Blinky Sews

I wanted to sew a Tiramisu Dress since I first saw you all making them. I finally completed one – then I wanted to make changes, so I instantly made a second one with a lighter weight and stretch knit fabric.

I love a knit dress. I also like dresses with high waistbands. I have had my eye on making a striped knit Sewing Cake Tiramisu Dress since I first saw one. I made a Little Black Dress Red Velvet Dress in November of 2013. I looked for striped fabric for the Tiramisu since then. I made the grey & black one first, but wanted to make changes. I dug through my minimalist knit fabric stash & decided to try it with the blue & grey one.

The grey & black dress is a fairly substantial knit with great recovery. When I finished it, I realized it would be much too thick & hot for summer. I also found that I wanted to make a few alterations to my pattern. If you consider making a Sewing Cake pattern, know that when it says to go with a smaller size for negative ease, that it really means go down a size! I don’t like super fitted clothing, so my Red Velvet Cake dress was made with zero ease. I ended up taking 3 inches out of the top. This time I made a whole size smaller. I like the fit across the front, but the back is pretty snug. It works because it is very stretchy & has fantastic recovery. I wanted make it right away before I forgot what I needed.

Since I was stripe matching, (which includes shoulders), I wanted to keep the shoulder seams equal and the edges of the sleeves the same distance. I dropped the back of the neck down a tiny bit and took most of the underarm scoop out. I kept the length of the bodice the same too. I did a slight Pivot and Slide Method to start my pattern alterations, but evened them out by comparing it to the first back bodice. I was left with an inch added overall. So I made a note to add the same to the neck/front binding as well as the front & back midriff.

I had not attempted to match stripes for years. I noticed it made me slow down on the whole process. I opened up the fabric to cut a single layer. I made notations on my patterns where the stripes were. I was careful to not let my fabric hang over the edge of the table & stretch out.

I purchased both fabrics at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkley, CA. This light grey one was very lightweight & had almost no recovery. The pattern said T-shirt material was an acceptable choice, so I used this one for my second dress. I also wanted to make my second attempt at this dress pattern in a fabric that was totally different from the dark one. The dark fabric is VERY stretchy with great recovery. The blue one curled up the second I cut it!

I almost hate to point it out, but I was so careful in matching the stripes on the bias, I somehow lost my way in attaching the skirt to the midriff of the light one! D’oh! Oh well, maybe if I keep moving no one will notice. It is very light & cool, and will work great for summer.

I did sew the skirt to the midriff with the midriff on the top so I could see the stripes under the foot. When I cut out the second one (left) I did think about what I would like in the colors on the center of my waist. But be aware that you must also match stripes at your waist at the side. See below:

I am not sure if I am going to hem this or leave it cut. I was careful to stitch from bottom hem to top while joining the side seams so the bottom edge is crisp & perfect. Matching, matching, Matching!!

I used a soft rainbow variegated thread to serge all the inside seams. I buy two cones of variegated thread & use them in the upper & lower loopers to make this soft pretty inside secret. Thank you for all your inspirational Tiramisu dresses!

 

Hi everyone! I print tested the Cocoa Knit Shrug pattern for Cake Patterns, so I decided to make one up & share my pattern experience. Used as an accent piece over a top or dress, the Cocoa Knit Shrug can be used for warmth, coverage, or a pop of color. It’s quick, fun, & easy to make. Let’s take a look at the pattern!

The back piece is not laid out on a fold, it is two pieces on a soft bias. I make sure I line up my grainlines by carefully folding my knit. If you look closely at your knit, you can see the ribs making a clean fold line edge. Lay the pattern piece down & use a clear ruler to find the edge of the fold.  Then slide the pattern piece until the grain line & edge of the fabric are perpendicular to each other. (see the pink lines)

 

To line up the front piece, add a second clear ruler & line up the back grainline with the front grainline by butting the rulers up against each other. (pink lines) Weigh those suckers down & cut them out! (I made the sleeves longer to go to my wrist)

 

There are 8 basic steps to complete this shrug. This pattern is one of Cake’s RiFF collections. This means that there are written instructions, but no illustrations. Anyone who has sewn a garment before can use this pattern no problem. One of the suggested web pages that support this pattern are now live.

 

After printing out & putting the PDF pieces together, I usually mark each piece with a highlighter. Marking darts, grain lines, notches, & how many of each makes cutting out faster. You can also go through the instructions & highlight things you might want to pay special attention to. It only takes a few minutes & it saves you from checking & re-checking which line or mark that is used for the size you chose.

 

The neck facing was easy, but when it comes to attaching the front facings, I hesitated. The instructions say, “… pin front A at shoulder seam, taking special care at the neck end of the seam.”  Wait! Special care of what?! After I attached the two front facings, I realized it meant take care to line up the facing edges. When I am working with curly knits, I often serge the edges before attaching, so mine was not as even as I would like.

 

I was going to finish the inside facings with a simple serged edge, but I thought it might look unfinished if left open. I turned the serged edge under, pressed & stitched it before turning it all back under again. When I pressed my fluffy sweater knit though, the doubled over facing showed through to the front. It left a ridge. Fail. Next time I’ll think, flat, flat, flat.

 

The elbow darts & bust darts do not have specific instructions, but stitch them up if you need them. I liked where they were located, but ned time I would probably  take an extra inch off the bottom. I like it longer too, but snug under the bust would be cute too. Check out Steph’s version here. I was thinking mine would look a little more “sweater-y”. I ended up doing a hook & bar closure.

I received my pattern in PDF format. Occasionally I have weird dropout issues with PDFs & I have tracked it down to having Acrobat PRO installed on my machine. If I try to print with Acrobat Reader, I have issues. If I use Preview, they work fine. Keep that in mind of you use Acrobat Pro & find missing numbers & letters using Reader.

I love Cake patterns. The way the bust is measured & fitted works well for me. I’ve done the Red Velvet dress & had a great time with the sew-along last fall. I hope she does a sew-along for the Tiramisu dress this summer.