Monday, November 17, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
The Shirt Project: Episode 1
The Shirt Project is my attempt to teach myself to sew with an emphasis on good fit. Inspiration - I go to a store, I try on shirts. Larges are like tents or sacks, but mediums and smalls fit in the shoulders, are perhaps only a little large in the waist, but too small in the hips and bust. DIY to the rescue? Let's find out.
My sewing background? I made this shirt in a sewing class at Gray's Fabric and Notions (incidentally, it was a fantastic class) and it is a nice shirt (Scout by Grainline Studios) and I should make some more, but it was not an intuitive experience for your humble aspiring seamstress.
Ages ago I almost finished making this shirt in a different sewing class. It was long enough ago that my body shape has changed substantially so I don't know if the fit would have been correct at the time, but trying it on now, I would prefer to have done a adjustment for the bust. (yes it needs sleeves - that's a photo of me trying on the armless shirt over a shirt and a sweatshirt, so maybe it's a little large, but somehow also too short, particularly in back - go figure).
And my most successful project so far - a zippered pouch:
Up first for the amazing Shirt Project - the Kimono T-Shirt, a free pattern by Maria of Denmark. It's a basic knit garment. Probably I should start with wovens, but oh, well. What could possibly go wrong? Maria writes that her patterns, like most commercial patterns, are drafted for a B cup, so that she does a full bust adjustment (FBA) even for a knitted dartless garment. I'm confused about whether to make a large, which on paper looks like it will fit my measurements, or to go by my high bust measurement and choose a smaller size and do an FBA, or go by my regular bust measurement and still do an FBA. I'm also a bit confused about how to do the FBA for a knitted garment and avoid introducing darts. She's done a nice tutorial, but I'm not sure I've really grasped it yet. (I almost wrote totorial right there, which would clearly be a tutorial written by and for a totoro).
My sewing background? I made this shirt in a sewing class at Gray's Fabric and Notions (incidentally, it was a fantastic class) and it is a nice shirt (Scout by Grainline Studios) and I should make some more, but it was not an intuitive experience for your humble aspiring seamstress.
Ages ago I almost finished making this shirt in a different sewing class. It was long enough ago that my body shape has changed substantially so I don't know if the fit would have been correct at the time, but trying it on now, I would prefer to have done a adjustment for the bust. (yes it needs sleeves - that's a photo of me trying on the armless shirt over a shirt and a sweatshirt, so maybe it's a little large, but somehow also too short, particularly in back - go figure).
And my most successful project so far - a zippered pouch:
Up first for the amazing Shirt Project - the Kimono T-Shirt, a free pattern by Maria of Denmark. It's a basic knit garment. Probably I should start with wovens, but oh, well. What could possibly go wrong? Maria writes that her patterns, like most commercial patterns, are drafted for a B cup, so that she does a full bust adjustment (FBA) even for a knitted dartless garment. I'm confused about whether to make a large, which on paper looks like it will fit my measurements, or to go by my high bust measurement and choose a smaller size and do an FBA, or go by my regular bust measurement and still do an FBA. I'm also a bit confused about how to do the FBA for a knitted garment and avoid introducing darts. She's done a nice tutorial, but I'm not sure I've really grasped it yet. (I almost wrote totorial right there, which would clearly be a tutorial written by and for a totoro).
But, I digress - back to shirts. How am I doing with my Kimono T-Shirt? Well, I chose to make a shirt using size large with no adjustments to see the result.
I've managed to trace the pattern and cut out the front and back of the shirt, however, not without a few mistakes. The fabric I purchased was a bit stained (on steep discount), so I was just barely able to cut out the shirt and avoid the messy bits. And I have learned that it is important to replace the blades on one's rotary cutter rather more than never. But I didn't remember to add a seam allowance. But it's a knit, right, so it should still fit? And I'll still get experience sewing knits on my machine? Let's at least pretend that's true.
Will our trusty seamstress sew a shirt? And how will it fit? Stay tuned for the next episode of...The Shirt Project.....
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