Purple Knit Dress with a Red Rose Applique


I had seen an article in the Fall 2009 issue of Sew Stylish (Taunton Press) regarding the embellishment of a simple t-shirt dress. I thought the dress was cute, and that my daughter would like a version of it.




However, I disliked the fact that the design was painted onto the dress using fabric paint with edges of the petals hand-embellished with a cotton floss chain stitch. I thought it would be much prettier and more sophisticated if the design was appliqued on.

Secondly, I disliked the size of the rose design with respect to the proportion of the dress as shown in the article. I thought it overwhelmed the dress.

So I made a simple knit sheath dress from my favorite structured knit, Sophia, (an RPL doubleknit) and appliqued the design, omitting the outermost layer of petals to bring the size of the rose more into proportion with the dress. The applique was also of the Sophia structured knit.

This is how my version turned out:

Front view:
Front neck closeup:


Lower skirt closeup:


Applique extreme closeup:


Back view:


Lining view:

Lining hem area:

Pattern Used:

Kwik Sew 3463

Pattern photo:

Materials:

Fabrics:

Purple Sophia RPL doubleknit from House of Fabrics, North Asheville, NC.
Ruby red Sophia RPL doubleknit from same place.
Ruby red stretch silk charmeuse from my stash.



Thread:
Mettler 100% polyester used for dress construction
Mettler Poly Sheen 100% polyester used to applique the rose petals into place.

MaxiLock 100% polyester thread in serger

Machine Needles:
Size 80 Universal


Machines:
Janome 6600 computerized sewing machine

Elna Pro 905 DCX computerized serger





Things I did with this project (that weren't in the pattern instructions):


1. Made the dress more fitted.

I wanted the dress to be more of a fitted sheath than a loosely fitting t-shirt dress, so I altered the pattern extensively to make it fit my daughter.

2. Inserted an invisible zipper into the center back.

Altering the pattern required that I shape the center back seam. Since it could no longer be cut on the fold as directed by the pattern, I inserted an invisible zipper.

I also thought that there would be less stress on the stitching holding the appliqued rose in place if the dress could be zipped on instead of being pulled on over the head.

3. Elongated the dress to mid-knee length.

4. Inserted a silk lining.

A silk charmeuse lining is one of life's small luxuries. Plus it hides the applique stitching on the inside of the dress.

5. Embellished the dress with a stylized rose.

That was the whole point of wanting to do this project. I wanted to see how a knit appliqued onto another knit worked out.

Things I learned, or was reminded of in this project:


The major learning curve portion of this dress involved appliqueing the rose petals into place. I had never appliqued a knit fabric onto another knit. As usual, I danced around the project a lot, researching knit applique methods. The best info was found in Connie Long's wonderful Taunton Press book, Sewing with Knits. I could not use her exact method, as she describes color blocking, but I did glean info about stitch type and length. She also has a published article on the method in Threads #142 April/May 2009.

This is how I did it.

1. I scanned the rose design from the magazine and enlarged it to 100%.
   
2. I traced the design onto a square of the red knit which I had basted into place in the lower left quadrant of the dress. I had only stitched the dress's left side seam at that point so I had the least amount of fabric to deal with. The rose design wraps slightly onto the back of the dress.
   
   I traced over the tissue paper design twice, first with a hera marker and then with a mechanical pencil with the lead retracted. I used wax-free tracing paper between the tissue paper and the red fabric. The result was a very light white line pattern. I knew I'd never be able to see those faint marks when I sewed. Plus I thought some of them would rub off. So I cut out each tissue paper petal individually re-marked its position as described in Step 3 below.
   
   BTW, as I said above, I did not use the outermost layer of petals because the design was too large with it included. I fiddled with minimizing the design to include the outermost layer, but the applique shapes would have been really small had I done that. Some of the shapes were only an inch long as it was.
   
   
3. I started with the innermost layer, consisting of two small petals. I cut out their shape from my tissue paper tracing and attached them to the fabric and traced a dot pattern around them using a white pencil. Then I followed those dots on my sewing machine. I did the subsequent layers of petals in a similar manner. For each petal, I did the dot re-marking just before sewing it so the marks wouldn't brush off.
   
   Here are photos of the 3rd layer of petals:
   
   
   
4. To sew the white dotted design, I used the integrated dual feed option, called Accu-Feed, on my Janome 6600. I slowed the stitching speed way down and used a 2.2 stitch length setting. I also used the single hole needle plate. I stitched carefully, trying to follow the markings as closely as possible.
   
   I started with the innermost layer of petals, marking with the dots, and then sewing. Then I would lay down the next layer of petal tissue shapes and white-dot around them. Then I would stitch those petals into place, etc.
   
   Here's what my sewing machine saw:
   
   
5. Once the stitching was completed, I used a small sharp pair of embroidery scissors to trim away the fabric from the stitched petal shapes. I trimmed as close as I could get to the stitching. I tried to use my applique scissors to trim the shapes, but they were too large. Some of the spaces between the petals were tiny.
   
   
6. When the trimming was finished, I pressed the design carefully from the wrong side.
   
   

I have to say I loved how nicely it turned out! I was excited to have learned a new sewing technique. I think a great deal of the success had to do with the fact that Sophia knits are so easy to sew with. A less stable knit, especially one with lycra in it as Sophia has, would not do as well, I don't think.




Things I would do differently, were I to make this dress again:

I don't think I would change a thing about this dress. My only regret is that I have to give it away to my daughter (says me, selfishly!). It was such a satisfying project to have completed that I think I'd like to try this method on a dress for myself sometime in the future.