Yea!! Back in the Zone!!

Finally!! A change in the sewing stars.

Dark red knit T-shirt
Yesterday I sewed up a dark red jersey T-shirt from a pattern I drafted from a RTW shirt which I rather like. It is totally simple, with cap-like sleeves that drop right from the shoulder seam. I'm sure there is a proper name for that style.

I discovered in the drafting process, that the front and back of this shirt (for which I paid $35 at Lindor because of its interesting fabric) are identical, except for the neckline. This means one pattern piece, with a fold-back bit at the neck edge. How cool is that!

I used some dark red stretch jersey of unknown origin, which matches one of the reds in my SWAP print. It is a great color for me, and goes very well with my black skirt, and the lighter pants in my collection. Miracle of miracles, everything went together as planned with only a few bits of picking out stitches. Lots of pinning and basting, and great care taken. This is such as easy shirt, that I wanted it to be perfect so it could eventually be repeated in all the colors of my SWAP.

The original shirt does not even have a hem, so I must have been in sad shape for clothing when I bought it a couple of years ago. However, I think I have finally created something quite wearable, simple to sew, and will happily try it with some other knits.

Because of my past sorry experiences sewing on neck bands, I did this one in 2 parts, sewing the band on the front and back separately before joining at the shoulders. This makes for some bulk at the edge, but in this case,prevented stretching of the neck edge. Prior to binding, I carefully cut and fused 3/8" strips of tricot interfacing along the wrong side of the neck edge, and used the inner edge of the interfacing as the stitching line for the binding. I then topstitched the edge of the band close to the seamline, using a stretch stitch on my machine.

This shirt, I made entirely on my regular sewing machine, so the inside is not beautiful. I am trusting that nobody will be looking there. Now that I know it fits, and goes together as expected, the next one will be made mostly on the serger. I can see this as having potential for any bits of knit that come my way, as well as for some front neckline experiments.

Red Cotton Zip Shirt:
Also today, I cut out and started sewing my final! SWAP item, a red overall print quilting cotton. It's a beautiful piece of fabric, and perfectly matches the primary red in my print. I have been saving it until I was back in the Zone, and also because it's an easy fabric to work with, and more relaxing at the end of a long line of frustrations.

I'm using a TNT pattern, Burda 8360. This fabric and pattern were one of the first in my SWAP plan. It's view B with the zipper front, and I am making long sleeves with a facing at the bottom which will turn up into a cuff.

The cutting and marking went superbly this afternoon while sewing with friends - moral support always helps. Stay stitching and darts went well this evening. The only problem is that I had not pre-shrunk my interfacing, so I cannot proceed further until it dries. Perhaps it's time to get the snaps on that jean jacket.

Stippled Jacket
I'm still not sure whether to put fasteners on the stippled jacket or not, but a friend suggested using frogs, and serendipitously, I happen to have one solitary small frog on hand. I think there are possibilities here - time for a visit to the frog pond at Fabricville and see if they have a supply.

Here's crossing my fingers that all will continue to go positively.