The Moneta dress has been a fantastic addition to my wardrobe. This black and white version not only goes with everything but is ridiculously comfy. So comfy in fact, it almost feels like I'm wearing a nighty! I have worn it almost every weekend since I have made it and it always seems to go back on straight after it is out of the wash.
I blogged about my search for jersey fabric back in March. The fabric was brought from a local shop in Tunbridge Wells, with the intention of making a Moneta dress. I have no other experience with knit fabric but this fabric was beautiful to work with. No fraying as you would expect from jersey and the seams pressed very neatly.
I decided to make version three of the dress, with short sleeves, since I was planing on wearing this dress on holiday. I followed a guide to cutting knit fabric by Tilly Walnes from Tilly and the Buttons, using clips and weights and cutting out using a rotary cutter. Although the actual cutting out didn't take long at all, lining up the stripes was a bit of a nightmare. Again I used this guide from Tilly on cutting out stripy fabrics. It was my first time sewing with a striped fabric and this was trickier than I thought!
The instructions for the pattern were really easy to follow. Since my Singer Promise machine only has a (very) limited number of stitches I experimented with some scrap jersey fabric, settling on using the smallest zig-zag stitch for the seams as this seemed the most stable when the fabric was stretched. Although it wasn't necessary as the fabric didn't fray, I used my overlocking foot and the widest zig-zag to finish the seams. To finish the neckline, sleeves and hem I used a twin needle.
Overall, the construction of the dress has went well. I used Framilastic to gather the waistband of the skirt, which was incredible fiddly. The gathers are ok, but are not perfectly even, so hopefully this is something that I will be able to improve with practise. I did manage to match up some of the stripes in the fabric quite successfully - those at the shoulders where the sleeves join and also at the bottom of the skirt.
I decided to make version three of the dress, with short sleeves, since I was planing on wearing this dress on holiday. I followed a guide to cutting knit fabric by Tilly Walnes from Tilly and the Buttons, using clips and weights and cutting out using a rotary cutter. Although the actual cutting out didn't take long at all, lining up the stripes was a bit of a nightmare. Again I used this guide from Tilly on cutting out stripy fabrics. It was my first time sewing with a striped fabric and this was trickier than I thought!
The instructions for the pattern were really easy to follow. Since my Singer Promise machine only has a (very) limited number of stitches I experimented with some scrap jersey fabric, settling on using the smallest zig-zag stitch for the seams as this seemed the most stable when the fabric was stretched. Although it wasn't necessary as the fabric didn't fray, I used my overlocking foot and the widest zig-zag to finish the seams. To finish the neckline, sleeves and hem I used a twin needle.
Overall, the construction of the dress has went well. I used Framilastic to gather the waistband of the skirt, which was incredible fiddly. The gathers are ok, but are not perfectly even, so hopefully this is something that I will be able to improve with practise. I did manage to match up some of the stripes in the fabric quite successfully - those at the shoulders where the sleeves join and also at the bottom of the skirt.
However there is an issue with the fit of the dress at the shoulders. You can see from the second picture above that the scoop of the neckline is really wide on me. I am quite petite on top, but the shoulders seem to hang from me (so much so you can see my bra straps!) and I am able to gather quite a lot of loose fabric around the shoulders. I definitely need to look into making this narrower across the shoulders in future versions, although I have absolutely no idea how!
I'm really pleased with how well this dress has turned out. There were many firsts with this project: my first time sewing with knit fabric, sewing stripes, sewing with elastic AND my first time sewing pockets! I will definitely be making more Moneta dresses - in fact, the royal blue fabric I had picked out for a t-shirt is now ear marked for another Moneta.
What have you been sewing recently?
i love this! especially with the blue cardigan in the first photo, you look great :) i've just cut out an arielle skirt from tilly and the buttons but am waiting for the local market to be open on tuesday to pick up some thread!
ReplyDeleteThanks! The blue cardigan is from Joy clothing - I have four of them all in different colours! Looking forward to seeing your arielle skirt! x
Deleteit looks great! and I definitely cannot see the gathers as being uneven, looks so easy to wear :)
ReplyDeleteThankyou - I will definitely be practising the gathers on my next one but they're not too difficult! What's the countdown on getting your sewing machine back now? x
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