Green washable wool jersey tee! And a couple of others

Just a quick post this week on a couple of finished t-shirts! 

This project ended up being a little more involved at the start because I wanted to tweak the fit of my sleeve. Plus i needed to draft a new long sleeve. It is amazing to me that I am still trying to rebuild my wardrobe after losing all that weight last winter. 

Here are 3 shirts and I decided to try out a new neckline. I love my got to scoop but thought I could use some variety. SO I picked up my design ruler and drafted this nice soft V neck. Loving it!!

This t-shirt has gone through a ton of iterations over the last year. From making it almost 6 inches smaller in circumference, to tweaking the bust dart placement, the slope of the shoulders and now the sleeves, oh and the length as well. SO many tweaks and now I finally feel like I have it in the perfect place!!

I wanted it in the perfect place before i used my seriously expensive washable wool green jersey knit! I love this knit and i love wearing wool knit. It just keeps you so comfy and just seems to regulate the temp perfectly, never seem to get too hot or too cold. When you have a body like mine that doesn’t always work the best at regulating its own temps, it is so nice to wear.

So back to the t-shirts. With the all the body parts of the tee perfected the last thing i had to work on was the sleeves. To be perfectly honest I could have kept them as is and no one would have noticed. But i wanted to make it better, so I did. 

The printed short sleeve tee was to test the sleeve changes. This cotton jersey knit is from my stash and I don’t really recall where or when I purchased it. However, I know it is at least 5 years old and possibly quite older. (Dating method from my moves!)

The black cotton/poly jersey knit made up the second tester to check out the draft of the long sleeve. Success! This fabric washes and sews wonderfully and i purchased it within the last year or two for some ridiculously inexpensive price from The Textile Discount Outlet Warehouse in Chicago,I think it was like $3.99 a yard. 

The final version, and the one I have been working towards finally making is this wonderful green washable wool jersey knit that i bought several years ago from Fabrications in Richland, MI. I am so glad that I had not made up this tee before I lost all that weight. I would hav been so mad!!

I really like this neckline and the band finish that I did for it. I tried a couple methods for finishing the V and this one, while not the easiest, is definitely the smoothest and best looking in my book! 

I should have taken in progress pictures to better explain. Basically, I use a small piece of fusible stabilizer/interfacing at the ‘V’. Stay stitch at a 1.6 mm length for about 3/8 of an inch on either side of the V and pivoting exactly at the V. Then I clip to the point. (The clipping part is always a little scary)

For the band itself I cut a crosswise strip 1 3/8 inch to 1 3/4 inch wide, depending on how wide I want the finished band to be, press this wrong sides together. I then take this band and place it against the right side of my neckline and serge it on. While serging,  I every so slightly stretch the band so that it has a snug fit, Making sure to fold the opposite side of the neckline away from the serger knife and needles. When I get back to the V i very carefully stop serging just prior to the start part. I then lay the end of the band under the start of the band and finish it up on the sewing machine. I press the seam towards the body of the tee and then top stitch with a narrow zig zag or use the cover stitch to go around the neckline.

Comes out great everytime! If anyone wants more info let me know and I can make a sample and pics!!

I used some fun labels on these tops. For the print and the black tee I it the labels on the hemline. The Green tee has one on the neckline- Finished just in time! Just in time for me to wear it of course!!

This week I am also working on my muslin of my new princess line jacket. I started with the base pattern from Susan Khalje- The French Jacket. I will use it as my new French jacket pattern. In the mean time I am planning to use this lovely blue wool and fun lining, buttons and somehow this giant trim. This is muslin number 2 and the blue wool will hopefully be my wearable mockup! 

Happy Sewing!!

PS- enjoy this funny shot of little dog trying to get my attention while I was reading!