Monday 25 April 2016

Megan Nielsen Briar & Thread Theory Strathcona Tee

I realised during my first Briar: I'm over Briar.  Unfortunately I had more planned!  Sewing week was entering full swing...

The first, for me, was an amazing heathered black cotton blend from The Sweet Mercerie.  I really can't recommend this shop enough.  I found it only a week prior to my sewing holiday and I fell in love with the knits.  The photos are true to reality and the prices are super low.  Shipping was fast and cheap to Germany.  I got the last piece of this black stuff, and so I didn't do the usual Briar hem - I just cut it as long as I had fabric for and then evened it out a bit.


Yup, playing on jungle gyms makes you dirty.




The one for my friend had some additional requests - she wanted a higher neck and a bit more modesty at the belly.  I also cut one for her in green interlock knit but I ran out of time and didn't get to sew it.  Next time!  Overall I just eyed these changes.  My pattern was modified thus: I traced the short Briar line + 9 cm length, in a size S, with 1cm removed from the front shoulder.  Unfortunately it took me quite awhile to realise why I didn't love the results - I looked at my blog and saw that I had cut an XS, not a S to fit.  So this cm removed was irrelevant and the fit was too loose for my liking.

 Anyway, in the XS I get pooling in the front shoulder - see my Briar 2, and removing 1cm seems to fix it. The fabric is from the market in Delft, it's a very drapey rayon.  I have more and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it should be.





Then I made my host a shirt to thank him for letting me turn his flat into a third-world sweatshop for a week.  I used the Strathcona Henley pattern and cut a size S according to his chest measurement.  I think the pattern runs a bit small because it was really fitted, and he was in the lower part of the size range for a small.  The instructions are really vague and kind of weird.  I think they are mainly for making the Henley - if you are making a plain shirt it's assumed that you know what you're doing.  (There is a sewalong if you need help.) Also, the neck binding is shown cut along the grain instead of against it, which I didn't like.  I forgot to lengthen the sleeves, so I added some cuffs, per the pattern.



I planned a second shirt (sounds like deja vu right?) with normal sleeves and a neck binding cut with across the grain...but I cut it out and didn't have time to finish it.  Anyway my friend was super pleased with the one he got. 

Overall a solid, simple men's tshirt pattern.

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