Saturday, April 7, 2012

2 Ottobre t-shirts

A rant to start with: why can't some things stay basically the same when a system is updated. First my BlackBerry phone completely changed after an update with different layout, ringtones, menu items etc. And today I opened Picasa to upload my pictures, it updated automatically and the Upload button had disappeared!!! Now I can share in Google??? I just want to upload my pictures as I've done for a few years now, is that too much to ask? Well, after searching for a while  I uploaded from the web album itself. Just takes too much time when I wanted to write a simple, quick post. Rant over.

Some weeks ago I cut out 4 tops, that all required white thread. Though it’s taken me a bit longer to finish them, they were easy projects. First I made 2 Ottobre t-shirts. Not the most creative work ;)

I’ve used the pattern before and I like it.  Using fabric with circle patterns is always a bit tricky, I couln’t but end up with one at center bust point. There are so many circles that it doesn’t really matter.

The only thing I changed was the binding of the neckline: for this I used the method described in Linda Maynard’s book Couture sewing techniques. I’ve used it before and it really is very nice.

The neckline on both tops. I didn’t make a picture of the white top, it’s what it is, just a white t-shirt.

For the neckband a strip of fabric is serged on one side. My serger didn’t do a good job on the knits and I just couldn’t get it right. It worked fine on a more stable fabric, but when I serged the knit fabric it went wrong. At that point I thought about stabilizing with water soluble tape. That did the tric and serging went smoothly. Below the roll of water soluble tape I bought at Beauty vof when going there with Els in September. It’s 2.5 cm wide (1 inch). I also used it for hemming. Serged it first and after that folded and topstitched with my coverstitch machine. Great combination and will do it like that most of the time now.

Of course you can cut your own strips when you have a water soluble piece of material. The roll is just very handy and for the neckline strip I even cut it in half, just needed it for stabilizing the edge, not the whole neckband.

13 comments:

  1. Love the circle fabric :) it dresses up this basic tee, which is one of my favourite tee patterns too. I think you did a good job with pattern placement.

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  2. That book is on my sewing table since I bought it! It is amazing and here is another example how the techniques the author suggests work so well!

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  3. Oooooh, that circle knit fabric is lovely in your new T. And I too am enjoying the Linda Maynard book and its lovely pictures.

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  4. Argh! Don't you just love it when they "fix" stuff that isn't broken? I hate that too, so I can totally relate to your rant.

    Cute tee! The circles are funky and I doubt anyone will notice your pattern (mis)placement. TBH I'm not sure I can see it either. :-)

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  5. Great shirts. That way of finishing the neckline sounds great, I am going to try it next time as well. Thank you!

    Have a lovely Easter Sunday!

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  6. Great fabric for the Tshirt and definately well placed;) Linda's book sounds interesting too.

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  7. Your T is so professional looking. I love Ts, year around. Long sleeved, short sleeved, always in style and comfortable.

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  8. It may be boring to sew, but the fit is worth it.
    I love the Maynard book. It's lovely to find methods that work easily every time.

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  9. Very cute tops. Nothing like a fresh white knit and the print is very nice, too.
    I will have to get that Maynard book, it sounds really good.

    And I know what you mean about changes to systems, like loading photos. I hate having to re-learn things!

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  10. Leuke shirts Sigrid! Zou je een keertje kunnen uitleggen hoe je die hals mooi krijgt? Heb net twee mislukkingen erop zitten... grrr!
    Het is me ooit wel goed gelukt maar deze keer kreeg ik het niet mooi.

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  11. Your necklines look great, I'm going to have to try that trick. Do you mind showing a picture of the inside of the neckline?

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  12. Oh, Sigrid! I LOVE this shirt! The cirlces are wonderful and and and... I just love this shirt! :)

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