Now that I'm back in the swing of things, I decided to delve into the world of knit fabric and sew my very own Renfrew top from Sewaholic :) It has been reviewed so well that I figured it would be a great starter pattern! I decided to read up on my endeavor so I would be mentally and emotionally prepared in a worst case sewing scenario. There is some great information at lladybird about working with knits - you can read the post here. I also pored over all  of Tasia's Renfrew tutorials at Sewaholic, which left no questions unanswered.  After all this education (and procrastination), I needed a nap. But instead, I took a deep breath and started in!



First the fabric - I knew I needed a stable knit - I found this in my stash, courtesy of my mom... and had to call her to ask what it was.  I knew it was a knit because it stretched (duh!) but it was a weird texture with all these little nubbies everywhere (more about these to come).  She ID'd it as boucle.  I loved the deep purple color, with flecks of fuschia, and I knew the cool texture would help hide any mistakes :)

Thankfully I had just enough fabric to fit the pattern, as I was making view C with the cowl neck and 3/4 length sleeves.  Placing the fabric and pattern pieces was relatively easy - after making sure the grain was all lined up, the cutting out was quick.  The texture of the fabric helped keep everything in place.

   
Once everything was cut out, I used the fabric scraps to practice sewing the knit.  I have but a mere sewing machine with a single needle (no serger here) so I wanted to make sure I could actually sew this fabric without major distaster.  Turns out all I needed was my ball point needle and a zig zag stitch, and everything was peechy keen.


Look! I made a practice sleeve :)  With my confidence high, I reached for the first two pieces.


Originally I was going to post every step of this journey, outlining the great errors and woes of working with my first knit ever, but boy, was I wrong!  This was the easiest and fastest garment I have ever made!  If you do want step by step help, you can find posts at Sewaholic on creating the Renfrew, view C (also in purple!).  Why reinvent the wheel :)

So it was a success!  And not only was it my first knit....

It was the first time I have NEVER used the seam ripper on a project :)  I didn't even realize it until I reached the end and was sewing on the last sleeve cuff!  Hooray!

*No hard feelings, ol' seam ripper - I'm sure we'll meet again soon.

Changes for next time:  Lengthen the shirt by a few inches and widen the armholes - common problems of being 6' tall :)

Here it is: my first of many Renfrews!


A few more pics:


*Notice the black tank underneath to help with the length :)


Oh, and about those little nubbies.  That was the one bad thing about this project - those dark purple fuzzies are EVERYHWERE!  I'll probably be seeing them in my sleep tonight - time to break out the lint roller :)