In Search of the Perfect Tee

I can't believe how much time has gone by since I last created an entry! I have been busy entertaining myself by learning more about fitting and how to use my sewing machine more effectively. My most recent venture is the Sewing with Knits class on Craftsy. Much of the class is stuff that I am somewhat familiar with, but going through the lessons is giving me more confidence as I trudge through the unfamiliar territory of stretchy fabrics. I always felt that even though I could sew stretch knits with my regular sewing machine, I really needed a Serger to do it nicely. I now know that this is totally not true and I'm really happy with my recent finished products.

As a result of what I've learned, I recently got myself a double needle for stretch fabrics. Why did I not do this sooner?!? I love the polished look that a double needle adds to a garment. Another favorite new venture is the wide world of pdf patterns. This might be common place to most everyone else out there who sews, but I was completely enamored by the first one that I tackled, the Kirsten Kimono Tee pattern from Maria Denmark (this is a free pattern when you go to her site and sign up for her mailing list).

Here's a picture of the neck detail. I was actually still waiting for my double stretch needle to arrive in the mail (had to order it from amazon) so this shirt was finished with a stretch stitch on my Janome machine.

Here's a detail of the sleeve, which is part of the main body of the shirt. This pattern is basically 3 pieces...front, back and neckband, so there were no sleeve pieces to attach to the body.

Et voila...it's a t-shirt so nothing fancy, but boy, is it comfy! :)

I found Maria Denmark via a link on the Craftsy class about full bust adjustments in patterns. ...Which leads me to my next favorite new piece of information. How have I not discovered the FBA before? I now understand why store-bought clothes rarely fit me correctly and what I need to do to make my own creations fit me the way I want them to. I have seen other FBA instructions before but nothing that seemed straight-forward or that didn't involve some majorly complicated directions. I followed the FBA instructions here when preparing the Kirsten Kimono Tee pattern, and I can barely stop wearing this shirt long enough to launder it. I love love love it! Can't wait to make more!

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Bundle of Lime

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