Girl Charlee Fabrics :: Embrace Your Fix Contest Update Week 3

Girl Charlee Fabric's very own Heather Peterson is {Embracing} her own fix this month, and we have our next installment from Heather on her progress with sewing her August KnitFIX!

Hello Fellow Fixers! Just a couple of weeks left to get all your fabrics sewn up to enter to win the August KnitFix {Embrace} Your Fix sewing contest.  I really had to get myself into gear and knock out a few more last weekend while I had some time to sew.

I am really enjoying my new cone wall that my lovely husband installed for me.  It has a dual purpose of storing your serger thread cones, but also you can thread your serger right from the cones as they turn on their holders.  Oh and it looks amazing on the wall with all the different colors!  I got this idea from a small production seamstress friend of mine a few years back, so thank you Kim :)  

The Victory Patterns Nicola Dress Sewing Pattern & Technicolor Floral on Cream Jersey Rayon Spandex Knit

Since it was Saturday morning and I was fresh and ready to get sewing I decided to tackle the most fancy of the patterns that I selected to use, the Victory Patterns Nicola Dress Sewing Pattern.  This pattern says beginner, and while there is nothing that is overly complicated required, there is a lot of details included in the dress, so I would call it more advanced beginner.  

This fabric is really, really pretty!  The more I worked with it the more I really love it as it has a beautiful color palette and is super soft.

I spy darts....ARRRRGH!  I usually adjust the pattern to eliminate the darts when sewing with knits, but I decided to give them a try to see how it would work.

I was a bit rusty with darting but quickly got in the groove as the pattern has a lot of them.  I do not think I have put a dart in anything since my very first sewing class.  I had stupidly picked out a very complicated dress shirt pattern for my first project, and of course wanted to throw my sewing machine out the window by the end of it!

I used a satin nylon spandex lining fabric for the bottom.  It was a dream to work with and is super soft against the legs when the dress is on.

Added in of our old Girl Charlee clothing labels from back in the days when I made children's clothing out of vintage fabrics and trims...

All in all it took me about 4-5 hours to complete the dress.  Much more than I had thought, but I plan on wearing it at Quilt Market in October so I wanted it to be perfect!

The Delia Creates Pleated Pencil Skirt Sewing Pattern & Black Ethnic Arrow Ponte De Roma Knit

After the Nicola dress I was ready for a quick sew.  I am an instant sewing gratification kind of gal at heart (meaning I have no patience).  I love working with Ponte De Roma as it is just a stable knit, and I was looking forward to trying out the Delia Creates Pleated Pencil Skirt Sewing Pattern as it has a cute back kick pleat option that I thought would give the normal knit pencil shape some added interest.  Delia has a handy Knit Pencil Skirt Pattern Re-Mix tutorial on her blog that shows how to easily make this pattern in a knit.

  I used the Black Ethnic Arrow Ponte De Roma fabric, but instead of a self fabric back waistband I used a 2" fancy finished black stretch waistband elastic that I had picked up on a trip to LA.  It stretches without puckering like a normal encased elastic waistband will and is super soft against the skin.

TA DAAA!  It only took about 20 minutes which made me very happy.  It fits really well and I will certainly be getting a lot of wear out of this.

4 fabrics down and 2 more to go.  The collection is coming together and I love it!

Next up is the Bonnie Top and Lillie Dress.  See you then!

We cannot wait to see your entries to the Girl Charlee Fabrics KnitFix Sewing Contest!  This month we are challenging each of our Fixers to {Embrace} Your KnitFix and sew up each of your included 6 fabrics for a chance to win one of three FREE September KnitFix.  How it works:

• Purchase an August KnitFix from Girl Charlee Fabrics while quantities last.
• Sew up each of the 6 included fabrics from a KnitFix, no swapping or selling or substitution of different fabrics is allowed.  The idea is to use the original 6 fabrics included in your KnitFix.  If you purchased more than one KnitFix, pick the bag you like the best and sew up those 6, no mixing and matching please!
• You can use any sewing pattern.
• By September 6th*, create a photo album with all 6 of your completed fabric creations on our KnitFix Facebook group and hashtag #embraceyourfix #girlcharlee.  If you are not on Facebook, be sure to tag @girlcharlee and use the hashtags #embraceyourfix #girlcharlee so we can find you.  If you want to email us your entries, please send them to gcblog@girlcharlee.com.
• Three lucky winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Monday September 7th!

*Entries must be posted on social media by September 6th at 11:59PM PT. Contest open to contestants with a contiguous USA shipping address only.

Happy sewing!

~ Heather & The Girl Charlee Team