(I wrote this post a month ago, and I swear I thought I posted it, but I think I held off hoping for better pictures. Which I should never do because they never happen. Anyway, here it is, better late than never?)
It’s the Sewcialists’ TNTee challenge! (TNT is a tried ‘n true pattern)… and I wanted to participate, ie make a tee shirt of some kind.
Despite the fact that this was a super simple make, maybe two hours work all together, which included tracing and altering the pattern and rethreading both serger and coverstitch machines, this was hard to make. Hard because of, no surprise, the two sweet and extremely short people who are occupying most of my waking, non-work moments these days.
Apparently we were in a bit of a honeymoon phase back in the summer and early fall. They were napping, and playing fairly independently (for short periods at least) in their designated play space.
Well, as the fall progresses, the naps are getting shorter and their inventiveness with getting out of their play zone, and into trouble, has been going through the roof. Especially now that they can open drawers. Maybe I already said this all already. I can’t even remember.
Anyway. I’ve been wanting to make another, slightly longer, crop top to wear with my York Pinafore hack. And long sleeved. And I thought this cinnamon colour, while well out of my usual palette, would look good with the dark teal of the pinafore. I think (hope?) I was right. It’s a really luscious heavy rayon spandex.
So this is just my trusty knit sloper again, merged with the mock turtleneck neckline from Jalie 2805. The merge probably wasn’t completely necessary but I wanted a bit of a closer fit than the perfectly-skimming Jalie tee. The part I was most uncertain of was the length, since my previous crop tops are all a bit short now that I’m, ah, rather more endowed on top than I used to be. I think it turned out pretty much perfect, though, at least in this fabric.
The sleeves, on the other hand, may be a bit ridiculously long. But even after ten years of sewing my own wardrobe, I’m not quite over the trauma of decades of too-short RTW sleeves. So, as the kids these days say, sorry not sorry. Oh and I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve sewn anything turtleneck-adjacent; it really is the single easiest neckline to sew. Though I might raise it a smidge if I do it again.
This is already rather more words than such a simple little top deserves, but man it took a lot of effort. Every little step was a slog to get done, full of interruptions and detours. But, it’s done, so I will celebrate!
I wanted to teach a basic tee shirt class this summer, and Jalie seemed the obvious choice. Their basic fitted tee pattern, 
Speaking of V necks, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I did the twin needling on the Rocketeer, where I had to relearn the “always test!” lesson again… for only the millionth time. Ah well. After some unpicking and careful testing of stitch length (longer), presser foot pressure (light but not too light or the fabric doesn’t advance well), and tension, I finally got good results. And yes, I used Steam-a-Seam in the hems.
Tanit-Isis Sews 