These cute shirts were my last finished project for KCWC. The girls have *loved* them.
The pattern: The pattern is Oliver + S Hopscotch Shirt , which was my first successful knit experience. The pattern itself is so easy to follow! I have said this of every O+s pattern, but it’s so true. The first shirt I made was easy enough, but once I had sewn that one up, the second came together in no time. It’s love for me! I’ll be making this one many, many times, for sure.
The fabric: It was so easy to make these, and I think a great part of it was the knit I was working with: a ribbed knit from fabric.com. I know rib stretches more, and time will tell whether it was a good choice or not, but the weight of the fabric made it incredibly easy to work with, especially for someone without a serger, like myself. Also, the pattern calls for stabilizing some key areas with interfacing, which really helped.
The sewing: I am very satisfied with the results. These are the settings I used for sewing with this fabric:
-As wide a stitch as I could use for joining pieces.
-A narrow stitch for finishing hems.
Another important tip (I read this somewhere, but can’t remember where!) that made a world of difference is to match your thread to the fabric. Because the zig-zag will always show a bit, having the thread be a color match helped so much!
Now, I am not sure if I will hem these… Any thoughts on how best to do that?
Thanks, everybody, for the inspiration to try new things, especially Meg! I loved being a part of it, and can’t wait for next time.