Tank Top

I've got my sew back! I haven't sewed in a while because of the poison oak and then just trying to get stuff done around here. I've had a couple things that I wanted to get done, some I'm still not ready to sew and others I just got too excited about to wait.

Anyway, this is what gave me my sew back.

Yes, I think I have a slight tank top addiction. I can wear them every day. More then half the clothes in my closet are tanks. 

Naturally, when I tried on this tank and loved the fit, I knew I had to make more... many, many more. I also knew I had fabric at home just waiting to be cut and sewed into this tank.

Yes, that is my new lovely label. Now, here is my new lovely tank...

I have another idea for a new tank using a slight change to this pattern that I can't wait to try and I hope it turns out. I will be showing you soon.

Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you. The shirt I bought was $7.95, the fabric I used to make the new one with was $2 and I have a ton left to make something else. So, I got 2 perfect tops for $9.95.

Kristen


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Long Sleeves

Well, I have finally had a chance to make a long sleeve shirt that is just so comfortable. Too bad it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit today! Thats ok, I will get a chance to wear it soon enough. I had this white shirt that I love wearing. I even wear it to the gym it's so comfy. I knew I need another, maybe many more.

Now, I know I said I would do a tutorial on long sleeves, but this shirt was SO easy to trace that I didn't have to draft my own sleeves. I can however, give some tips on tracing clothing and adjusting your pattern...

I had to do some fixing...

So I did...

And I made this...

Picture courtesy of C. It's so comfy and the material is so soft. I don't know how to make things on fabric yet, but I want a little pint in the lower left corner of the front. Any ideas on how to do it?? I want some kind of grey animal, maybe a giraffe or elephant or monkey.

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Short Sleeves

Well, I told you I would give a tutorial on sleeves. I decided to make L a shirt from the purple I made mine from. You can see the neck is too wide. I made the shoulders a little too narrow. Now you can see what a mistake does.

It is such a pretty fabric, but very thin. That combined with L's clothes being tiny made it a little more difficult. But I will go ahead and show you what I did for the sleeves. Long sleeves are easier to explain, so, I will do a tutorial on that next. I have a long sleeve shirt I have been wanting to make anyway.

Here we go... This is what you need.

To trace the shirt part see this tutorial. I did the same thing here, I traced the front and back of the shirt. Don't forget the allowance for the hem.

When I got to the sleeve, I tucked it in the shirt and traced the curve as best I could.

I did that for the front and back. Don't forget the shoulder and neck line. The back shoulder edge was thick enough, but the front was too skinny. I took a short cut and widen the neck of the back of the shirt to fit the shoulder of the front. Not a could choice. Short cuts are NOT good in sewing.

When tracing the neck line, trace under the neck edge at the seam because you will be adding that edge at the end. I hope that makes sense, if not, leave a comment and ask a question.

Ok, now the sleeves. Measure the curve of the front and back. They should be about the same. You will need this number to help with your sleeve curve.

Now, take the sleeve and lay it with the folded part on the fold of the paper.

Trace the edge, don't forget hem allowance. Trace the inside of the arm to the armpit. Make a mark at the top of the shoulder where the sleeve meets the shirt. That will be the top of your bell curve.

Next move the shirt off the paper and draw this shape (half a bell) from the top to the bottom of the armpit.

Measure it. If it is too big (I needed 5.25 inches) then flatten out your curve. If it is too small make it more curvy. Mine was too big. I could kind of tell before I measured because it was very curvy.

The first time wasn't enough so I had to flatten it more. Now it's good, I cut it out.

Time to trace the pattern onto the fabric. Remember if you are using knit, put the fabric on something it can slip on so the fabric doesn't stretch. I use my kitchen table. Here are my pieces. Pin right sides together. Sew the sides and shoulders.

For the sleeves, fold them in half, right side together. Sew the bottom of the bell, that becomes the inside (underarm) of the sleeve.

Save any little scraps you may use them later. I used this for the neck edge.

Once you have those pieces sewn together, take the sleeve, flip it right side out. Slip it inside the armhole matching the underarm seam with the side seam of the shirt. Also, match the center top of the bell with the shoulder seam. Pin all the way around and sew.

L's sleeve hole was so tiny that I just had to hold the other side of the sleeve out of the way of the needle under the fabric.

Now sew your bottom and sleeve hems. Make sure to do a zig zag on the hems and don't pull stretching the fabric as you sew.

Last we have to do the neck. You know how t-shirts always have that edge around the neck? Well, I used that little strip I showed you earlier, folded it and cut 1/2 an inch 20 inches long. (A little more then enough for the neck. I kept it folded, pinned the open part to the right side of the shirt at the neck and sewed all the way around.

After I sewed it, I top stitched it so the seam was up on the inside.

You can see how the shoulders aren't wide enough and the neck line goes a little to far out.

That's ok, L loves it and the sleeves look good.

She even had to wear it to church tonight and told me to wear my purple shirt too. Then she made sure she was wearing black shoes with her jeans because I was.

Happy Sewing!

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Pattern Making and Tips

I love to wear knit clothing it is just so comfortable! I have a few shirts that I absolutely love and want in a bunch of colors as you may know from reading about my tank tops. Anyway, I got a bunch of beautiful knit in down town LA that I have been dying to work with. So, I am going to attempt to do a tutorial on making a pattern from existing clothing and give a few tips on working with knit. But, before we start, I would suggest copying a favorite tank top or basic T first. Ok, here we go...

This is what I have and want to make. The purple will be the shirt. I though about doing that white and purple as the back on the top where the shirt has the lacy part. But, I didn't think that would work well since the material is very thin. So that other material will probably become a scarf.

Here is what I need...

Lets start copying. First, iron your paper and clothing. 

Now turn the shirt inside out and fold it down the center matching the seams. Put the center fold on the edge of your paper.

Trace your shirt onto your paper, at the bottom allow enough for the hem (this is where you can make your shirt more perfect add more to make it longer, or take away to make it shorter). If the shirt was sherged, you won't have to add seam allowance, it's already there because you are not tracing where they sewed.

My line is not perfect, I will fix that after I remove the shirt.

Trace along the top also.

Now for the arm hole, it makes it a little more accurate if you take a pin and poke holes along the seam where the arm hole is. Then lift the shirt and draw along those holes you poked.

Ok, lift your shirt and see what you have. Here is when you can make a few adjustments like making a fitted T a little wider at the waist so it doesn't creep up. Or take that favorite shirt in a little where it's too loose. Once you finish that, label the pattern piece. I labeled mine and wrote where the fold of the shirt was "center fold" along the edge of the paper.

Cut that piece out. This is where my shirt is a bit different then a basic T. If you are doing a basic T, your pattern piece will be done. For me, it's not. My shirt had some gathering in the front so I have to adjust my pattern piece. I measured from the top of the front to where the gathering was (3 inches) and made a mark. Now I know where my gathering will be. In order for the shirt to fit normal when it is gathered, you can't just make the edge longer, you have to take the shape of the finished garment and stretch that out by making slashes in the pattern. So, between the mark I made at 3 inches and the fold edge, I made a couple slashes and extended them by a 1 to 1.5 ratio. This gives me just a slight gather.

After that I put it on top of another newspaper and re-traced it. Don't forget to label the final pattern piece.

Next, I did the same to the back, but there was no gathering so I was done once I traced it.

Last, I did the sleeves. These sleeves were a little tricky, there was gathering in them on the front and they were bigger in the front then the back, so I couldn't do them like a basic sleeve. I had to basically roll them around while drawing what I needed. (I will have another tutorial on sleeves VERY soon!)

See, not your normal sleeve.

Now, for cutting the fabric. When I work with knit, it only took me one time to learn, never lay it out on the carpet and cut there. I always go to the table where it will slide easily. The carpet tends to stick to it and it stretches all wrong. You DON'T want the knit to stretch as you are tracing and cutting.

I smoothed out my fabric and folded it...

Placed my pattern piece on the fold where the label tells me to...

Traced it, then cut it out. I did it again with the back.

Now for the sleeves, I folded the fabric, placed my pattern onto, traced and cut it out. This time not on the fold. I did that 1 time and I have 2 sleeves.

Here are my pattern pieces all folded still. The sleeves are on top of eachother. You will notice on mine, the shoulder piece is only on the back of the shirt. Looking back closely at my shirt, the front didn't go to the shoulder, it was the sleeve that went there and the "kind of" bias tape connected the sleeve and the front of the shirt. Your shirt should have the shoulder that connects at the top of the front and back.

Time to sew. Unfold the pieces and lay them right sides together. Pin them a ton! I pin knit a ton so it doesn't stretch or slip out of place when sewing. Sew in a zig zag on the edge, then go back down and sew a straight line right on the edge of the zig zag. (This seam doesn't need to be stretchy.)

When sewing knit, I start about 1/2 an inch from the edge so it doesn't get bunched inside the machine. Then, I flip it around and start where I started sewing the other way off the edge. You will understand better from the picture.

After I sewed the sides, I sewed the arms the same as the side with a zig zag and then straight line after. Last, the finishings. (Hems, bindings, etc.)

Looking at the front of the shirt, it had kind of a bias tape along the top. 

I say kind of, because with knit, it doesn't have to be cut on the bias. Anyway, I made that by cutting out an inch of fusable interfacing and ironed that onto an inch of my fabric. Then I ironed it in 1/2 and ironed the 2 sides into the middle. To sew it on, I did it just like you would bias tape...

Open it up, pin it onto the inside...

Sew along that fold mark near the top.

Unpin and fold it around to the outside. Looks nice, huh. Can't even see the stitching.

Now sew the other side down. I did this without pinning, it works better for me since it's so thin. I just go slow and fold and guide it with my fingers as I go.

Once it is all finished, the hems are done in a zig zag so they stay stretchy with the shirt, time to try it on. The best part!

Yeah! It fits. I love the fit of this shirt, it's loose enough that I can eat and my belly doesn't pop out out of the shirt. But it's not too loose that it looks frumpy. Very summery too. No off to the Clipper game on a beautiful warm night.


Happy sewing!


I am linking with: 
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it Simple - Motivate Me Monday
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Mad in Crafts
Not JUST a Housewife
All Thingz Related