After I had finished Craig’s hoodie, I had quite a lot of leftover fabric. I had originally bought 2.5m of this lovely grey-and-black striped cotton jersey from Spotlight. Turns out that this was stacks. Loads. Well ahem, I didn’t want to fall short 🙂 When I am making something self-drafted, for the first time; I worry so much about stuffing up somewhere along the line, and so I think I need way more fabric than I usually do. And buy accordingly.
So I reckon the hoodie only took something like 1.5m in the end.
Unfortunately the remainder was not quite enough to make a second man’s Tshirt. Just a man’s shirt sleeves alone take up acres of fabric… don’t they! I mean, who knew? It never fails to amaze me how a man’s shirt sleeves are each about as big as the front or back!
Anyhoo a second man’s shirt was out; and I already have a grey-and-black striped Tshirt, so I made one for Cassie. It is just a plain little Tshirt, but we all need plain Tshirts too. The plainer the better when it comes to basics!
I used my own self-drafted Tshirt pattern, sewn slightly slimmer in the body. I cut a wide scoop-neck, and sewed the neckband using this method, and the sleeve and lower hems are sewn in a shallow zig-zag.
Since the back neckband of a Tshirt is a straight-ish line with not very much curve to it; I’ve noticed that it often does not lie up as nice and flat as I would like and sometimes has a tendency to flip out and down. This does not occur in the neckband front, the sharper curve of the front edge keeps it sitting up properly. So I have taken to sewing the seam allowance down to the shirt just a few millimetres in from the back/neckband seam, from shoulder seam to shoulder seam. This seems to do the trick when it comes to helping the neckband sit up and the seam allowance stay down; and the line of stitching is pretty much invisible when the shirt is worn.
Cassie is wearing the new shirt with a skirt she made herself using Burda 7370. I have made this same pattern up for her previously too, posted along with my review of this pattern here.
Details:
Top; self-drafted, grey and black striped cotton jersey
Skirt (made by Cassie); Burda 7370, beige crinkly cotton
I love Cassie's styling here with the new tee! It's a beautiful skirt–please tell her I said so.
Agree, great styling. It all looks great and thanks for the think to jersey finishing! That will come in handy.
she has dressed this one up so elegantly! looks fantastic
What a beautiful daughter you have 🙂
The Sewaholic Renfrew & MariaDenmark Birgette also suggest sewing the seam allowances down for the neckband in the same way. Great stitches think alike 🙂
Totally unrelated – I conquered a Burda pattern! Will post soon and your tracing tip was perfect. Thank you!!
I always top stitch my neckbands down. I just like this finish. Cassie's skirt is cute and I looove her sandals…perfect for this summers bright colors!
You seem to have one offspring missing out in the sewing stakes. Is he next on your sewing list?
It looks perfect, and so dies she! Thank you for this – it's the inspiration I need to try again to conquer my fear of knits.
I love the contrast of the direction of stripes around the neckline. That has to set off this tee as not your average store bought number!
I love tee's, period. This looks fab. I have to say you are a lovely family.
She looks great. But then, she would probably look good in a brown paper sack! Ah, to be young and beautiful…
The Tshirt is a good basic to have, and she did a good job on her skirt too.
A girl can never have too many long sleeved t shirts. I really like this one and your daughter looks great in it.
That's a great basic and I love how's she's styled it. I agree, men's sleeves are huge in long-sleeve shirts!!
Your daughter has tons of style!
Nice T :O), and yep your DD looks great in the photo :O) she obviously gets her style from her Mom :O).
To your comment yes Texas has very extreme weather we can actually swing 70 degrees in a matter of hours so I heard on a garden show once. We can be 115 or we can be below o LOL. The word extreme is used to describe the climate here a lot! Its a very tough state to garden in. The Cherries well I think that is wishful thinking LOL though several gardening articles claim we can grow them here. Even if we get enough cold hours for a couple varieties, as with many things they can't take 108 degrees! :O(
I want to go and sew both the top and the skirt.
I love the shirt, and I appreciate the link/tips for sewing with knits. It's all I want to wear but the last thing I want to sew. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
What style your daughter has – she looks beautiful, and great job on sewing that skirt – congratulations Cassie. Oh, you did a great job too with that T. Will use your tips when I embark on knit sewing – which will be soon.
This top fits C great, I would wear this to death if I was her!
Yes, men's shirt sleeves do seem to be enormous for some strange reason, or maybe ladies sleeves are just super tiny?