Last time I sewed anything with a knit fabric I was in grade 10. (That was a long, long time ago!) It was a heavy 100% polyester knit and it was solid pink! Very cool indeed! I made a t-shirt style top and hipster pants, almost a perfect match for this McCalls 3280.
Can you imagine $1.00 for a McCalls pattern!
Now that I think back it was really heavy, thick material and really really pink. (ugh!) Another annoyance was that the pants didn’t really fit well. Ya they were hipsters and ya they were tight all the way down to their bell bottoms, but they had a tendency to slip down if I moved and the elastic waist band rolled down and dug into me. More importantly the crotch seam was just not quite right! Need I say more? But hey, I made them myself and they were fashionable and I wore my pink outfit to school proudly!
I haven’t sewed a pair of pants since and I haven’t sewed a scrap of 100% polyester knit fabric since!
Flash forward many decades, there are hundreds of different knit materials around, with different patterns, weight and stretch.
So here I go again, with my knits spread out on my kitchen table and my pattern, McCalls 4261. A pattern loaded with activewear. I have my favourite colours, a red to make two t-shirts and a royal blue to make two pairs of pants.
The red looks the same on both sides so as I cut out each piece, I put a safety pin on the right sides. I don’t want to ruin the look by mixing up right sides and wrong sides!
The royal blue is definitely different on the right side. I was surprised to see that the right side has small white lines running through it which changes the solid royal blue to a softer blue. I never even noticed that until I started to cut the material!
Here is the front bodice piece. It curves in at the waist and I just want a straight t-shirt, so I am going to cut the side straight, not with the curve the pattern calls for.
Sew easy to sew! The finished top…
Oh, yes, my favourite sleeve length too – long enough to keep me warm and yet short enough not to drag in sink water!
I have discovered the “twin needle”. It works like a charm! I found this video to help me out.
Can you see any difference between the white top’s (store bought) hem and the red (“I made it”) hem? I do. I like the red one better!
I love the pants pattern. There is one piece… ONE! And you cut out two of them and then sew them together… Again, sew easy!
I think I am going to change the pants up a bit. Maybe cut them out smaller, hence the fold in my pattern, so that I can put a stripe of red down the side, or maybe make a wide waistband on them. I shall think about it.
Stay tuned!