I have been on the hunt. For a shirt. The perfect sweater. Also, I hate sewing knits. Also, I was looking for raglan sleeves. But above all, I’m looking for the perfect pattern for a recent acquisition. Nice, heavy cotton jersey with crisp navy and white stripes. Mmmmmm… So any reader would understand how I was sucked in by the envelope drawing for Hotpatterns 1035. A scoop-necked, set in sleeve, relaxed fit (ewwwwwww…)tshirt pattern with options for 3/4 and short sleeves. And a completely ridiculous center seam. Which I chose to not do. Here it is…
I’m happy with the finished product. It’s girly and comfy and cute. I added a little bow and a bit of vintage lace trim at the cuffs. I wished I had cut more thoughtfully so I could have added nice, long cuffs. (It’s cold here today!) I’m not super enthused with the bagginess under the arm, but not disgruntled enough to do any sort of adjustments to the pattern to rectify for future versions. And the fabric, a pretty cream heathery sweater knit doesn’t enthuse me. Especially in the pictures!
So first. Let’s talk about fit. Great googly moogly. My first version of the shirt was so awful that I almost threw everything in the trash. If it hadn’t been for a sentimental evening of re-living Self Stitched September and deciding to make something to wear for the very next day, I might have done so. Here’s the monstrosity of version #1, complete with bad lighting, bare feet and cords in desperate need of a bit of extra hem let out…
[What not to wear. Ever]Ugh. It’s so…um, what was that? I fell asleep. The boxy, boring, oatmeal travesty spent the night in a crumpled up heap on the ironing board.
This morning I decided to take a crack at fixing it. I laid out the sweater and laid a better-fitting RTW turtleneck over the top and saw a serious difference in shape. I knew I’d have to adjust the pattern a bit, since it’s intended to be relaxed fitting and I like my knit shirts to be very fitted. But holy cow! I freehanded a nice side seam (highlighted on the right side of the photo below in pink.)
[Making a girl shape!]
[Looking more like a Patty shirt. Less like Patty’s mom’s shirt!]After that I topstitched around the neckline for strength, super trimmed the seams, fashioned a little bow from scraps for the neckline and hemmed the bottom of the shirt and the cuffs using a twin needle (and a most-excellent hint from Threads – I think – to roll a bobbin of your thread if you don’t have two spools of the exact same color for twin-needle stitching!) I also added the bit of lace trim to the cuffs. Since a white, scoop-neck sweater with a bow wasn’t quite girly enough for me…
Here’s a side-by-side of the first version and second version of the sweater. What a difference a foot of fabric at the waist makes (and good lighting, a hair straightener and lipstick…)
All in all, I like the pattern and will probably use it for a nice, TNT for sweater-knits. I will have to resist the urge to put a bow on every version. I love that bow.
Click here to read my review on patternreview.com.
It's quite cute and looks so much better than the pattern envelope drawing.
This turned out lovely! Totally versatile
K.Line – I posted some how-to pics, it's really super easy. Also, I haven't tried sencha yet, although I've actually put on my 'to buy' pile at the fabric shop that sells Collette patterns a few times! It's got a higher neckline than I like, but I think I'll need to buy soon. I'm grooving on the tuckable shirts!
Psycho Sue – I know, right? It's ridiculous!
Andrea – I love that pussycat blouse! And what a perfect shirt to try out that's already drafted for the larger bust size! I can just imagine on the directions – are those a bunch of gathers on the back neckline??
Taran! The next version (I have some lovely hot-pink mohair-type sweater knit) is going to have appropriately LONG sleeves, added onto the 3/4 length sleeves (a 'la mondo and that aweseome striped shirt, for those following this season of Proj Runway) with about 20 teeny buttons on the super-cuff! Yay! long sleeves and buttons! And a sweater impossible to wash!
Lady K – tell me about it, the sewing shop RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM MY HOUSE stocks hotpatterns! Impulse buy city!
retry: The shirt looks awesome now! My husband is upset now because you've led me to yet another place to buy patterns.
It's adorable! I actually don't think the original version was that bad—just a different fit than you were looking for (kind of like my struggles with the Lydia top). Agreeing with the others, the bow is indeed adorable. (You could always change it up, though—a fabric flower, an arrangement of decorative buttons…
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It ended up being very cute! Do you like Hot Patterns? I just got another pattern (Pussycat blouse) and haven't muslined it because it has no pictures in the directions and they are somewhat sparse.
the bow is adorable! This is the same thing I gripe about buy RTW T shirts and shirts in general : unless they are princess seams, they end up being big boxy unflattering things. They all could benefit from some contouring like you have done here! Why is it that they try to give us all box silhouettes? humph.
I love this top, after your changes it looks wonderful. Love the bow too!
This is soo cute. Once my lady grey is somewhat caught up, I'm gonna have to find that pattern! Too, too cute.
Hey guys! Thanks – i'll put up a picture or two showing the bow later… basically it's rectangles, topstitching and some darning to get it to gather correctly.
I'm crazy about that bow! It looks equally great tucked in or out. You really know what works for you..
That's amazing! I have thrown things away (hot patterns things, interestingly) instead of taking 5 minutes and thinking it through like you have. The result is fantastic. And the bow looks tricky to make. How did you do it?
PS: Have you made the sencha blouse by Colette Patterns?