Ready for the World

I love a good knit dress. I love even more a good black dress. One I can throw on at a moment's notice, accessorize or not, and look ready for the world.

Vogue 8593 works on both counts - knit and black. I used a pretty dense rayon lycra knit from Metro Textiles (NYC). I think Mr. Kashi told me this is an italian knit, and it is really a very good quality. I washed this knit in the machine, and it turned out fine. I have subsequently washed the finished garment to good effect.

I had to do some retro-seaming to this dress. I initially constructed it using a regular seam (not serged). I did this so that the seams would remain flat. But I soon realized that was a mistake when I sat down in this dress at work a few weeks ago, wearing it for the first time.

".......PoP!!" Went both the side seams, for about a inch each side, right near my hip. Thankfully, it was early in the day, no one was around, and I was in my office. I was also wearing a dark slip. So I shut the door, got out my trusty sewing kit, and repaired the seams using a strong double-threaded backstitch, and was careful to mince around .....verrrryyyy.... carefully for the rest of the day. At home, later, I serged the side seams, so now they move along with the knit, and the seams don't pop. They don't lie as nicely either, but so goes the world. One solution is usually never perfect, in that in implementing one 'fix', you have to compromise somewhere else.

Ah, such is life, eh?