Word Up! An Oldie But a Goodie!

For those who love comfort for their children (not that I abhor my daughter being cozy, but I just LOVE wovens!), the Heidi and Finn Cowl-Neck Dress is the way to go.  I've done several of these over the past couple of years, and they're soooo easy and fun!  The beauty of sewing a knit is that you can really pick and choose when/how you hem, and that mistakes don't show AS easily - and it's so FAST.  Like.....THIS FAST.  And the beauty of a simple pattern like this?  No need to read directions!

As many folk know, I'm that rare bird who prefers a paper pattern, but this dress IS a pdf.  As mentioned above, there are a few things I can change up:  I can hem or NOT hem at all, as knits are forgiving like that.  I can roll the hem with a serger, use a cover stitch hem - or use a twin needle on my regular 'ole sewing machine.  I do have a serger that can convert to a cover stitch, but I'm lazy (imagine that!) and often just use my twin needle.  I really need to get better about that.  In the case of both versions of this dress, this time around, I twin needled the sleeves, but I didn't hem the bottom, though I have done a rolled, serged hem, and that's lovely, too.  Some people like to play it up by not doing a simple, rolled hem, but a fancier lettuce (read: wavy) rolled hem.  When I use a twin needle or am in general sewing a knit, I lengthen the stitch to 3.0 and widen the stitch to 0.5 - the slightest of zigzags.  This is in the case of topstitching, as I really do prefer to serge my knits when piecing.

Also, with this particular pattern, it's great with a jersey knit, a double knit (which is a little warmer) or perhaps a sweater knit (I should way try that next time!).  I behaved and perused my stash of knits for fabric, and I found a Patty Young print from the Flora and Fauna line way back when - and then a lovely, thin knit I bought on Etsy at some point.  I found my daughter still fit into a size 3, so, I just lengthened the sleeves and bottom hem almost an inch for longer wear time.

As for pictures, here we go!

Such a silly girl!

This is her, saying, "I'm NOT tired!"