[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.

[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!

[Eleanor]

Last weekend I made a pair of Playtime leggings, which was only my second time ever sewing with knits. I was feeling very smug – I read the pattern instructions which said to use a zigzag or a stretch stich, so I pulled out my sewing machine manual and found a good stretch stitch, remembered to put in a ball point needle, and did some test seams.

Then I discovered I sewed one pant leg inside out. It hadn’t occured to me that there would be a right side and a wrong side to knit fabric. This would be a fine beginner mistake – except that I am primarily a knitter and *know* that there is a right side (with the knits up) and a wrong side (with the purls up)!

I decided to ignore this and moved on to the next step in the pattern – who was going to notice an inside out leg on a toddler-sized pair of pants, and she’s going to outgrow them in a month anyways. That is when I discovered that this would require sewing a pant front to a pant back – in other words, I had made two left legs. Sigh. That is when I learned that pulling out stretch seams is much harder than seams for woven fabric.