One of my favorite sewing blogs is Sew Caroline. In the past year couple of years she has made an amazing amount of beautiful garments, a few of which I have shamelessly copied used as inspiration for my own creations. Recently she released her first pattern, The Out and About Dress, after previewing it on her blog for a few months. It’s a knit dress that can be made knee length or maxi length with elbow length or long sleeves. I just started dabbling in sewing with knits at the end of last year so I was excited to give this pattern a try.
The first version I made from this solid gray knit from Girl Charlee. The pattern is really easy and Caroline gives lots of great tips for sewing with knits. I made the mistake of using the stretch stitch on my machine to sew the gathered skirt to the bodice. I had a few places where I wasn’t happy with how the gathers were spaced so I had to do some unpicking. I found out very quickly that the stretch stitch is a bear to unpick, especially when the thread I used was the same color as the fabric. The stitches just blend right in and are really hard to find. For my second dress I used a zig zag stitch throughout, which worked out much better.
I have gotten a lot of wear out of my gray dress. It is so comfortable and easy to wear on it’s own or layered with leggings and a cardigan. Caroline inspired me with her version made from this fun Strawberry print from the Briar Rose jersey collection by Heather Ross. I had this fabric in my stash and I loved her dress so much that I knew I needed one, too. This fabric is so soft and easy to work with. I am really excited to wear my Strawberry version this Spring and eventually I want to make a maxi version, too. (I love this one!) If you’re looking for a great knit dress pattern, I’d recommend this one!
~Teri
Fa Sew La 
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