I love my serger :) I couldn't have stitched these two items so quickly using just a regular sewing machine, and the gauze top would have been a nightmare! The top is "Poetry in Motion" by hotpatterns.com; the skirt is the Gored Skirt from Bernina's My Label 3D Fashion Pattern Software. (Tip: If you make the top, use two rows of 1/4" elastic around the neck & sleeves instead of the 3/4" elastic called for in the directions.)

Gauze can be tricky to stitch, as it tends to stretch out of shape. This top is basically a "bishop" style, with sleeves, front, and back stitched together on the diagonal. By setting the differential feed at about 1.5, the fabric was fed under the presser foot faster than it was pulled out the back, which prevented the gauze from stretching. Bonus: all those ravelly edges were overcast, too!

It's hard to see in the photo, but there are two tiers of ruffles along the lower edge...so not only is the hem stretchy, hard-to-handle gauze, but cut partly on the bias and partly on grain. A serged rolled edge was simple; I don't even want to think how tedious a regular hem would have been!

The skirt was quick and simple. After printing the Gored Skirt pattern I drew points at the lower edge of each segment to create a shaped hem. I roll hemmed the points, then flatlocked all the sections together with the "squiggles" side showing on the outside. Then I stitched the waistband to the top with a 4-thread overlock stitch, inserted the elastic, and it was done!

Why the neatly labeled swatches? One of the classes I'm teaching at Bernina University is on sergers. Erika & I are both traveling to Kansas City tomorrow; we start teaching on Wednesday. I'm not sure we'll have time to blog while we're gone, but we'll have lots of things to share when we get back!

Do you remember your first sewing project? The first time I remember stitching pieces of fabric together with needle and thread was in Brownies, when we made a Santa Claus ornament out of felt and cotton balls. And I made a yellow gingham apron in 4-H - gingham because it's easy to fold and stitch straight lines ;) But this - which I came across while unpacking still more boxes - is the first real garment I made, from an actual pattern with pieces and instructions.

I was around 11 years old, still in 4-H, and still remember going fabric shopping for "kettle cloth." I'm still not sure where "kettle" comes from, but it's a woven cotton fabric that's easy to work with and presses well. I made this on the sewing my parents bought in 1965 - a Riccar that came free with the purchase of a $79 sewing cabinet. It went forward and backward - straight stitch only - no zigzag - and it's what I sewed on until I was 12 or 13. All of my seam allowances are straight stitched 1/4" from the raw edge, then hand-overcast - miles and miles of hand-sewing, that took forever! Now I zip right along on my BERNINA and Overlock Foot #2, or - better yet - use my serger to trim and overcast at the same time. But I did a good job, even with so much hand-sewing, and won a purple ribbon at the county fair :)

What was your first project? I've been asking some of my friends, and will be posting some of their stories over the next few weeks.