastination and anxiety that I know all too well. So when I imagined my look for Frocktails, I thought—why not honor the White Rabbit? After all, time has been chasing me too. But this look isn’t just about Wonderland whimsy. It’s also deeply inspired by this year’s Met Gala theme, Tailored for You, which includes a focus on Black Dandyism—a celebration of Black elegance, intellect, and expressive style. I’ve been obsessed with this theme since it was announced. As a Black creative, I find it powerful and moving to see style used as a way to reclaim...

Made By A Fabricista: Getting into the Spirit of Summer

I'm not gonna lie y'all, I had a completely different project I wanted to do, but that's gonna take more time, and I wanted something cute, comfy and fun to wear for my birthday on the 19th. When I saw this goldenrod & off white linen jacquard , I thought it looked a bit like the design on a Koroks body, especially Makar from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker! I started with the bodice from the free Elderberry dress pattern from Mood, but deviated for the skirt, it felt a little plain of a design, and I had scraps of a Korok fabric that I knew would be a nice accent with some cut out pockets. I've made these pockets once before, deciding the cut out was based on aligning with the seam on the bodice for how far in, and as for how low depended on where I wanted the pouch of the pocket to start. From there I cut the visible part of the pocket, making sure to match the curve of the waist and following the line of the side seams of the skirt, as well as cutting a facing to...