Deer and Doe Plantain: new and upcycled versions

I have made a lot of Plantains.  See here and here, always a size 38, plus a dress version.
But I thought of it as a different category than tshirts, for some reason.  Like it did not occur to me to shorten the sleeve.  I read someone else's blog and they were wearing Plantain tees and I was really startled that I'd somehow missed the obvious.

When I found a massive skirt by Metalicus at an op-shop in Napier, it screamed to be made into a Plantain because I could keep the original hem.  The skirt was pretty unappealing at first look.  It's a heavier fabric of theirs and I think it might have wool in the blend because it's really warm.  And it was covered in cat hair or something.  But Metalicus!  And so much yardage!

It did indeed turn into a perfect Plantain (with enough left over for some shorts!) and it washed up just fine, no more animal hair.  I cut a size smaller than I have used in the past (36) and I forgot how long the Plantain is.  This top was pretty loose, I guess because of the fabric.  I shortened it a bit since I didn't need a hem allowance but I do wish I had shortened it more. 

So I did that on my second Plantain, a beautiful drapey fabric from The Fabric Store.  I don't recall if it's cotton or a blend with rayon.  It is very light but not a tissue knit, it has a bit denser feel.  I zig zagged the hems for some visual interest but otherwise followed the pattern as usual, and I ended up cutting off about 2 inches.

Interestingly the green Plantain pulls in the armpits pretty noticeably.  The size larger never did that, and I do like the fit otherwise, so I'm curious to see how it wears.  I don't think it looks particularly bad but it's obviously something suboptimal in the armscye/shoulder fit. 

Grainline Penny Raglan tee x 2

I was never going to make this top.
When Lizzy first made it (here) I thought huh, that doesn't look so bad but clearly it's not me, being all loose and shapeless.  The Hemlock and the Rumi went badly after all.

But then I moved to New Zealand and fashions are a bit different here...
Or maybe I blame it on Spotlight having a sudden unusual influx of desirable knits...
Because now I needed some loose raglan sleeved tshirts post-haste.  They were a nice break from all the sleeved tshirts.

All these fabrics are from Spotlight and the blue starred stuff (I've totally lost my mind, shapeless tees and now gold stars and glitter?  good god.) is also quite finicky, even handwashing it when I left it in water too long some of the gold started coming off.

I made a size 0 with no changes.  It's really wide and quite short, even I might consider lengthening it, although I think it's ok like this.  The size 0 didn't match my measurements at all - in Grainline I am usually a size 4.

ah yep there are shiny dots all over that white fabric.

These haven't had much time to enter my rotation yet but the blue with gold stars is the fabric I was jumping about in excitement and it's definitely been at the top of my tshirt stack (plus I have some leftover yahoo!!)  These aren't any good for work but I suspect they will creep into my wardrobe layered with tanks and sweaters.  But two was enough!

Megan Nielsen Briar tee x 2

I'm pretty sure the Briar is my overall favourite tshirt.  The Renfrew and the Briar are in a tie, at least.

These Briars are both a size XS using my modified pattern.  It is lengthened 3" from the short length and I generally spontaneously smooth out the front curve, and then try it on and shorten the back curve so it's not as dramatic as the original pattern.

The first, stripes, is a pretty stable tshirt knit from Spotlight.  I made no efforts to pattern match.  Well, ok, I made about 15 seconds of effort, trying to line up the navy stripes at the shoulders and top of the sleeve, and you can see these minimal efforts means my stripes are only a little bit off.  I didn't even try for the pocket (which may be stupid since it doesn't take much effort to match up a pocket, but anyway.  Sweatshop was happening.  Now it bothers me when I look at it so I suppose I will at least match pocket stripes in future.)

The second is a tissue knit from The Fabric Store in Auckland.  It is the absolute last of my tshirt haul and it was the worst to sew because of being a tissue knit.  This stuff rolls up the minute you cut it and it found lots of ways to roll or wrinkle or fold itself up into a little ball right when I wasn't paying attention.  I left the hems bare, and I did the special Briar neck band.  I think I was planning to reverse and do the special binding on the stripes, but I mixed up my pattern pieces and so it ended up like this.

I love the special neckband but it's five layers of knit in one place and that means it dries really slowly.  For some people this might not be a problem but at times I've been irritated to have all of my laundry dry except the necks of my Briars.

These tops have already been into the rotation with my Renfrews, duking it out for first place in my tshirt sweatshop competition...

Sewaholic Renfrew x2 (and one is upcycled)

I got annoyed pretty quickly with how I somehow left all my me-made basics behind with this move.  I wear a uniform at work and sportswear most of the time when I'm not at work and there's no way I could have attempted me-made-may under these conditions!  The result is that I basically listed up a capsule wardrobe of basics to sew, just so I can make sure I'm always wearing something I've made myself.  Tshirts were the first on the list because I hadn't brought enough with me.

I got settled into my new place and turned my room into a sweatshop producing tshirts like never before...I've decided to categorise my blog posts by pattern and I'm actually pretty curious which of my tshirts will stand the test of time and become my favourites.

First the boring, tried, tested Renfrew.  Size 4, modification: 2" waist shortening.  I am 33-27-37 and very short waisted, 5'4".

The periwinkle fabric is a merino blend with some poly in it, and has a very small terrycloth knit inside, which does give it a bit of a variegated look, although it's not actually striped.  It's moderately warm and I snagged it at The Fabric Store to make some new Anima sleep pants.  (More on those later.)

I think the wrinkles above the bust are just because I didn't pull it down because I never notice them when I wear it!

The red top is upcycled from an XL shapeless top by one of New Zealand's real sweatshop chains, Glassons.  It was about $4 in an op-shop.  As you can see it had some gathers in the middle.  What you can't see is the ridiculous elastic neckband.  Sorry as always I forgot to take before photographs.

I have nothing to say about construction except that as always, with upcycling you have to let go just a little and it makes things more exciting.  The jersey was tissue thin and my room was cold so it got fiddly.  I used the original arm bands, just cutting them shorter to match the pattern.  The neck band is my own, and the gathered bottom is the original.  It was mostly luck that made it match up lengthwise on the front and the back, although I did try, I thought the front would be shorter.

I love both of these, as the Renfrew really is my favourite pattern ever, and these both went into immediate rotation.  Although my upcycled top might be made of older fabric that will fall apart, I was particularly in love with how it turned out.  The waist feature makes it that something different and the ancient fabric means it already feels soft and worn-in.