Back to basics!
This week I decided to challenge myself to make a t-shirt. The challenge was more mental than technical since the last time I tackled this lavender colour thin jersey, was a disaster. This summer I had decided to make a play-suit from a tutorial… it didn’t work at all. It was a bit my fault since I still didn’t know about the existence of ball-point needles (to avoid snagging) or the need of a zigzag stitch for stretchy material. But I also think the not-so-precise video and the frustration played a big part in making me abandon this lovely colour in a crumpled pile at the bottom of my scraps. So, to make this t-shirt a big effort went into unpicking old seems and ironing out weird seized pieces to cut out the new pattern.
The pattern is from the Make it simple book of Tilly and the Buttons and it’s the three quarter length sleeve Tabitha t-shirt. I brought this book just before lock-down and I really appreciate it, it has very easy step by step instructions and tips along the way, and if you are a proficient sewer a very fast recap at the end of each project.
I’m pretty sure the material is jersey, it comes off a 3-meter coupon pile I found down in the Marché Saint Pierre. I really need to find a book or a video on the differences between materials, I still get rather confused when there are no tags. Any tips?
The neck and wrist bands are from the discount Mercerie ‘Mes Folles de Soeurs’ (it means ‘my crazy sisters’, love the name!) and I find it gives it a rather vintage-y look.
So what did I learn from this project?
1. My mathematical better half tells me there are at least 4 ways of attaching the neckband or sleeves wrong. I was rushing to finish the project and managed to try almost all of them.
2. Anyway, the other thing I learnt is that unpicking seams on jersey is pretty horrible. If you are a not in a hurry basting really large zigzags helps avoiding a headache.
3. Ahh, last thing: I found a trick to bypass the problem of finishing thread! So, as usual, I had underestimated the amount of thread needed and ended up with a full bobbin but a practically empty top-thread. So I decided to transfer some of the thread from the bobbin (acting as top-thread) on another empty bobbin and managed to scrape through the last stitches!
Voilà!
Crafty Poulette 