A Beginner’s Guide to Sewing with Knitted Fabrics: Everything you need to know to make 20 essential garments

2018 | Home & Garden | Sport & Leisure

Everything you need to know to make 20 essential garments from stretch knit fabrics in 10 sizes. Following Wendy's step-by-step tutorials you can make a complete collection of comfortable stylish garments along with ideas to easily adapt them for everyday wear, activewear or loungewear.
With patterns and detailed instructions for these functional but beautiful basics, you will learn the skills to make garments out of knitted fabrics using just your regular domestic sewing machine. There are core wardrobe basics that you'll turn to again and again; t-shirts, wide-leg trousers, lounge pants, tank tops, cardigans, skirts and dresses with styling and fabric selection help that will enable you to dress them up or down.
Both beginners and more experienced dressmakers often avoid using knitted fabrics, but Wendy will show you how to successfully sew them with just a regular sewing machine. You will learn all the essential knit know-how sewing skills with the help of a comprehensive techniques section that includes:
* a guide to all the different types of knitted fabrics, what they're like to work with and wear and how to choose the best fabric for your project
* a knitted fabric shopping checklist
* how to prepare knits for making clothes - including washing, drying, laying out and cutting
* how to set up your sewing machine to sew knits
* which needles you need to sew knits
* how to sew seams, hems and finish edges in knits on your regular sewing machine
* special treatments for knits including; different ways to use elastic and taping seams
* a comprehensive glossary of knitted fabrics and fibres.
Wendy has sewn extensively with knitted fabrics since 2001 when she worked in the fashion industry designing activewear and loungewear for an ethical clothing company. Since she began teaching in 2007 she's helped hundreds of home dressmakers conquer their fears of sewing with knits and start making modern, comfortable, easy-to-wear clothes.
Patterns for the 6 basic garments and all the variations to make 20 different designs are included in the book on 3 pull-out, full scale, multi-sized pattern sheets. Each pattern has 10 sizes. No need for downloading or scaling up patterns. The patterns are over-printed in colour on both sides of the pattern sheets, so just trace off the pieces that you need and off you go!
NOTE: the patterns are printed in 10 sizes which cover the following range: bust 80-121cm (31 1/2 to 47 3/4 ins), waist 64-105cm (25 to 41 1/2 ins), hips 88-129cm (34 1/2 to 51 ins).

Wendy Ward (Author)