Moneta

I want to introduce you to my new favorite sewing pattern ever: Colette Moneta. I'm a big fan of Colette Patterns (having already sewn two Peonies, a Sorbetto, a Sencha, and a Laurel) and am excited that her foray into patterns using knits roughly coincides with my own skill building in this area.

I love Moneta for several reasons. First, it was so easy and quick to sew; with the exception of hemming (more on that in a bit), I put the whole dress together in the course of an afternoon. The second reason I love this pattern is that the final dress is incredibly flattering and comfortable. I knew that this dress is going to get a lot of wear from the first moment I tried it on.

Lest you think I'm perfect at sewing knits, I will admit that hemming with a twin needle did give me some problems. I'm not sure if it was how light this fabric is but my tension was off and my hems pucker a bit. Hopefully, this type of hemming will get easier with practice.

And this is the point where I confess to already having fabric for two more Monetas. While this Moneta is made from a plum-colored modal fabric, my next will be a blue cotton polka dot and then a blue bamboo knit with white stripes (both fabrics shown in this post). I am definitely hooked on sewing with knits!

Swimsuit

Is it weird to sew your own swimsuit? Part of me thinks it’s awesome but another part of me wonders if it’s up there with spinning your dog’s hair into yarn – the kind of thing that other crafters are okay with but nets you weird looks from the muggles. Either way, I am now the proud owner of a really rockin’ swimsuit.

This is the Bombshell swimsuit from Closet Case patterns, view A. The goal of sewing this was to get more comfortable with sewing stretchy/knit fabrics and I think I’m off to a good start. The sewing itself went very well except for the fact that I had to rip out the elastic at the neckline about 5 times (grumble, grumble).

Now that I’ve got a sense of what it’s like to sew with knits, expect to see more of them on my blog as I work to improve my skill. Next up, I think, will be Colette Moneta.