Riley Blake Knit Love Blog Tour

I am thrilled to be part of the Riley Blake Designs Knit Love Tour this spring.  You already know I work with knits most of the time and I have seen a lot of different knits of both good quality and bad quality.  I have to say I LOVE the knit from Riley Blake Knits and I jumped at the opportunity to work with some really talented ladies and some fantastic fabric.

A few of the things I look for when selecting a good knit are weight, blend content, hand, and straightness.  The Riley Blake knits have all that covered plus the designs are amazing!

• The knits have a good weight to them and are thick enough that they are not see through and I would consider them mid-weight.  Perfect for t-shirts, dresses, tanks, skirts, leggings, etc.
• Their knits are 95% cotton blended with 5% spandex.  The spandex is very important  and adds "recovery" to the fabric.  This helps a garment retain it's intended shape.  
• Next there is hand, or how it feels when you touch the fabric. Terms like softness, crispness, dryness, silkiness are all terms that describe the hand of the fabric. A good hand refers to shape retention without stiffness.This fabric has a very soft feel and a beautiful drape, shape retention without any stiffness.  
• Finally, the fabric's straightness is important.  You should always wash your knits before use.  If the fabric is of good quality it will stay straight (or at least mostly straight) when you refold the fabric and prepare to cut.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves... I don't like twisted fabric. You can loose as much as 1/2 yard when you have to block the fabric to make it straight again.  

I used the Vivid Fireworks in Spearmint to make up our newest pattern, the Katie Dress and Peplum.

This line of knits fits well with most of the GreenStyle Patterns and really is a perfect choice for the Katie Dress.  The Katie Dress is a slim cut through the bodice and has several options for the skirt including a long A-Line (as seen here) a shorter A-Line, a long slim straight skirt, shorter straight skirt, and finally two lengths of peplum skirts.

The Katie has bodice gathers that work wonders on your waistline and this fabric with it's 5% spandex helps keep the shape of the bodice with out looking baggy but still allows the skirt to flow and move.  

We also had the chance to whip up some Lucy Leggings with the Cottage Triangles in Teal and the Hot Pink Stripe for the yoga waistband.  I wore these leggings to the gym for a test run and made it through an entire Kickboxing class before taking these pictures.  They were very comfortable and I got several compliments on them.

Thanks for the spandex blended with the cotton they are a great match for leggings and the GreenStyle Lucy Leggings have several options for the gym or everyday wear.

Click here to check out the  Riley Blake blog to read about a whole month's worth projects and items these talented ladies have made with the new season of Riley Blake stretch knit fabrics. 

And, just for our readers, use the coupon code rileyblake50 for 50% off the Katie Dress OR, the coupon code knitlove30 for 30% your entire order.  These coupons must be used independently.  This coupon code is good on our website only and for only 2 days ending Midnight CST on 3/21/15.