I finally got around to making something out of the knit I bought on my trip to the LA Mood! I bought it with the intention of making a maxi dress but was flip-flopping a lot on what pattern I wanted to use.

I knew it needed to meet a few criteria for me to actually wear it;
– be able to wear a normal bra with it
– not be too low cut
– but also not cut to close to my face
– be casual

Turns out Vogue 8469 (Very Easy) was the winner! I sewed up View B, but I still made some alterations to make it work for me.

I increased the overall length of the dress to make it a full maxi (the pattern is more of a midi). I’m still not 100% sure that I prefer the maxi over the midi length, but I figure I can always go back and shorten it later.

What do you think??

Should I shorten it?

I also left the ties off the waist. I thought it would add unnecessary bulk and I was running low of fabric. This fabric is just a one-way stretch so even though the print isn’t directional I still ended up with a bunch of wasted fabric because I had to make sure I kept the stretch in the right direction. Something to keep in mind for next time.

The pattern isn’t designed for knits so rather than trying to redraft the bodice with negative ease I just cut a smaller size. That worked well except that the waist band is hitting me a bit high now. Not a big deal on a knit dress like this but would’ve looked pretty weird if I’d sewn this up in a non-stretch fabric.

In the interest of keeping this dress a little more casual I opted to sew in neck and arm bands instead of using a facing.

I used Rae’s fantastic tutorial for this over at Made By Rae. In fact, she’s got a whole awesome series on sewing with knits and has tutorials for a few different neckline finishes. I didn’t quite cut my neckband short enough so it gapes a bit (as you can very slightly see in the picture above). Luckily, while I’m wearing it the gaping is more at the neck rather than at my bust. Definitely an improvement over my first neckband attempt with my Scoop Neck Tee. I’m learning!!!!

I opted to top-stitch with a twin needle around the neck and arm openings with white thread to add a nice finishing detail and keep the casual look of the dress. I finished the inside of the dress with French seams everywhere but the neck and arm band attachments. For these, the twin needle top stitch helped finish the inside and then I just trimmed up the excess fabric.

Seriously though you guys, attaching the neck and arm bands totally had me dreaming of sergers – #1 on my sewing toy wish list!!! (Followed closely by #2 – an adjustable bust form).

Ok, here’s the summary:

Fabric: one-way stretch cotton jersey, 3.25 y
Pattern: Vogue 8469 View B
Alterations:
– added 12″ to length
– eliminated waist tie
– finished with neck and arm bands
– eliminated facing

I think I’ll have to wear this dress with one of my bright pink cardis to keep it from looking a little too goth! LOL!

So what do you guys think? Keep it long, or cut it to below the knee??