We'll spend 4 weeks making this top/dress. Please post here and let us know what your plans are, your fabric choices, any alterations you may make and ask any questions you may have. I will be sewing along this time since i'm becoming desperate for clothes that fit and this pattern is so easy to alter. I will post my progress on the blog as well as here.
Hi, I have never made anything out of knit fabric. Thus I wanted to ask, whether one needs special interfacing for the lydia pattern, or if any odd interfacing would work.
I probably won’t make any alterations to this pattern this first time around—I'm in need of long-sleeved t-shirts with a nice fit that I can use for layering. Plus, I want to see how the basic pattern fits before I start tweaking it. ;)
I've already got a gorgeous cobalt blue jersey knit in my stash that I'm planning to use for this project.
Ok, Here is what I have planned. I have drawn up several lydia tops with various different neck lines: Boat neck, scoop neck, square neck, deep v neck with an insert and a modified collared boat neck. Other modifications that I have thought about include side slits and pockets in front and on the upper arm. The one I am most hyped and confused about at the same time is this. I am really wanting to do a sewn on bolero type overlay out of an open weave knit that ties loosely under the bust. I am sure figuring this stuff out will be much harder than just drawing them on paper.ha! Anyway if anyone know where I can get a pattern for a bolero type jacket that ties, be sure to let me know.
I really, really would love to make this. But there’s a problem… because I want to make it as a warm hoodie for winter, I want to underline it with cozy cotton flannel, which means no stretch. Do you have any idea how much bigger should I make it to fit well with no stretch? If you don’t have the idea, I'll figure it out myself somehow and in the meantime I'll turn Lydia into a tee/tunic top, as I planned at first. :–)
Actually, I want to make a hoodie too, so I won't even need bias binding.
Marmotab: maybe you can measure a sweatshirt you already have. Or make a tempoprary tube (basted perhaps) out of the fleece and see if you can put it over yuor shoulders.
Ugh, I'm sooo upset right now. I've been working on the Lydia top for the past 2 or 3 days, and I am telling you, I've made so many stupid mistakes on this top I'm not even sure if I can salvage it now, and if I can, I'm not sure it will even fit me!
The first thing I did was sew my wrong side out on my back side… I had it right at one point, I'm sure of it, but when it came down to it, I pinned it the wrong way.
Next, I pulled two holes in one of the shoulder by running over a pin. I swear, I never saw the thing. I ended up having to take a half inch off each shoulder and adjust the sleeve holes.
After that, I managed to mangle a seam when I was attaching the sleeve with my overlock machine. This is my first time trying to use it with Jersey knit, and I think maybe my first time using it period, and it just didn’t work out that well!
Finally, when I once again reshaped my sleeves and successfully attached my first sleeve, I turned it out to check my progress and realized I had sewn my sleeve on upside down somehow! I was so frazzled at this point I must have just not noticed!
I have to say, I feel like I've never sewn a garment in my life right now, and I sewed my own wedding dress a few months ago! What the heck!
sigh I really like this pattern though, so if this one is destroyed, I'll suck it up and start again. If I would stop making n00b mistakes I'd be fine! breathes deep, counts to 10
Fortunatelly, there will be a zipper, so I don’t have to worry about pulling it on myself – the problem I was referring to was the amount of stretch required for the pattern, in case it was too much and I had to use a much bigger size. I guess I'll go with measuring some of my actual clothes, that seems like a good advice.
So I went shopping today and I bought a twin needle, some ballpoint needles and some knit fabric and matching thread. I will take some photos and post soon but I can’t promise that I will finish in time as we are in the middle of moving house. Hopefully the twin needle works in my machine. Has anyone else used a twin needle and if so any advice before I start ie how to thread the machine, what machine settings to use? Also any suggestions of which stretch stitch to use on my machine for the seams?
It looks like Wenstupen posted already all I had too :) Thanks! So this weekend I went shopping all this and I have the same questions about this intimidating twin needle...
Wenstupen, I've used a twin needle before—unfortnately, I haven’t figured out the exact right way to thread my machine for one yet—I usually just play around with it on scraps until I get nice-looking stitches. (I usually have to re-thread my machine 2-3 times for this…it isn’t too bad.)
As far as your seams, you can use a “stretch stitch” if your machine has one, but I usually just use a small zig-zag stitch (width = 1), and that usually seems to work well.
Yay, salvaged the original trial, though it is a tad too small like I expected, and have moved on to another. I added cuffs, a waistband, and a collar band in black rib knit, and made it with a black and grey striped fabric. It was my first time matching stripes, and I seem to have done pretty well! I'll post photos in creations later today.
Thanks Mpeterson74. When you thread the machine do you just run the thread from the two spools down together and then put them through the two seperate needles?
Here is my fabric etc:
I really want to make this too, and I will be very interested in the alterations you make Nikkishell as I am coming up 12 weeks pregnant and need some maternity t-shirts that will work for now and for winter.
Do you think this can also be altered for nursing?
POSTS (29)
Hi, I have never made anything out of knit fabric. Thus I wanted to ask, whether one needs special interfacing for the lydia pattern, or if any odd interfacing would work.
I plan to leave the interfacing out on this one and use bias banding on the neckline instead.
I probably won’t make any alterations to this pattern this first time around—I'm in need of long-sleeved t-shirts with a nice fit that I can use for layering. Plus, I want to see how the basic pattern fits before I start tweaking it. ;)
I've already got a gorgeous cobalt blue jersey knit in my stash that I'm planning to use for this project.
Ok, Here is what I have planned. I have drawn up several lydia tops with various different neck lines: Boat neck, scoop neck, square neck, deep v neck with an insert and a modified collared boat neck. Other modifications that I have thought about include side slits and pockets in front and on the upper arm. The one I am most hyped and confused about at the same time is this. I am really wanting to do a sewn on bolero type overlay out of an open weave knit that ties loosely under the bust. I am sure figuring this stuff out will be much harder than just drawing them on paper.ha! Anyway if anyone know where I can get a pattern for a bolero type jacket that ties, be sure to let me know.
I really, really would love to make this. But there’s a problem… because I want to make it as a warm hoodie for winter, I want to underline it with cozy cotton flannel, which means no stretch. Do you have any idea how much bigger should I make it to fit well with no stretch?
If you don’t have the idea, I'll figure it out myself somehow and in the meantime I'll turn Lydia into a tee/tunic top, as I planned at first. :–)
Actually, I want to make a hoodie too, so I won't even need bias binding.
Marmotab: maybe you can measure a sweatshirt you already have. Or make a tempoprary tube (basted perhaps) out of the fleece and see if you can put it over yuor shoulders.
Ugh, I'm sooo upset right now. I've been working on the Lydia top for the past 2 or 3 days, and I am telling you, I've made so many stupid mistakes on this top I'm not even sure if I can salvage it now, and if I can, I'm not sure it will even fit me!
The first thing I did was sew my wrong side out on my back side… I had it right at one point, I'm sure of it, but when it came down to it, I pinned it the wrong way.
Next, I pulled two holes in one of the shoulder by running over a pin. I swear, I never saw the thing. I ended up having to take a half inch off each shoulder and adjust the sleeve holes.
After that, I managed to mangle a seam when I was attaching the sleeve with my overlock machine. This is my first time trying to use it with Jersey knit, and I think maybe my first time using it period, and it just didn’t work out that well!
Finally, when I once again reshaped my sleeves and successfully attached my first sleeve, I turned it out to check my progress and realized I had sewn my sleeve on upside down somehow! I was so frazzled at this point I must have just not noticed!
I have to say, I feel like I've never sewn a garment in my life right now, and I sewed my own wedding dress a few months ago! What the heck!
sigh I really like this pattern though, so if this one is destroyed, I'll suck it up and start again. If I would stop making n00b mistakes I'd be fine! breathes deep, counts to 10
when I said "using it" up there I mean using jersey knit. I've had the overlock machine for a bit now
Fortunatelly, there will be a zipper, so I don’t have to worry about pulling it on myself – the problem I was referring to was the amount of stretch required for the pattern, in case it was too much and I had to use a much bigger size. I guess I'll go with measuring some of my actual clothes, that seems like a good advice.
So I went shopping today and I bought a twin needle, some ballpoint needles and some knit fabric and matching thread. I will take some photos and post soon but I can’t promise that I will finish in time as we are in the middle of moving house. Hopefully the twin needle works in my machine. Has anyone else used a twin needle and if so any advice before I start ie how to thread the machine, what machine settings to use? Also any suggestions of which stretch stitch to use on my machine for the seams?
It looks like Wenstupen posted already all I had too :) Thanks! So this weekend I went shopping all this and I have the same questions about this intimidating twin needle...
Wenstupen, I've used a twin needle before—unfortnately, I haven’t figured out the exact right way to thread my machine for one yet—I usually just play around with it on scraps until I get nice-looking stitches. (I usually have to re-thread my machine 2-3 times for this…it isn’t too bad.)
As far as your seams, you can use a “stretch stitch” if your machine has one, but I usually just use a small zig-zag stitch (width = 1), and that usually seems to work well.
Yay, salvaged the original trial, though it is a tad too small like I expected, and have moved on to another. I added cuffs, a waistband, and a collar band in black rib knit, and made it with a black and grey striped fabric. It was my first time matching stripes, and I seem to have done pretty well! I'll post photos in creations later today.
Thanks Mpeterson74. When you thread the machine do you just run the thread from the two spools down together and then put them through the two seperate needles? Here is my fabric etc:
I really want to make this too, and I will be very interested in the alterations you make Nikkishell as I am coming up 12 weeks pregnant and need some maternity t-shirts that will work for now and for winter. Do you think this can also be altered for nursing?