I tackled knits and came out on top. I'm super happy with this dress.
Before the holidays I bought the Makery's last Colette Moneta pattern with grand plans. I hustled my way down to Patch in Halifax for a couple of yards of Chris' beautiful bamboo jersey. I've not had much experience with knits so I set myself up with both the pattern and the Colette sew along as a guide. More advice is better, right?
Cutting out + pattern matching
As I haven't really used knits much before I was nervous about cutting it out. Add on top of that the stripe and I nearly had a meltdown. Luckily, Micheline suggested tracing the pattern so I could cut it out as one layer, as opposed to cutting it on the fold. So simple! That made it super easy to make sure that my stripes weren't running off in the wrong direction on me.
Adjustments
I used the medium top and large waist measurement. An easy adjustment to make which they describe simply in the instructions. I added length to the hem but ended up cutting most of it off as the weight and stretch of the knit lengthens the skirt more than I imagined.
I didn't follow the waistband instructions as guided. I followed Make Something's tip and basted and gathered the skirt first, basted the clear tape on and then attached the two layers. This was still finicky, and I'm not entirely satisfied with it in the end. I'm not sure that the elastic made it into the waist seam all of the way around, defeating the purpose of using it. The elastic also gets annoying and sticky when I'm wearing the dress, so I may try a different tactic next time (I'll fill you in).
The back neckline is a beautiful shape. I love it!
Trouble spots
While I had okay success sewing the arm hem and neckline with the twin-needle, things got away from me on the bottom hem. I had a hard time stopping it from stretching out and bubbling. It doesn't look awful and it did flatten out a fair bit after washing, but next time I will be sure to use a hem stabilizer to stop this from being an issue.
The Moneta is a pretty swell pattern that, aside from the waist, is easy to follow and sew. I went shopping for more of the lovely bamboo knit to make a second before I had even worn the first one out of the sewing studio. That has to be a good sign.
