McCall 6359 Number 2

The items I made for DGD were generally a hit.  She said she loved them all, BUT the yellow and green voile top was too big.  As she put it, "Grams, my girls don't fill it out, and the neckline is kinda low."  I assured her that we win some and lose some.  Hopefully, she will be able to find a "home" for it with one of her friends "whose girls will fill it out and the neckline will be appropriate."

She loved the other top (with lace) so much that she said she would love to have another one of the same pattern in  gray, bright blue, or black. When DGD asks, what can Grams do but comply??

I began to mentally survey the stash.  I knew I had some silver gray lace, some black lace, and the left over brown lace.  I don't buy much lace.  I should probably get some other colors since lace has become so popular with more casual wear.  Another excuse to add to the stash, yes?

I'm getting to the age that I prefer not to sew black if I have a choice.  I have lots of rayon/lycra knit, but no bright blue that I could turn up. Knit was not a requirement as a soft cotton, rayon, or poly would work nicely.  The previous one was made from rayon crinkle.  I had none of the colors in my stash in woven rayon or light cotton.  I seldom buy (and therefore do not stash) poly.  Most poly is yukky to me.  I do have some ITY that I would consider using if it were a solid color--alas, all I have is print yardage. Long story short, I needed to place an order for something.

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Lucky for me (and DGD) I got in on the $1.99 knit sale at Fabric Mart, and I found a piece of silver/gray poly matte knit.  DGD is OK with poly.  I ordered 2 yards (and only ended up needing 1 yard).  I finally found some time Friday to sew.  I had cut it on Thursday.  Oh, and it matched so well with the gray lace fabric I had on hand.  I think it was from the remnant bin at Hancock's months ago.

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I sew with lots of knits, but this one tested my religion!  While I didn't have any problem with the jersey needle, the fabric was so obstinate feeding through the machine.  Having recently watched Linda Lee's Craftsy class on sewing knits, I started with the walking foot.  Mistake!  Then, I put on my teflon foot which I use almost exclusively.  Still no go.  I adjusted the pressure of the presser foot several times to no avail.

In desperation, I pulled out my "roller foot" that I've not had good luck with in the past.  It wasn't great, BUT worked better that the other alternatives.  I sewed as much as I could with the serger, but I had to use the machine to stitch in the ditch so I wouldn't have to hand stitch the binding down to enclose the neckline and arm seams.  After several stops and starts, ripping and resewing, I finally got it done.  Yikes!  I best toss the rest of that fabric now so I don't accidentally try to sew with it again!!