Miz Mozelle in Nani Iro knit

I'm going to need serious restraint to stop myself creating a vast wardrobe just from this one pattern.

It's the Jamie Christina Miz Mozelle again (my previous version here and here).

This dress is just so comfy and easy to wear. In knit fabric, it barely needs ironing (big points in my book!). The construction is quite simple, with just enough detail and embellishment to make it 'a bit spesh' and a satisfying sew. What's more, it calls for a single button, which is a great chance to go mad selecting the perfect one from the stash.

For my second go I lashed out on some lovely Nani Iro cotton knit, which is so soft and cosy, yet pretty and drapey enough for a dress.

really styling' it up for the camera, in bare feet next to the half-dead mint,
oh and now I see the spray bottle of pest oil in the background, noice

This time I cut the front skirt and bodice, and back skirt and bodice, as single pieces because I wanted to try a bit of shirring at the waist, instead of elastic in casing. I was thinking of going without a waist tie/belt. In fact I miscalculated fabric requirements a wee bit and didn't have enough to cut one as per the pattern piece. (This fabric is only 80cm wide and I ordered 3 metres.) However I needed to cut some fabric off the skirt length in the end and used that to make a thin belt. I did eight rows of shirring. It looks okay without the belt but I think it's probably better with it.

 I looked at all sorts of options for the bias binding but in the end just went with the same cream coloured store-bought I'd used on my first version. Sometimes simple is best.

photographic assistant

 I felt like this dress needed a little embellishment at the bottom. I opened out some more of the bias tape, ironed it flat and overlocked/serged it to the hem, facing up, on the right side. Then I turned the hem under and let the bias stick out at the bottom, and hemmed it up using a plain straight stitch. It didn't need a stretch stitch because of the stabilising effect of the bias tape. In fact one of the great things about this pattern is that even though it uses stretch fabric, most exposed stitching can be done with ordinary straight stitch because it is stabilised with bias tape, and the collar with interfacing.

I'm hoping this will just gently fray a little with washing, and look pretty rather than shabby. We shall see!
This fabric is called a 'double knit' and it literally is two thin layers which are somehow joined by those little diamond shaped bits. Is this what 'double knit' usually is? In any case as promised in the fabric description, it didn't do that annoying curling thing that can make knits frustrating. Fabric... so many mysteries.

- Jane x