A wide range of Tees & Tanks & various experiments

After a crazy move and 3 months of semi nomadic living, the sewing room was up and ready and....overwhelm!  Where to start?  I kicked it off with a simple tee binge. 

 

Patterns 4 Pirates tulip tee - tulip in front 

My friend who was pregnant is now breastfeeding so I thought I would make this for her. I actually think this top is much nicer with the tulip in front rather than in the back. In the back it pulled funny but these are lovely!

Glacial tee 

Oops I forgot to check the neck binding and it is too floppy. I think in future I will make it skinnier as well. This is fine, but the binding bothers me a lot so it might get passed on.  (Done- and my friend LOVES it.)

 

Merlo tee in very very sticky viscose 

Don't rock climb and then sew? I decided to do up this top in a single colour because I thought the tee would be amazing and I really just didn't like the way any of my scraps matched up.  But this very drapey heavy viscose is a pain to sew and caught on my freshly post rock climbing fingers and was not fun.  I used some double sided sticky iron on tape for the hem which saved my sanity, and made coverstitching very pleasant!  However, the bands on the sleeves were ridiculous, turning it into a weirdly elbow length top, so I eventually sucked it up and removed the middle bits and put the bands back on. I will see if a less drapey fabric is tighter and shorter - it's nice to have a lot of ways to colourblock, but also overwhelming. 

Another feature of this fabric I've noticed when wearing is that I feel like it would be better suited to a curvier person.  Or this fabric really needs to be tight.  I might wear it more in the later spring and summer with a sports bra but there's a high chance it will be flying to a new home.  One of my best friends has moved to Sweden and her beach-friendly wardrobe needs some upgrades, which of course I'm happy to help provide! 

Elbe Botany with ruffle 

This is a really lovely silk? Wool? blend with metal bits.  Apparently designer deadstock, from Fabric Godmother.  I wanted to hurry and make something with it before I decided it was Too Special to Touch.  This was a great match for the fabric, but the pattern is not clear that you need to cut a lot of bias tape, and so I ended up needing to scrounge that from scraps.  Not optimal, and left me with very narrow bindings.  Overall the top is great despite that, but it's very airy so I might not be taking it on my upcoming Europe trip as planned.  

Sew Liberated Strata tee in velvet 

I had a leftover piece of velvet bothering me and realised it would be a great match for the drape of the Strata tee pattern.  I didn't love the Strata in a lightweight fabric - I think it is better matched to something heavier with good drape.  Whipped this up for a friend who I thought might be cheered by something new.  The velvet was pretty painful especially around the neck binding, but the results are perfect.  

Jalie top bias cut 

Experimenting with the Jalie to see whether I could use it for woven fabrics by turning it on the bias.  The answer is sort of yes.  It fits well, but I'm not entirely happy with the fit at the armhole.  I might try lowering the armhole by 1" and see if that suits me more.  I want to eventually maybe use this for a scrap of very fancy designer silk, but I think more editions are necessary before I commit.  I have not yet adjusted my pattern pieces, but on this top each time I make it I remove about 2" from the back hem, making it less curved and also less droopy fabric catching on my bum.  

Update on this one: wore it on my trip and it is a win. The armhole doesn't bother me at all, and being on the bias it just moves with my curves.  I feel confident enough not to do more practice versions - I will be making it in the silk next. 

 

Jalie 3352 dolman tee experiments

 My friend Tessa loves this top and finally I couldn't resist any longer. I have this amazing, soft, alpaca knit and wanted to make a tee that wouldn't mess with the fabric too much.  Tessa is long waisted and she doesn't need to lengthen this top - with that intel I went for size R, my size by the measurements table, and I only shortened it about 1" as visually it didn't look that long.  Easy to put together and it didn't require handling the alpaca too much, which was good - it definitely was as curly and annoying as merino, but even lighter weight so harder to feel under my fingers!

Because Tessa only makes the tshirt, I hadn't considered a long sleeve version until I was actually making this, and then I was for some reason immediately inspired to use some leftover fleece to try out it out.  It came out pretty crappy and went straight to the op shop.  Needs more stretch than the fleece had, and the super stretchy bindings just didn't go with it very well.

Thought I didn't love the tee because it feels a bit long (high-low tees can be hit or miss on me since the back is too long but the front shows too much, ugh, being short waisted), but then I wore it to bed...and every evening, and months passed and honestly it was two months before it even got into the washing machine because I just kept wearing it to lounge in.  (It has since been washed!)  So I guess it's a win.  And then I thought it would be an interesting pattern to turn on the bias and use for woven fabrics (like those silk scraps I can't quite allocate to a project).  I got all excited about that and then realised I should leave it for summer!  I do think I'll make this again as a standard knit too, but I'll crop 1.5" off the bottom or even out the high-low hem a bit - anyway definitely a fun easy pattern to come back to and play with a bit.  I can see some sleeve action in my future too, but obv not with weird thick fabrics...