Stitch and bitch thread #4 I needle the help I can get.

[NutellaEllaElla]

Continuing our supportive little group until we run out of material

That's a really elegant, beautiful dress Jins. The only woven wrap top I have done winds me up terribly as it gapes, can that be avoided?

I’ve solved gaping in bought wrap tops by putting some hidden fasteners on the crossover front. I’ve got some viscose blend that I don’t care too much about so I’ll make a wearable toile first.

Oh my, it would be so dangerous to work in a fabric shop!

If anyone likes Tessuti patterns, they have a 2 for 1 on PDF patterns until midnight tonight (although that may be Australian time). I went a bit mad and bought the Alice, Pia and Lily dresses, and Demi trousers because I've been eyeing them all up for ages. £15 for the lot. Also recently bought the Style Arc Bob trousers, and now they have a sale on too 🙄 I think that's it for patterns for me, I have pretty much everything covered with what I've got.

I'm trying to ignore all your pattern recommendations! I have enough projects in my queue already!!! (I'm such a sucker for a pretty dress or top though)

I'm not abandoning my pencil skirt but I am thinking about my Chanel style fabric and the jersey dress, wondering if I could whip it up for a quick win. I don't have enough toile fabric but the black material I have is cheap enough. Anyway, I'm thinking I might like to do a white/cream trim, how would you do a contrasting trim around the neck, sleeves and hem?

Are you thinking of ribbing @NutellaEllaElla? You can buy cuffing as well and use that too. This kind of thing

@NutellaEllaElla the easy way would be to do it as a neckband and hem bands, but I’m not certain if that would fit with the existing construction of the dress - does it have any lining/facings? The fabric you want to use will probably need to be a similar weight and stretch to your main fabric.
The simplest way I know to make neck bands is to cut a piece of fabric that’s 85% of the length of the opening plus seam allowance, and twice the finished width you want plus seam allowance. For example, for a neck opening that’s 50cm, if you want a 1cm band visible and with .5cm seam allowances I’d cut a piece 43.5cm long and 3cm wide.
For sleeves and hems I’d just make the band couple of cm shorter than the opening, not as small as 85%.
Here’s a Tilly video on how to sew them in case you need it (can’t remember if you’ve done much stretch sewing before) www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2020/09/how-to-sew-jersey-neckband-with-video.html?m=1

Not so much ribbing or cuffs, I was thinking something a little bit like the trim detail here.

The pattern doesn't have any facing or binding, from memory the neck is finished by folding over the edge onto some sort of iron on tape, like hemming web.

Thank you for the video, stretch sewing is very new to me and I have already temporarily abandoned a super cute top because of the unfamiliar neckband situation.

I think that stripe is knitted into the fabric @NutellaEllaElla
I’m afraid I’ve got no idea how to replicate it, unless you buy some striped cuffing like @Ulysses suggested, but that will obviously look a little more sporty/casual than maybe you’re after.

Fold over elastic?

Stretch bias binding wouldn’t be stretchy enough.

Ah I thought you were meaning the sweater dress. That's a very different look, really nice and sophisticated. I do agree that it's been manufactured all with the same fabric so difficult to recreate using materials you would find in your average fabric websites/shops.

The only way I could see to do that striped effect would be to create some stretch binding somehow fold over elastic, or scrap material.

I can't remember what the pattern is like, so I'm imagining it has a very simple hemmed neck. You could attach a binding following a method like this jalie.com/blogs/jalie-sewing-tutorials/how-to-sew-a-knit-binding the good news about making a stretch binding is that you don't have to cut on the bias as the stretch is built in. The bad news is trying to work out the correct length to make the stretch binding, most 'rule of thumb' ones is 90% of the opening + seam allowance.The width to cut the binding is also another thing to worry about when you're free styling!

FOE is another option, but the only downside is it doesn't look quite matte.

With either material, I'd be worried about the opacity of the white to give you that bright white pop.

That pic isn't 100% what i'm meaning, I was on my phone. more like this I suppose.
I saw

Not that my dress is going to be anything close to as super glam as that

Fold over elastic would probably work, if you take a look on eBay there’s loads of types of colours/patterns/frills etc.

The trim in that video looks like it doesn’t stretch, which could end up looking really wrinkly and lumpy around a hem, and if it doesn’t stretch around the neck you might not get your head in your dress!

Excellent points! Thank you.

I called the nearest sort of haberdashery shop to me and they said they have bias binding and that would work also?

Pre-made bias binding is normally quite a thin strip once its folded over. It would need to be fairly wide to make a feature of it I would have thought. You can make your own though. What pattern and fabric are you planning on. If your fabric is stretchy you are going to need the trim to stretch with it are you not?

Yes I will need it to be stretchy, the shop lady said it would be fine 🤨

You can get stretch jersey bias binding plushaddict.co.uk/plain-stretch-cotton-jersey-bias-binding-30mm-wide-purple.html

They don't say how stretchy it is though, and there's only 2 widths.

I got my stretch bias binding from Higgs and Higgs. Not as stretchy as jersey but may work

This is not sewing related but I am proud that I set up my own website and took my first piece of work on today

Not all in one day. I did the website at Christmas. But still. I'm proud.

I saw this and thought of this thread

Well done on your Website Nutella. What is it for?

I cut out my fabric to pattern match without considering the seam allowance so I have had to unpick the piping and move it so that there will be some semblance of matching. I have got one of two trouser legs done. When I was doing the second one DH thought it was the perfect time to start singing and DD started practising hockey so I put it away for the evening. I really need to be free from distractions when sewing at the best of times. Hoping to make a bit of progress today. Actually hoping to get them finished. I'm sick of the sight of them!