Thanks Tamnymore it is always nice to hear good recommendations for on line bought fabrics.

I should have also mentioned that I indulged in yet another book 'Master the Coverstitch Machine by Johanna Lundstrom' - the cover says The complete coverstitch sewing guide, and I have to agree this is an excellent book for a novice in this field like me!!

Incidentially and changing subjects, another book by this lady Johanna Lundstrom is  'Sewing Jeans - the complete step by step guide' and I believe it is from this book that Realale found the best way for her to sew the jeans fly.

As I am so new to sewing modern day knits on modern day machines, I have equipped my sewing room accordingly, I have tape/clear elastic for sewing into the shoulder seams, I have bought some woolley nylon, some ball pointed pins, some duckbilled scissors, some ball pointed hand sewing needles and of course various packs of stretch, jersey, or ball pointed sewing machine needles, some stretch interfacing should I need it.  Now back in the 1960's/70's I am afraid I just used my ordinary dress patterns for wovens, used a 5/8" seam allowance and treated the then knits as if they were woven fabrics and it worked for me, and luckily I had no problem with popping seams and the dresses were never too tight - so I rather got away with it.  However how things have changed, now we can get patterns that are designed especially for knits, I have put on a lot of weight since those heady days of long ago, and nowadays I do not want clothes that cling to me, so I am being very cautious both with the type of knit fabrics I buy and the patterns I choose - this is a new adventure for me and one I am looking forward to very much.  Incidentally the fabric I bought from pound Fabrics was the stuff I was after - it is  double jacquard type knits so no curling edges like on the single knit fabrics - so we will see how these make up.

@Elnnina I've just ordered up some clearance jersey from Pound fabrics. I'm afraid I'm one of the people acting as an enabler for Pound fabrics purchases.

I've managed to get a reasonable result with a twin needle but I always like to have a practice first. I generally find that a narrow zig zag stitch works fine as several of you here are suggesting .

I can't say I'm a fan of wrap dresses or tops either, they remind me so much of those old fashioned pinnys housewives used to wear many years ago, I don't know which era but possibly around WW2. Er no I'm not that old    but I've seen them on TV and in books etc.

My Granny and her sister used to wear those pinnies in the 1950s, but probably earlier too.

I'm another who's never managed to make or buy a wrap-over dress that doesn't gape open as soon as you move.

Oh that is interesting So Chic regarding the Jean Muir hem finish - I just happen to have the book  High Fashion Sewing secrets by Claire Schaeffer and it is mentioned in this book - also found a reference to this on PatternReview.com.

Now just a few weeks ago I was asking questions about coverstitching, and of course the trouble I was having trying to get this looking right, and one of the snippets I picked up off the internet was to use strips of a wash away stabiliser and I used Avalon as I already had this,  I used two strips of this on top of my right side hem and the results are fantastic no tunnelling and the hem looks very neat.  By using this stabiliser it means that the stitch has gone through more fabric, and then when the stabiliser is washed away it gives more room for the stitches to settle in and thus no tunnelling.

Like you Sheilago I am new to sewing with today's modern knit fabrics, and on today's modern machines the only time I had stitched knit fabrics before was back in the 1960's/70's and then this was on a straight stitch machine and a ball pointed needle.  Now of course there is so much more to sewing knits and I am about to start on quite a journey - hope you have fun with this as well.  I also treated myself to a lovely book Sew Knits with Confidence by Nancy Zieman and I watched her video on this on You Tube as well - very helpful indeed. 

Thanks to others here on TSP I also bought some knit fabrics from Pound Fabrics, Birmingham, and they are beautiful, not at all thin and nasty curling knits but substantial jacquard type knits  ranging from £5.00 - £9.50 per mtr.  so I am going to be very busy.

I can't say I'm a fan of wrap dresses or tops either, they remind me so much of those old fashioned pinnys housewives used to wear many years ago, I don't know which era but possibly around WW2. Er no I'm not that old    but I've seen them on TV and in books etc.