An elevated tee

A quick and easy sewing project and tnt for me. I've made this pattern (Ottobre 2/2020, Sage top) once before as it is shown in the magazine and twice with an adapted neckline. 

The original has a plain neckline that is just turned back and topstitched. When I made this in a streped version I drafted a line 5 cm (2 inch) wide from the edge of the neckline in and used a different direction for the stripes.

This photo is from a top I made about 3 years ago and is still in rotation in spring/summer. Yesterday I took this pattern out and made it again in the green version of the collage in the first photo. 

An extra detail in this plain version is the thread, that changes in colour. Originally I used it for an accent when topstitching a pair of gym leggings and thought it suited the green fabric perfectly.

Sewing for my daughter

About two weeks ago my daughter asked me whether I had any special plans for this weekend and on my answer that I had nothing planned she asked me whether I liked to have a sewing weekend. She wanted to sew together, so that she would get back in the groove of sewing and could get a little help. What does a mother say to such a request? For me it's a very rhetorical question. Of course I would like that. So that's what we did this weekend, sewing together. We even found time for some baking. Confess that my DH was a little neglected this weekend 😉. 

The tally is 5 tops and one pair of trousers altered! Easy patterns, most of them used before, all but one using the same colour thread which reduced time needed for changing thread on three machines (sewing machine, overlocker and coverstitch). I made her a couple of tops (after 50 years of sewing I can sew pretty fast if I want to, usually take my time though) and my daughter traced and made one top on her own. 

First is a top with layers from Ottobre 2/2014 with layers at the front. Rolled hems on the layer pieces.This was the most important piece as it is needed in two weeks time for a wedding she'll attend, but not difficult. 

Number two and three: t-shirts. On the left an Ottobre pattern I used before but changed a bit for the look she wanted this time (a bit wider, short sleeves a bit wider too than the original version). On the right the Bobbie pattern by Jalie, for which I made a curve to the armholes and added a cuff. Based on a photo of a shirt she liked.

  

Shirt 4 is the same Ottobre pattern, but then in original width of body and sleeves:

Last but not least the top my daughter made completely by herself, using a Burda pattern:

I'm proud of her doing this on her own. She asked a few things, but I only had to confirm that her way of thinking or doing something was correct. 

Finishing off with one sewing detail I'm pretty chuffed about: a v-neck topstitching done on my coverstitch. 

Needless to say my daughter went home happy. It was a lovely weekend, today the weather was especially good for sewing (cold and grey where I live). Back to work and household chores now. And of course thinking about the next project for myself! I already got a dress finished I want to show you, so stay tuned!

From disaster to acceptable

As we all know you sometimes want to get a little outside your comfort zone and try something new. For me this now meant sewing a different style t-shirt. The basic picture of this one is just a slight variation: v neckline, dropped shoulder but not too much, little accent line center front. The pattern is from Ottobre issue 5/2016. Let me say there's nothing wrong with the pattern, but it doesn't suit me.

Dropped shoulders are not my favorite, but felt I'd try again and thought they were not too much dropped. Wrong conclusion, the result was horrible.

I do have narrow shoulders and a full bust. Not a good combination for this.

On a positive note: I love the accent line center front. 

When I pinned the sleeve higher up, the look was beter already, even if done only provisionally.

The next thing I did was using a basic Ottobre t-shirt pattern (from a 2007 issue) and compared.

Quite a difference. I cut all the seams from the shirt, kept the hem on the bottom and on the sleeves. 

Better, although I think that the original width of the body was slightly better. For me the fit is a bit too tight in the back now and there's still a little pleat forming above the bust. It's a nice layering piece and I'll wear this version. 

The neckline was finished with a small strip of the same fabric. The construction of the original pattern was quite different and the center line a seam stitched inside out. I've cut it on the fold and stitched a very narrow "pleat".

A little detail on how I did that (I know a lot of you like this kind of detail!):

• I pressed the center front
• Put in a strip of water soluble material (tip: don't press with steam afterwards, it will wrinkle, look bad and give you a fright. When it's all solved it will all be straight again though! How I know.....?)
• Stitched a straight line only a few millimeters away from the center front
• Removed most of the soluble material
• Continued further construction

That's become quite a long post.

Enjoy your day!

Experimenting

My wardrobe needs a few t-shirts added to it and I don’t particularly like t-shirt sewing. So I experimented with some different styles to make sewing them a little more interesting.

The neckline of this one was inspired by a rtw t-shirt. As a starting point I took the very basic t-shirt pattern from Ottobre (issue 2, 2006) which I’ve used often before. Only to notice when it was finished that it didn’t fit as well any more. Too tight around the bust area to my liking. I was ready to toss it when my daugher came home and I asked whether she would like to try it on. It’s a good fit on her and she liked it. Happy result after all.

There was just enough of the fabric left to squeeze out a basic shirt for myself. This is one size larger and so much better! But also very, very basic/boring. On the bright side: I have a new base again.

This last one is Valetta from Schnittquelle, a German pattern company. I made a few changes and added a facing, instead of the fold over neckline hem as per the pattern instructions. I intended this to be a shirt with 3/4 sleeves and did change and sew it up like that. In all planning and thinking about how to draft the facing for the neckling I overlooked the fact that this has cut-in shoulders and the sleeve was a horrible fit (read: not fitting at all) at the shoulders. Cut off the sleeves with 1 cm at the armhole left to be used as facing. Ready for summer next year.

Sewing update

I’ve been busy with a lot of things, sewing was a bit on the background in the past two weeks. There’s a large painting project in my house that I started that takes quite a bit of time (2 staircases and 11 doors, discovered the white really needs two coatings to be solid, even though the original colour was just a pink white). More fun, but also time consuming in the next few months, we’ve started an allotment garden. The plot is not very far from our house, only a few minutes by bicycle, which is nice. I won’t write much about it here, but am thinking about how to record our experience with growing vegetables and fruit. If you’ve any suggestions on that, let me know.

The dress is in hibernation mode and might remain there for a while. It’s been a lovely excercise in pattern drafting, unfortunately not giving the result I wanted. It’s a real winter dress though (at least the fabric is) and though there’s still some snow left from this weekend, the sun that is now shining in my room is a promise of spring. The new buds are waiting too.

 

In the time that I took for sewing I wanted easy projects. It was not lingerie this time, I made two tops and a knitting bag. The tops were really easy and did not take more than an evening each to make.

A classic and basic Ottobre t-shirt (issue 2, 2006) from a wool/viscose knit. Lovely to wear.

Another Ottobre top, from the 5/2015 issue. The fabric is thicker, more a sweater than a t-shirt. I used my coverstitch with the looper side on top for topstitching. Also a project for the “use your magazines more” challenge.

To conclude this update a “knitting bag”. That’s what I’m going to use it for. I restricted myself to using only fabric and notions I already had and I had to be a bit creative.

The pattern is the Retreat bag from Emmaline bags. Bunny made some fantastic versions of it that inspired me to buy the frame and try it too. (I ordered the frame from U-handbag, not affiliated). This large version is really large and perfectly suitable for a knitting bag. Handles might have been good, but I didn’t think of them when I made this. The page with the pattern now shows a wonderful youTube video with construction including handles. I’ll probably have to order more frames, my daughter wants one as well and it would be a lovely gift to make too.

Skirt detail and two tops

 

Thank you all for your kind comments on the skirt, it was a fun project to do. Special thanks to Anita from StudioFaro. She offered help if needed for my next attempt at the Double Drape Tee. I’m not making one very soon as I really have a huge to-do/to-sew list, but the offer is much appreciated.

AllisonC asked whether the ruffles were hemmed or double: they are hemmed with a narrow hem. It was difficult to see on the original but it is a narrow hem there too.

Vivienz asked whether I planned more of these and I might, it was an easy, relatively fast to make project and it would be nice to have it in a darker color. But you know how it goes: one day the mind is set to do something, the other day the fancy strikes to do something completely different.

I won’t bother you with my list as I’m notoriously not keeping to them (see the above). On it are nine garments I would like to make pretty soon, two of them are lingerie sets for my daughter and myself. And yesterday I managed to make two items of the list. Easy, quick projects, sewn in “production line”. It’s an old tnt Ottobre t-shirt pattern, for which I lowered the neckline.

The first fabric was bought at one of the fabric markets that are held here, the other was bought in Paris last month. As you can see even on the dressform pictures, the drape is different. The fabric from Paris has more drape. It shrank a lot in the laundry, I bought 1.5 meters, after washing it only 1.25 meter was left. These are casual shirts. I really need some as a few others are worn so much that they have to be thrown away because the fabric shows the wearing.

 

Out of nine planned projects, seven still to be made. Next project in next post.

Happy weekend all, I’m going to do a 5K run on Sunday (a ladies run). Luckily the weather has improved.

All my Ottobre shirts

Just a small image of my combined Ottobre shirts. Something went wrong again and the picture became quite small.
It seems like a lot of work done, but it did not take a lot of time, the last one only took me an hour.
If you want to see one of the shirts in more detail, you can find the pictures here and the PR review here.

Today I bought the new Knip mode magazine. This pictures shows a great combination from a Dutch designer, and I'm definitely going to implement the skirt in my wardrobe plan. But I think it will be better without the horizontal line (at least for me), so I will draw it without.



But what about this skirt? It's not my style, but that's not the point. They definitely took a model that does not fit into the skirt. I hate it when Burda doesn't show the details properly (hair before the neckline,or bag before the skirt with a special godet etc.) but this is worse. Who would be tempted to make this with these pictures? It's not flattering at all.

FBA for Ottobre t-shirts

Life is chaotic at the moment, the new school season started and the sport season too. And although this means that during the daytime I can work reasonably undisturbed, it also means a totally new schedule after schooltimes, requiring a lot of planning. Unfortunately 3 times a week we can not manage to have dinner together. This last I feel as a loss, it's such a great time as family together, to share news and talk about the little and more important things in life. But alas, training schedules are in the way.

But luckily I do manage to sew a bit in the evenings, although not very complicated patterns at the moment. I'm doing a lot of t-shirts from the Ottobre patterns, but with alterations.

I liked the fit of the first Ottobre t-shirt I made, but do not want all my tops with a gathered neckline, so I combined the shirt of two patterns.














I took the first as a start, with the long sleeves and ungathered neckline.

Then I drafted the neckline of the second pattern into the front of the first pattern, as I like the neckline of the second one better (first measured the width on the pattern that was used for gathering).

After measuring the width of the pattern, I found that it would be very tight, as there was 6 cm short at high bust level. And I don't like my t-shirts very tight, so I made a FBA as described in Sandra Betzina's book "Fast Fit". She describes this method on this site.
To prevent the pattern to be too wide above the bust, I have drawn the original armhole in the pattern and adjusted the shoulder seamline. (Pattern is without seam allowances).

The end result of this adaption.

If I find time to hem my tee's, I'll post pictures.