Improv - Panel T-shirt

I was inspired by Linda at Danvillegirl Sewing Diary who has made the most gorgeous dress from some uniquely printed fabric. Then I remembered I had a small panel print that needed to come to life as t-shirt.It was quite small, less then a meter, so my options were limited.

I didn't want to cut up the print too much so I rummaged through my pattern stash and settled on an old Kwik Sew 3603. I made some easy modifications so it would fit my fabric, like folding out some shoulder depth and removing width down the CB/CF.Which then meant I had to re cut the neck lines. I improvised, using a lid from a tin, traced and cut, all the while I had to be mindful to match all my prints.

There has been a lot of 'slip' talk in blog land of late, here & there,and because this fabric is slip weight and knit, I thought I would try my hand at a shell edging. I debated a rolled edge but that can be a disaster if things don't line up quite right. A twin needle, I thought, just might suck the fabric into the stitch plate, and I am alway to lazy to set my serger for cover stitch. There's a good reason to buy a Cover Stitch Pro machine!

Lola approves the fabric.

Next up, I rotary cut 2" strips of stretch net for neck binding, pinned and basted, stitched then trimmed. It took 2 mins to hand baste while on my Dolly Lama and saved a lot of frustration at the machine. Then I shell stitched at a snails pace, still managing not to get it perfect! But good enough because there was no way on Gods green earth I was gonna un stitch it.

I also pressed and hand basted my sleeve and bottom hems - again well worth it, they turned out better then the neck edge , but that is because they are not faced.

I just wanted to make a little plug here for a product called Thread Heaven. It's a thread conditioner. If you're not using it already you should check it out. You run your thread through it and it helps eliminate tangles and knots. Kinda like loving your thread as Alabama Channin recommends. I love this stuff. I keep a couple needles threaded with it in my pincushion at all times, for emergency basting! And it has sparkles in it ;)

Lola likes it.

So there ya go. That was really easy and it turned out rather nice for making it up on the fly- or rather improvising. The hardest part was writing the blog post.

Lola and I need to go pick out our next project! I just can't get rid of her- she follows me around like a dog, (I should have named her Tonto), my faithful companion.

 

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