There’s no way to have a serger and not test it out with some nice fabric! On a lot of nice fabric!
Since the fabric I happened to have on hand already was woven and not at all stretchy, I wanted to buy some knits, so I could test it on some fabric that needs some of the stretch that a serger gives.
I was going for cheap knits, at first, so I bought remnants of some polyester double knit. The tan, blue, and yellow ones are all pretty scratchy, but I bought them mostly for practice, and to use as muslins for heavier knit projects. The gold dotted one is the one I really wanted. It’s a gorgeous fall gold, and if I wanted to be poetical I would say it reminds me of New England in autumn.
The minute the auction closed on my serger I thought that maybe this machine could give me a chance to try out some ideas for my Belle outfit. I’ve not had much luck with my regular sewing machine with stretchy fabrics, and though I’m working to change that the serger will overall come in handy.
For my real dress, I want a sweetheart necked bodice with a lace overlay, some sleeves, and a skater (circle) skirt.
The lace top to the real bodice is something I am planning to figure out another time, potentially with a coupon and really cheap stretch lace. I’ll be willing to shell out a little more money for better lace once I know how it will fit together.
But for now, I’d like to work on the skirt, see how and where I’d like it to fit, and then the bodice in turn, so that I know how I’d like to make the real dress.
Whenever I actually get around to that.
I started out with this fabric, which I knew I wanted as a skirt anyway, and I definitely wanted to try out a full circle skirt.
So I had folded a piece into a small square, with two folds, and cut out the waist. I then trimmed the hemline, knowing that I probably wouldn’t actually hem it. It is a lovely knit, but I knew that the skirt would already be a bit short on me. When possible, I prefer to give myself a higher waisted skirt. My smallest point around my midsection is pretty high up (as is my natural waist though that’s not quite as high), and I like to emphasize that when I can, which then requires longer skirts.
Then a waistband went on, though I didn’t quite plan it well enough and it came up short in the back. It was really at this point where I decided to think about putting on a bodice. I’m more willing to add extra work to my plate than come up with a simple quick fix for a skirt waistband.
I’ll talk about the bodice in my next post on this project!
Fine.