Sweater Dress Version Complete

Oh my gosh, I can't believe the response on the last post! Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate everyone's comments and am glad if I helped anyone make a decision to get this pattern because I sure do think it's a winner.

Anyway, I finished my version in the merino wool. I bought this as a wool jersey from Fabric.com when they had the sale on all the Vera Wang fabrics, and it was sold as a jersey and all I can say is "it's not." But, it is a really nice sweater knit.

One of the reasons that I bought the Uptown, Downtown Knit Dress pattern was to use for this fabric because I really had no idea what to do with it, or any idea really how to work with it. I am a complete newbie to working with sweater knits and had no clue how to finish or hem the edges, so I was really attracted to this dress because the bands of ribbing which could also be done in self fabric eliminated the need for me to worry about how to finish the edges.

If anyone is considering doing this dress in a sweater knit there are a couple of important things that you have to change in your construction to accommodate the different kind of knit. One thing that did not cross my mind was the lack of lycra in my knit and how that would impact the behavior of the fabric. I know that one of the things that we always say on PR to beginners is "always use the recommended fabrics" and here I am breaking the rules and wondering what happened.....

But, I was able to fix it! So, the construction of the dress assumes that you are using a knit with lycra, and I used a knit without lycra. When I put the dress together, here is what I got:

See how the neckline is distorted and the sleeves look overly long? The weight of the top is pulling the neckline out of shape. It never occurred to me that the reason that the neckline sat where it did on the original was because the lycra in the fabric held it there. So, how to "add" lycra to this fabric?

My solution was to add elastic. I used the same method of serging a thin strip of elastic directly into the seam that Trudy uses for the waist, and added a 24 inch strip of elastic to the neckline. I then applied some steam from the iron to shrink the fabric back into shape:


Now the neckline is in the proper place, the sleeves are the right length, and the front is not blousing so dramatically.

Another thing that I had to change was how I assembled the cuffs, collar, and bottom band. Rather than stretching the bands, I gathered the fabric instead. Without lycra, the fabric in the bands just didn't have the recovery to take all that stretching. Because the fabric will not be able to take the abuse that the RPL of the first version, I made a heavier, thicker belt for this version as well, more of a kimono-style.

I also shortened the bottom band by three inches (or one and one half inches on the pattern piece, since it is cut on the fold) to bring in the bottom of the skirt a bit more than on the muslin. You can see that this does give the skirt more of that sweatshirt shape, without making it blouse and cause a "hippy" look (that I definitely do not need). Overall, I am very happy with this second version and feel that it will get a lot of wear. I feel like this one is a little dressier than the first version, and styled it with tights and a pair of Cole Haan booties for work today.