A good S t r e t c h… Lola Tank Dress

Dearest Sewer,

Saturday. 32 degrees celsius. Humid. No electricity. No breeze.

Thank goodness for a charged laptop, and a new project that really streeeeetttccchheeedddd me.

Y’all already know that I haven’t sewn anything in months. To the minimalist that might sound like a good thing, since my closet is already crammed with clothes. But now, NOTHING fits…and trust me, I’ve tried. Picture trying to stuff an elephant into a mouse’s wardrobe. Well, that’s me right about now.

My closet frustrations become more evident on a Monday morning when I’m desperately on the hunt for something to wear to work. I pull items that I think have ease, only to be disappointed that buttons gape and zippers fail to go up. So, I began the hunt for a knit project… something simple enough for my very beginner knit mind, yet sheek enough to fit with my aesthetic.

The Lola tank and dress by Stay Stitch Pattern Company caught my eye especially with that racer front neckline situation. Up until now, I’ve hardly sewn any knits. In fact, in the 4 years since I’ve been sewing, I think I’ve made a whopping total of 3 knit garments… this one being numero tres! Simple math means that’s less than one knit project a year. What can I say? *shrugs* I started out sewing wovens and hit my stride and as dey say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…

Well, y’all now its officially broken!!

I found this ITY knit locally, surprise surprise! It looks like a flower garden threw up on the black fabric, but lots of the colours fit with my colour palette so I figured why not. Plus, I checked the crossgrain stretch (thanks to the stretch guide included in the pattern) and decided that it would work for version C of the Lola Tank. The pattern features three different views and is drafted for a B cup. On a good day I’m a C cup… but thanks to pregnancy I feel a little more endowed and am, per my measurements, bordering on a D cup. When I sew wovens, I usually make a few standard fit adjustments, an FBA being one. But given my ignorance with knits I wasn’t so sure. Thanks to an IG poll, I skipped the FBA on this pattern but I did make a few length adjustments:

• I shortened the front bodice ¼” between the shoulder and bust,

• did a ¼” sway back adjustment and

• a ¼” hollow hip adjustment.

• After a quick try on, pre-hemming, I decided to go back and shorten the dress by 5”.

I sewed most of this dress using  a three-thread stitch on my serger and Maxi stretch thread. In case this is foreign to you, stretch thread has a different texture than regular thread and looks a little fuzzy when inspected closely. It’s similar to nylon thread, but is probably a little less stretchy but a lot more affordable. I used the stretch thread in my upper and lower loopers, and regular thread for the needle. For topstitching and hemming, I used a ball-point needle in my sewing machine, threaded with regular thread to the needle, and stretch thread in the bobbin. I hand-wound the stretch thread on my bobbin, in the same way you would elastic thread, to prevent stretching out the thread. I read that this technique (stretch thread in bobbin) further reduces the likelihood of stiches popping when stretched… and right about now, I need alllllllll the stretch I can get, so I guess we shall see in due course! My topstitching isn’t as even as I would have liked, and perhaps would have looked better with a twin needle, but I didn’t have a stretch twin needle on hand and I didn’t think my universal twin needle was a good bet on this fabric.

All in all, I really love the finished dress – it’s stylish and oh so comfortable. I would 10/10 recommend this pattern, and am already dreaming of a couple more to get me through the next few months.

Soooooo, have you worked with stretch thread before? Lemme know your thoughts below.

Gotta luv ya and leave ya…

Until next time,

xoxo

Kris

P.S although I’m posting this today, (Friday), I started writing this blog on a Saturday 🙂