Fair Isle Knit Dress with Sock Scarf and Boot Toppers

My Winter Wonderland submission for Week One at Project Run and Play started with this cotton knit Fair Isle fabric from Girl Charlee.

On a cold winter's day,

there is nothing better than wearing a dress made with a cheery red and green print that is soft and cuddly. My granddaughter enjoys wearing clothing sewn with knits since they are so comfortable, and that's what made this fabric the perfect choice. The cowl neck on the dress will keep her warm too.

I wanted to challenge myself and use the 4-thread serger that I just added to my sewing room. I've seen garments with exposed serger stitches and I was excited to create an outfit with the serger stitches showing on the outside of the garment.


I wanted the stitches to be bright red and to show on the outside of the dress,  but not stick out straight from the garment. So I decided to sew the serger seam flat to the garment with a stretch knit stitch using my regular sewing machine.  Here is how it turned out:

I'm honestly not sure this is the way you should do it, but it does add stability to the seams. More importantly... it looks the way I want it to look in my head. The above 2 pictures show the right side and wrong side of the garment.

I can't believe how fast...if you don't count how long it took me to thread the machine,  I was able to sew this cowl neck t-shirt dress.

 

 This is first garment I've made using a serger. Threading the machine was a bit tricky..... I know that I have so much to learn.

Being a teacher, I believe that you can learn anything with the right resources...so I just bought a new book to read about different ways to use a serger and have been exploring internet sites that discuss serging. 
 

Here is a closer look at the completed garment...

 

Notice that I serged the hem on the bottom and on the edges of the sleeves.  I turned the fabric under to create a hem area that had a double thickness of fabric for extra stability before I serged the hems. Then, I trimmed away the excess.  

 

 

 

 

And now for my FUN ACCENT....

 a  sock scarf created from "over the knee women's socks." 

 

First, I cut off the top ribbing on the socks and then sewed the 2 sock together. Next,  I shortened the length of the foot to keep it proportional since the scarf is being worn by a four year old child. 

 

Also, to give the "foot area" more strength so the shape would not sag, I sewed lines of stitching in that area to quilt the  two thickness together.

Lastly, I made a pair of boot sock toppers with the same material to warm up the cuteness factor of the overall design.

This is what the boot toppers look like inside. The red edge is knit elastic that is inside the boot.

Lastly, here is my granddaughter modeling her new dress, scarf, hat, and boot toppers...

Keep warm,
Deborah