During the month of October (and a bit of September) I was working on Halloween costumes for my coworker and myself to wear to work. She was Belle and I was Merida! Unfortunately, neither of us got very good pictures, but we will try to at some point! One weekend during the middle of the month my husband and I celebrated with a belated anniversary weekend trip, and of course I needed a new dress! So, during the month of making costumes, I took a night off to make my dress! I decided on making the Nettie Dress, finally.
I’ve had the Nettie pattern for a while now and have already made an unblogged bodysuit. I occasionally order fabric bundles from Fabric Mart and with one order I received a few yards of this pretty grape colored knit with stripes. As soon as I saw it, I just knew what I was going to make! There was just one thing stopping me: working with a knit properly. I’ve used my regular sewing machine on knits before, but I just wasn’t sure I wanted to tackle this dress with it at this point as my success had only been so-so. I had been debating getting a new serger for a few months, and this (along with the costumes!) inspired me to finally make the plunge. I didn’t get a top of the line serger, but my new Brother 1034D (affiliate link – disclosure) has been treating me VERY well! I haven’t had one single snapped thread and I was able to use the blind hem foot to get an awesome stretch hem, too.
As for the pattern, a month later I can’t remember what size I cut, but I believe it was a straight size 10. I did add a little length to the sleeves since that is an ongoing problem I have being “so tall” (5’8″ isn’t really that tall, is it?), but it looks like I really didn’t need to! I have since just cut off the extra length. I haven’t bothered hemming the sleeves because the openings are just too small for my machines. However, a little bit of fray stop and I don’t need to worry!
The one thing that I just really can’t figure out is the whiskering that is happening under my arms. Any ideas? I’d love to know for future makes. I also just ordered a new camera, too, so hopefully all future pictures won’t be as fuzzy as some of them sometimes are (like below)! My husband means well and will take all the pictures I need him to, but he just isn’t a photographer.
