So, let’s get dressed with some comfortable Tabula Rasa Knits (TRK) for fall! This seems to be my direction lately and Carrie and I found some lovely knits when we shopped in NYC in August. Luckily, we bought enough to share with you; there are a limited number of high quality knit bundles available on the website’s fabric product page. Here are some ideas for stitching them up to wear now and all winter long.
As we were traveling in September, October and early November, I was counting the days till I could be home sewing again. At the top of my list was our fall knit bundle with the light brown bird print, the black solid and the multicolored geometric. I prewashed all three pieces with the mountains of Laundry waiting for me when I got home.
To engage my inner designer, I draped them on the dress form and considered several options. 
My first favorite was a TRK tunic with the bird print on the sleeves, the black swing sides and the geometric for the front and back. My next idea was to use our coming-soon wide neck knit variation with stacked collars in black solid and bird print. That led me to the orange and yellow button boxes to look for an ornament for the shoulder of the collared top.
The button box was full of fabulous inspiration, it was hard to pick, so I took out all the buttons that matched and continued to ponder.
A prompt from my sewing friend Jane S led me to my Pinterest page: Sewing Knit Fabric. Right near the top of the page was a complex grey and black knit tunic with a cross front and button trim. Some quick sketches using the Tabula Rasa Knit tunic flat drawings (Find them on the last page of the instruction book!) led me to this inspired top. It is a bit asymmetrical for my usual sensibilities with its differently colored swing sides, but I am really enjoying wearing it. So, the design stretch was clearly good for me.
I started with the pattern work I completed for my summer cross front tee. Quickly I adjusted the pattern for a tunic and made notes so I would cut the correct pieces from the right fabric. Piecing the tunic’s swing side was new for me, but I was pleased with the results which nestled a bit of the bird print at the hem of the black side panel.
To construct the top, I pieced part of the front and the back. Joined all the pieces at the shoulder, then finished the neck edge before topstitching the bird print shoulder into place. (Read more on the summer cross front top blog post by clicking here.) I also completed the swing side piecing before constructing the remainder of the tunic.
The hem is finished with a solid band that I created and applied in the same way as a neckband to tie all the fabrics together. The buttons added the final flourish.
In keeping with my brown and black knit mood, I stitched up a lovely sweater knit bundle, also available in our online store. (Some of you might have bought this luscious poly sweater knit in the blue and green color way we sold at our early fall shows.) The design is one of our coming-soon wide neck variations for knits; this sample features the Draped Front Knit Variation with a flared cuff and shaped hemline.
I used the solid brown knit that came in the bundle to face the cuff, which can be rolled up, and to face the curved hemline. This added some extra weight at the hem which gives this tunic length top the perfect finish.
These rayon and sweater knits are perfect for this time of year and our TRJ Knit pattern instruction book is full of great tips to help you stitch up fun and interesting knit tops for fall winter, spring and summer.
Send us photos of your favorite TRJ knits to share with our community or tell us about a time when you were inspired by a piece of fabric or a photo on a Pinterest page. Let us know if there are knit tips you would like us to expand on in future blog posts.
Happy Sewing,
RAE
