A fistful of t-shirts

This weekend I was a t-shirt making machine! I made four in total from three different patterns.

Cozy Little World Jasmin line drawing (because the details are all but invisible on my versions!)

First up, let me introduce what is possibly going to be my new favourite t-shirt pattern. I saw someone's version of this pattern, the Cozy Little World Jasmin T-shirt, on Instagram last June and liked the look of it so much I bought it immediately even though I knew I wouldn't be making it up until this spring. The pattern maker is French, but this particular pattern is also available in English (her other patterns seem to be French only). It's a bit limited in sizes -- 34-44 with similar measurements to Burda -- but otherwise it's a decent pattern. It's only a few pages so not too much sticky-taping nonsense is required and the PDF goes together well. Also, it's only 3 Euros so it's kind of a bargain in these days of US$15-18 t-shirt patterns from indies.

The two Jasmin t-shirts I made this weekend

I made the size 44 and I can therefore inform you that yes, it is perfectly possible to get the largest size out of a single metre of fabric with just a few little scraps remaining, even when you have to lay out your pattern in such a way as to make sure you don't end up with big circular blobs directly over your bust, as I did with the blue and white version.

I made this pattern up more or less unadjusted except for adding 2.5cm in length to the body. On the navy polka dot version I made the sleeves a little longer than the cap sleeves in the pattern (about 4cm extra) but because of the way I had to cut the tie-dye version (due to the aforementioned giant blobs over bust issue) I barely squeaked the cap sleeves out of the fabric.

What I really like about this tee is the shape. I've made a lot of reasonably close fitting tees, but I hadn't found a loose-fitting tee pattern that I really liked yet. It's hard to tell from static shots on Flossie, but this top has such a great shape. Made up in the right knit this top is just about the perfect summer top for me -- swingy and comfortable but not ridiculously voluminous. You can just about see the fullness at the front hem, and of course the back is even looser due to the gathers, but somehow it doesn't have that 'giant square tee' feel that a lot of full hemmed tops can have. It also just hangs really nicely. As you can tell, I'm definitely very smitten with this top and might end up making a million of them, though I think it's definitely one to make only with the drapier end of your knit stash. (Also, I saw some versions made up with striped fabric and eh, I'm not convinced by that at all. I think it's better in non-geometric patterns or plains.)

(A minor digression: I was originally going to make up a MyImage pattern (M1504 from the spring/summer 2015 issue) with the blue tie dye fabric, but I got half way through tracing out the pattern and was like, okay, no, this is STUPID. Why is it asking me to cut massive bias strips in a knit? What do the instructions even MEAN? What the hell are all these 5cm wide heavily interfaced facings doing on a simple t-shirt? Ugh! I have basically given up on the idea that I'll ever make anything from most of my MyImage magazines because so many of the patterns seem to have these sorts of problems. Life is too short and I have plenty of other, less painful, patterns.)

Burda 06-2004-114 -- very dull and not wholly successful navy V-neck tee

My third tee uses an extremely boring Burda knit pattern 06-2004-114. I picked it simply because I wanted to try out another V-neck pattern. Normally what I do is graft any new necklines onto my much adjusted basic t-shirt pattern sloper. However, I decided I would try out the fit of this top as it was. Big mistake! It's not a good fit at all compared to my sloper tee. The sleeve is particularly weird -- it has the highest, most pointy sleeve cap I have ever seen in a knit. As far as the reason for making this -- the V neckband -- was concerned, I found sewing the point of the V-neck neckband onto the t-shirt body very tricky and despite considerable unpicking and resewing (or maybe because of this) it's still not perfect now. It's probably a minor improvement on the previous Ottobre V-neck-without-a-V I made, though. I might try this neckband again grafted onto my sloper next time.

Ottobre 02-2013-13 'Lemon Juice' tee in black and cream stripy knit

And finally, my last t-shirt from this weekend is made with a pattern I have used before, the "Lemon Juice" tee, Ottobre 02-2013-13. I made this up previously in 2014 in a blue and white stripe and wore that version to death over two summers. It's cut on the bias and, as I'm extremely fond of a diagonal stripe, when I decided it was time to replace it I immediately started looking for interesting striped fabrics with which to make version 2. I eventually came up with this variable width black and ivory stripe in December and it's been lurking in my stash waiting for spring ever since. It's quite an odd pattern -- you cut it on the fold to get the side drape (on the right in the front view) and then it narrows at the hip so it clings there and hangs as shown on Flossie --  but I really like how it turned out and I always enjoyed wearing the previous version. I think this version is probably better than the original one I made because the variable width stripe fabric is more interesting and dramatic.

In conclusion: t-shirts galore for the summer!

Next up: I have one more t-shirt to make, but the fabric has gone missing in my sewing room somewhere (!) so that will have to wait until it turns up. In the meantime, I was all excited in my last post about my planned grey denim jacket... except that I suddenly thought to check whether that pattern requires a stretch fabric (it does) since my denim is not at all stretchy. I'm a bit frustrated because I had a whole list of possible Burda patterns to fall back on and when I checked them they were ALL written for stretch! So that is going on the back burner for a bit because I'm annoyed with the whole thing (and with 2012!me for buying non-stretch denim, which is actually very hard to find a use for, it turns out).

Summer Sewing Week: T-shirts

Somehow (I am really not sure how) I survived marking thousands of pages of exams and essays and got all my grades submitted fully 18 hours ahead of schedule on Sunday. Go team me. \o/ That meant that Monday morning was the Morning of Freedom, which I celebrated by washing up all the millions of things that had stacked up in my kitchen while I focussed on marking -- let us never speak again of the bizarre combination of dishes I had to use to actually make breakfast on Monday -- starting my laundry and then sitting down and SEWING.

I started with t-shirts. I used one new-to-me pattern and two I used for the second time each.

From left to right: a turquoise Kirsten Kimono Tee; a Trifecta Tee and Ottobre 02-2013-13, bizarrely called the "Lemon Juice Tee" in the magazine.

Turquoise Kirsten Kimono Tee with cuffs

I've reviewed the Kirsten Kimono Tee before. In fact, it's the first pattern for knits I ever used. The only changes I made for this version was to redraw the neckline, as I did not really like the original, and I made wide binding strips for the sleeves as otherwise it's a very high cap sleeve on me. Despite the fact I am notionally a couple of sizes smaller than when I made my first one, I even made this tee in the same size as last time (XL). I still wear the old purple version as PJs and I like the fit of the XL at my current size, even though obviously it has more ease than the pattern creator intended.

Really, such an utterly basic tee is hardly worth making. However, I made this one simply because as it turned out, a previous little turquoise tee using this fabric is one of my most worn EVER makes. I used the same fabric to make my first muslin of my all-time favourite Ottobre 02-2013-02 Summer Basics tee pattern last summer and I wore it to DEATH even though the sewing was rubbish, and when it got too big for me when I lost weight I moved it into my PJ drawer and am STILL wearing it to death. The fabric is nice and soft, it washes really well, and I just love the colour, so I'll probably end up wearing this new turquoise tee a million squillion times. It has less than £2 of fabric in it (bought 2 years ago on eBay from the lady liquidating her late mother's stash) and under an hour of work. I still have something like 1.5m of this fabric left, too. :D

Kitschy Koo Trifecta Tee as ~inspired by J Crew

Next up, another really simple tee. A few weeks ago, I made a Trifecta Tee muslin in lilac spotty cotton jersey which turned out so well, albeit a bit tight in the sleeves (curse my fat arms), that I have worn it every time it's come out the wash ever since. Here's my (new) review of the pattern on PR, now that I've adjusted it to fit better.

J Crew "Inspiration" for Trifecta Top

This version, however, is ~~~inspired by a RTW piece I saw on the internet. My inspiration piece is made of wool and silk jersey and was sold by J. Crew, all of which means it is hilariously out of my budget -- something over US$120 originally I think -- even if I were inclined to buy unwashable silk tops with giant flowers on them, which I am most certainly not.

My version is made with two cotton/lycra fabrics from Tia Knight (formerly Tissu), probably my favourite online knit fabric shop in the UK. Both of these were from the upper end of the price range, plus I had them posted to Ireland which was stupidly expensive. The price came in at somewhere around £17 total for the package of 1m of each fabric delivered. However, I still have about half of each in my scrap bag and will use them for something else one of these days.

I really like how this turned out, although the pattern placement of the (allegedly) Japanese garden design did not quite work out how I had hoped and interacts rather unfortunately with my bust. However, now that I've got the sleeve to fit the way I like I am really happy to add this pattern to my pile of "make as many times as you like" knit top patterns -- personally, I seem to get good fit from the Kitschy Koo pattern draft, so I hope she makes more. (I have seen several people say the opposite: that the draft could not possibly be worse for them, so, you know, YMMV.)

Ottobre 02-2013-13 "Lemon Juice" Tee (draped tee)

Ottobre 02-2013-13 "Lemon Juice" tech drawing

And finally, an Ottobre tee, specifically 02-2013-13, the "Lemon Juice" tee, because I love all things Ottobre and knit. My PR review is here. Hardly anyone seems to have made and reviewed this particular Ottobre tee -- there's just one review on the whole internet, seemingly! -- which I think is a shame because I love what I ended up with. I can understand why it's not been popular, though, because it's sort of peculiar. For a start, it's cut on the bias and on a crosswise fold, so that's immediately bizarre. The fact that it's on the bias though IMMEDIATELY made me want to make it in a stripe since I've been obsessed with having a diagonal stripe knit top for ages -- I even tried it once, but it all went horribly wrong.

I have been planning this t-shirt for about a year, and I am delighted with how it turned out even if it's honestly kind of a weird shirt and I can't imagine really ever wanting to make another one (or at least, not while this one is in my wardrobe). Worth mentioning: it's a real fabric hog. I needed a 2m piece to get it cut out, it takes up more than half the width of the fabric (and would even at a smaller size) and because I am an idiot and had to recut my sleeves, I don't even have as much length left over as I hoped, probably only enough for part of a t-shirt rather than a whole t-shirt. The fabric was expensive too, £16 for two metres including shipping to Ireland from Croft Mill. It's nice enough, but it's not amazing -- I wouldn't have spent £8/m if I had seen it in the flesh before I bought it. Honestly, though, I kind of love this top, even if it's weird and stripy and worked out expensive.