[Eleanor]

Hi, I’m making the Playtime dress out of knit fabric but am a super novice with knits. My lightweight fusible interfacing stretches in one direction but not the other. Am I looking to preserve some stretch in the dress facing pieces (so should align the stretchy direction of the interfacing with the direction of the knit fabric with more stretch), or am I looking to remove that stretch (and align the non-stretch direction of the interfacing with the direction of the knit fabric with more stretch)? Or does it not matter? Thanks!

[Lightning McStitch]

Hi Eleanor, The short answer is it doesn’t matter. The PLaytime tunic is designed to be sewn in a woven fabric so there’s no need for nay stretch. that’s not to say you can’t sew it in a stable stretch fabric (a really drapey, slinky knot fabric might be weird).
Given that you don’t need the facings to stretch, you can interface them in whichever direction you like, or use a non stretch interfacing.
If you’re wanting to eliminate the button placket and have it be pull on/off using the stretch of your fabric, then you’ll need to check the neckhole size carefully and pay attention to not losing any stretch around the neckline. But that’s perhaps overcomplicating things.
have fun sewing it.

[Eleanor]

Oh, of course, that makes sense that no stretch is required! Thanks for the insight!

I’m not sewing at a pattern modification level yet so I hadn’t considered removing the placket. 🙂 I think in that case I might attach the skirt to the School Bus shirt which sounds like a fun thing to try actually… thanks for the inspiration!

[Lightning McStitch]

There’s no end with what you can do with a t-shirt!
Here’s a blog post of mine (apologies for self referencing) from way back turning the School Bus tee into a ruffle dress

ruffle skirt dress

[Lightning McStitch]

And another t-shirt dress post using the circle skirt of the Building Block Dress pattern

sewing the building block dress with knit fabrics

[Eleanor]

Oh wow, thanks for the inspiration! Those are some cute dresses, and I think just the sort of thing my almost-5-year-old would like. I finished the Playtime dress and am a little unsure about the empire waist, so I think I’ll definitely try a School Bus top next time.