Saturday 12 October 2013

::Sewing:: Grey Jersey Sleep Shirt

 

I wanted to make a basic knit shirt to practice knit techniques so after seeing amazing knit versions of Grainline Studio's Scout Woven Tee about the place I thought that would be a great place to start.
While cutting out I lengthened the sleeves.

While Overlocking the shoulder seams and used some cotton tape to stabilise the shoulders. I experimented with clear elastic, but I think to make it work I would have had to baste it on my sewing machine first so it didn't slide and stick as I put it through the overlocker. My inner lazy dressmaker turned me off that option.
The only thing was when it came to sewing the sleeves on it was a bit bulky. That's ok though. I'm not wearing this to see the queen or anything (except maybe in my sleep) so no biggy.
 


Attaching the sleeves was a bit of a pain, but it usually is with set in sleeves. I overlocked the sleeves at the armhole, it was pretty simple just needed to make sure I matched the notches and pinned liberally.
The sides came together pretty easily, just a bit of pinning at the underarm seams and whizzed it through the overlocker.

The trickiest part was the neckband. I made it an inch shorter than the pattern piece for wovens, but I probably could have made it another 1/2 to 1 inch shorter again. Even if it's not perfect I'm still pretty pleased with the neck band, its not too flippy-outty (that's a technical term). Attached and then stitched from right side using a stitch in the ditch foot as guide to centre the stitching.
 

Hemming was done just by overlocking the edges, turning 5/8 inch then stitching down using 3 step straight stretch stitch on my sewing machine. In an attempt to get a straight I used the straight stretch with the needle aligned to the left and the hem fold aligned to the right side of my presser foot.
 

It's quite a warm tee. I'll probably get a little wear out of it before summer, but I don't think it will be my sleeping attire of choice in late spending and during summer.

So that is my first foiree into stretch tops. I was not too scary, and I've ended up with a nice big baggy sleeping shirt. That I can pose like a ninja in....

If I were to do it again, I'd make the sleeping shirt longer and probably use a different hem treatment because after a bit of wear the hems tend to flip out. The next time I go to my local sewing shop I'll pick up a ballpoint twin needle so I can attempt a twin needle finish on my next make.

Have you made something out of knit fabric recently? Where do you get your knit fabrics?

Until next time,
V xoxo