Cowlneck T-shirt

Today I finished sewing a cowlneck t-shirt in navy blue stretchy knit fabric.  I used Vogue pattern V8634.  I originally cut out the pattern in S size, but thanks to my previous experience with the grey tank top I realized by comparing the pattern pieces that I needed to size down to XS.  I reduced all of the pattern piece sizes to XS, with the exception of the hip measurement, which I kept at S, since my hip measurement is 34 and 1/2 inches.  Once you have a pattern in your size (which you have adjusted as necessary, I would recommend that you always compare new patterns to this trusty pattern-- I saved a lot of time doing this!)

The flash makes this look very bright, but it is a dull navy blue color.

A close-up of the cowlneck.  You can see some of the topstitching.

The project took much less time thanks to some time-saving devices.  I invested in a rotary cutter (OLFA 45mm) and it reduced my prep time by at least half!  Be sure to get the mat if you want to use a rotary cutter.  It's pricey but in my opinion 100% worth it.  The rotary cutter was even more versatile than I thought it would be-- I was able to cut free form (without a guiding straight-edge), and it handled curves without any problems.

I also highly recommend pressing with a tailor's ham and sleeve roll.  These simple rounded objects really helped me achieve a cleaner look and allowed me to get into the hard-to-reach areas (such as seams under the arm and curved seams).

I used the same settings on my sewing machine and serger as I did for my previous stretchy knit fabric project (the grey tank top and shorts set) and didn't have any problems.

3/4 angle view.

The neckline dips quite low so I would recommend a camisole underneath.

One thing that wasn't obvious from the pattern package was that the design results in a low neckline.  I felt uncomfortable so I put on a camisole underneath.  I am considering getting some lace from the store and sewing in a permanent layer for modesty.

Simple, clean lines give this shirt a more dressy look.

I can see myself pairing this shirt with a skirt, or maybe some white pants/jeans.

Tank top and shorts finished

It has been awhile since I last updated, hasn't it?  I've been busy with some translations in the last couple of weeks and haven't had as much time for sewing.  However, I was still able to fit in a few hours to finish the tank top and shorts set that I've been working on!  I used Simplicity pattern 2317 (for people who have similar measurements to me and are interested in making the same garments, I should mention that I had to make a lot of adjustments to the base pattern to make it fit right).

The finished tank top and shorts set. 

A close-up of the shorts.

I used an overlock machine/serger to finish the hem on the shorts. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband got me an overlock machine/serger for my birthday.  I am now the proud owner of a Brother 1034D.  It was very easy to learn how to use it, and the machine comes with a useful manual and some how-to videos that you can watch on your computer.  The narration for the videos has a forced "cheery" feel to it, which I found unpleasant, but overall the videos were worth watching, as they explain various techniques, including blind hem, rolled edge, gathering, and making spaghetti straps, etc.

Before I had my nifty serger, I had to zigzag any edges that would be exposed in the finished garment before sewing the seams.  The serger sews the seam (the 4-thread setting even sews a reinforcing line), snips off extra fabric, and finishes the seam beautifully all in one pass-through, and at an impressive speed-- noticeably faster than the sewing machine.

Of course, the sewing machine is still essential, but I definitely found that the Brother 1034D cut down on my garment construction time.


Making the shorts was a good learning experience.  I tried hemming with the serger for the first time.  You can see the shorts here:

An "action shot" of the shorts.

With flash.

Sewing machine settings were the same as the ones I used for the tank top: I stuck with the 90/14 HG-4BR (Organ) ball point needle, and for all straight-line sewing I used the stretch stitch (#02) with the standard presser foot, changing the stitch length to the maximum.

Serger settings: standard 4-thread overlock on exposed seams (except the hem).  All thread tensions were set to 4, and the differential feed was set to 1.5 to accommodate the stretchy knit fabric.  The stitch length and width were set to the default.  I didn't have extra ball point needles, but it probably would have been a good idea to replace both needles with ball point needles.

For the hem, I used the blind hem presser foot.  The blind hem is a 3-thread stitch, so I removed the right needle.  I also adjusted the tension dials to 3-0-6-3.  (The left needle tension is lowered, the upper looper tension is raised, and the lower looper tension is lowered.)  At first I followed the recommendations in the manual for the left needle tension (in between 0 and 2), but it wasn't working very well for me.  I found that raising the needle tension to 3 really helped resolve the problems I was having.  I left the differential feed, stitch length, and stitch width settings the way they were.  The higher needle tension resulted in there being a line visible on the outside (the "right" side) of the garment, but I actually liked the way this looked and decided to stick with it.

Finally, I wasn't fully satisfied with the way the tank top was fitting, so I made some more alterations.  The straps were way too loose.  (This was also contributing to the armholes appearing too large.)  I used my seam ripper to open up the seams where I had sewed the back to the front, and cut off 1.25 inches off of each of the 4 ends.  (2.5 inches on each side total!)  After making this adjustment the tank top finally fit right.

This is the whole outfit.

The back of the outfit.

Side view.

After a lot of alterations, I was finally satisfied with the tank top.  I made sure to transfer all of the changes I had made to the original pattern pieces so the next time I make something with those pattern pieces they will be correct.  The shorts pattern pieces didn't need any changes.

Gray scarf and gray tank top

Sorry for the long hiatus.  I went to Costa Rica with my husband for the first half of February (our honeymoon) and am just getting back into the swing of things now.


I wasn't completely negligent on our vacation though-- I finished the scarf I was knitting on our return flight.  *(^_^)*
Here is what it looks like:

You can't tell from the picture, but it a respectable length: 78 inches.

The width is 5 3/4 inches.

It was my first knitted project, so I stuck to one color and just focused on creating texture with knit and purl.

I made it with Loops and Threads True Gray (100% acrylic) and knitting needles size 8 (5mm)

Steps:

26 cast on.

3 rows of stockinette stitch (just for a little border like section at the ends-- it rolls a little).

Alternate sections of garter stitch (10 "stripes") and moss stitch (9 "stripes"):

For the garter stitch I knitted until I counted 15 of the bumpy s shaped lines. (Each of these bumpy lines was actually made up of two knitted rows, one on the right side, and one on the wrong side.)

For the moss stitch I did:

1st row: knit all in the row

2nd row: purl, knit, *repeat until end of row

3rd row: knit all in the row

4th row: knit, purl, *repeat until end of row

Repeat 1 through 4 seven times until you have 28 rows.

End with 3 rows of stockinette stitch and bind off.

With a little simple arithmetic, I calculated that there are are a total of 14,560 individual "stitches"!

I am proud of myself for sticking to the project and completing it.

I have also completed my first article of "everyday" clothing-- the racerback tank top from Simplicity 2317! I was close to finishing before we left for Costa Rica, but when I tried it on the armholes were too big and I had to snip off some more fabric, so I didn't actually finish it until today. Next time I make something I'll baste it and try it on before I proceed to the final sewing (it would have saved me a lot of time and prevented the frustration of seam ripping and pulling out tiny little pieces of thread).

It's not much to brag about, but I can wear it.

I just finished sewing this tank top.

This is the back.

I used the following settings on my Brother CS-6000i:
90/14 HG-4BR (Organ) ball point needle

For single layer unfinished edges, I used the standard overcast stitch (#06) with the overcast presser foot.
For all straight-line sewing, I used the stretch stitch (#02) with the standard presser foot, changing the stitch length to the maximum.
For the neckline, armholes, and bottom hem, I sewed a straight-line "guideline"stitch (distance from the edge = twice the seam allowance), pressed the cloth to the correct seam allowance, and then finished with the stretch overcast stitch (#08)-- standard presser foot.

For my birthday my husband got me a serger!  I am super super excited about this new piece of equipment.  I spent some time today playing with it (learning how to thread it and adjust it for stretchy knit fabrics) and from just a few hours I can tell it is going to cut down on construction time significantly.

Sewing machine fun and preparing to sew knits

Wednesday my sewing machine arrived!  I made sure to read the manual thoroughly before operating it, and am happy to say that it sews perfectly!

The first thing I did was fix a travel waist pouch that I had inadvertently screwed up (by cutting the strap too short).  When I bought the travel waist pouch, I assumed that it was meant to go around my waist, hence the name "travel waist pouch".  The strap seemed ridiculously long so I cut it short.  However, my husband soon pointed out that wearing it around my hips would be more advantageous, as the pouch would be better concealed and more comfortable.  Lo and behold, when I tried to affix it about my hips instead I discovered that I had cut the strap too short!  Luckily this was easily fixed by sewing the cut strap back on.

The exercise allowed me to make sure that I knew how to wind the bobbin, insert the bobbin, and thread the machine.  I also tested the regular straight stitch and the zigzag stitch in both forward and reverse.

I then proceeded to start on my first project, the tank top + shorts PJ set (knits).

I ironed the pattern pieces to get the creases out of them, using a clean cotton cheesecloth as a press cloth:

This is my little "press" station.

Then I pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric, taking care to do the corners of each pattern piece first.  I cut each piece out after I pinned all the pieces to the fabric.  I was SO glad that I purchased more than the yardage on the back of the pattern envelope, since the fabric definitely shrunk in the wash, and I had just about the right amount-- if I had purchased any less fabric I would have had to go to the store to buy more fabric.  (This experience proved to me the importance of following the advice in all the sewing books: you should prep the fabric before you cut it!  Otherwise you could invest a lot of time and energy into making a garment only to find that it shrinks to an unusable size after the first wash.)

A view of the pieces after pinning.  I saved the scraps for testing.

 After cutting the pieces out I transferred the markings on the pattern to the fabric using "tailor tacks".  Instead of cutting out the notches (used to match up edges later), I "marked" them by sewing a single stitch of contrasting color thread and leaving the tails out for easy removal later.  If you have more than one layer of fabric, take care not to sew them together by accident.

You can see a close-up of my "tailor tacks" here.  

Now my fabric is ready to go.  However, I'm a cautious person, so I am going to make sure I know exactly what stitch settings to use before I jump into sewing the actual garment.

Currently I am experimenting with the scraps of fabric left over from cutting the pieces out.

I changed the machine needle to a 90/14 HG-4BR (Organ) ball point needle (good for stretchy fabrics), keeping the presser foot as the standard zigzag presser foot.

So far I have found a good straight stitch to use with the super stretchy knit fabric-- stitch 02 on the Brother CS6000i, with the stitch length adjusted to 4, but I haven't had too much luck with overcasting, even with the overcasting stitch designated for stretch fabrics.  It just doesn't look clean.  More experimentation is in order...