Hey friends! I’m loving this post I’m sharing today.  It’s all about learning to sew with knits.  When I started sewing I didn’t really even understand what sewing with knits would entail.  I didn’t know anything about fabric selection, stitch type, the required needles, and more.  Tackling knits can be a scary task.  It’s sometimes the “next step” in many sewing journeys.

Liz of Thread Faction Studio emailed me to share that she was kicking off YouTube sewing channel.  She’s beginning with a sewing of pattern #123.  Then she includes some additional bonus episodes where she really breaks down some skills to teach you have to sew knits.  She asked a few friends in the sewing community to check it out and provide a review of the series.   So, that’s what I’m doing today.

To start off, this series utilizes pattern #123.  This is a girls tank and pant (pantie) set.  One thing that I like about this series is that there was some intentional planning with pattern design and skill development. The first video is about 10 minutes and shows the complete process of sewing pattern #123.  Then, in each of the mini series videos Liz features a particular skill that everyone should add to their knit sewing toolbox.  Each of these skills is utilized in pattern #123.

5 Knit Sewing Skills

Seams

Hems

Bands

Bindings

Elastic

I sewed up these patterns myself to show an example.  Since this pattern is more of an underwear type piece of apparel I just took flat lay photos.  I hope you will still find the images useful.

The tank allows you to practice seaming, hemming, and bindings.  Three of the 5 skills that Liz listed.  The pants allow you to practice seaming, binding, and elastic.  Bindings aren’t may favorite.  I almost always cheat and use bands for things when it is practical.

Even though I have a serger and a coverstitch machine which are quite handy, (amazing really… total game changers if you are getting serious) I made the tank with my regular machine to help support Liz’s video and show that you can make great pieces even without specialized machines.  I even ditched my twin needles too.  These pieces are just utilizing a standard machine.  I used a zig zag stitch on all the bindings because some machines don’t have the lightning bolt stretch stitch that many people recommend for knits.  So you see, anyone can do this just as the videos mention.

For the pants, I must admit… I attached the bindings and elastic with my serger. I  sat right down to my serger and plopped them on before I caught myself.  It was late at night and routine must have kicked in… oops.  I snapped a little photo of the elastic waistband here.  This is my preferred way to attach elastic on knit pants.  It looks nice and clean and prevents the elastic from twisting.

Over all, if you are looking to tackle knit sewing or brush up on a few additional skills, these YouTube videos could be a nice resource for you.  If you would like to see how others felt about this knit sewing project, be sure to check out the links below.  I always enjoy reading about the sewing adventures of others.  You may find these posts to be rather informative as well.