Lodo Dress on Serger

This project used 1 1/2 yards Birch Fabrics interlock knit, 95% organic cotton, 5% spandex, 58" wide, purchased from The Confident Stitch for $32.85.  The color is a beautiful sagebrush green and the cotton fabric is as smooth as silk, with 50% crosswise and 20% lengthwise stretch.  Unlike silk, it can be machine washed cold and tumbled dry on low without worry.  

My plan was to use the fabric to make another Lodo dress.  Happily, the leftover rayon twill from my vintage dress project worked for the woven facings recommended by the pattern. Testing stitches on my serger and sewing machine proved that topstitching on the machine at 2.8 looked good.  Serging looked good, once the differential feed was adjusted for this thick fabric.  Stretch stitching is advised in the pattern.  Twin needle stitching was also used in my first Lodo dress.  The only problem with that dress is that the back slit ripped out, even though it was sewn with a stretch stitch. I tested twin needle stitching on my sewing machine but decided that it is not really necessary for the facings, since they are woven.  Based on all this testing, here is the sewing plan I developed:

Serge the back seam, leaving a higher slit. 

That didn't work.  The top of the seam fed unevenly into serger and pulled a thread out of the fabric.  Discouraged, I sewed the back seam on my sewing machine with a stretch stitch and walking foot.  That was slow and stretched the seam out, causing the bumps in the seamline in the above photo.

Reinforce the top of the slit with a woven facing, extending the slit. That was time consuming but should resist ripping.  (The right photo is the extension basted into place, the left is after stitching the slit.)  This step should be replaced with a simple redesign of the back pattern piece, opening the back slit higher.  

Serge the edge of the facings.  That worked even though my serging needs more practice.  Sew the neck facings on with a straight stitch.  Worked well.  Understitch the facings with a straight stitch. Fine, wobbly but worked.   

Serge the shoulder seam, seaming through the facings.  To avoid the difficulty that prevented me from serging the back seam, the shoulder seams were basted together on the machine first at 5/8", allowing me to serge at 3/8".  This worked well.   In retrospect, basting where the seamlines meet is probably all I need to avoid the fabric feeding unevenly into the serger.    Sew the armhole facings and understitch. There is no photo of my uneven understitching here.  It is such slippery material, that rayon twill. The serged edge of the neck facing is visible in the photo below.

Serge the side seams. Actually, stitch the armhole at the start then serge because serging that begins somewhere other than the edge of the seam is a little more difficult.  Starting the side seam at the armhole would remove some of the facing unless the knife is disengaged.  Except for the failure to make the sewing line and the serging line meet, the side seams look good.  A few stitches on the sewing machine brought the serged seam and the sewn seam together.  Although the ends of the long side seam stretched out, they were turned under for the hem and don't show. 

Turn the facings to the inside and top stitch.  Worked fine, simple sewing, see above photo.  

Sew the back slit down and hem with a twin needle stitch.  Other than the usual tension questions the twin needle raises because there is a choice to be made between smooth stitches with loose bobbin thread and tunneling with tight bobbin thread, this worked passably well. There were 2 skipped stitches.  :/  Be warned, any problems with twin needles motivates me to get a coverstitch machine next.

All done and the construction is acceptable.  I am going to love this dress for the fabric alone.  It is about 4-6" longer than I would normally make it but I will enjoy every inch of it.  I will hold off posting the modeled photo until I finish my next project, a shirt that might be worn with it, made from the pretty rayon print draped over the dress in the photo above.

These detailed notes will help me remember how to approach my next sewing project.  Combining the features of my sewing machine and my serger in the most efficient manner is the goal.  Perhaps it may encourage serger use.  At the end of this project, the thread on the loopers was low, providing a reason for me to try changing the thread the easy way.  As I had seen online, and as is detailed in the instruction manual for my serger, I just tied the new thread to the old using a "magic" knot (though any tight knot will do) and pulled the new ones through the machine.  These loopers don't seem to have an eye to thread like the needles do, so the knot pulled through smoothly.  

It is all proof that one can buy a serger, use it, change the thread, clean it, etc. without any instruction.  At this point, serger availability has increased (there was a supply problem after the pandemic) and prices have dropped, making it possible for the average sewist to have one.  They are very helpful in seaming knits and checking fraying.