Another T-Shirt

So, hey, now that I have a TNT t-shirt pattern, I can just whip one out whenever I want, like the fast sewists do.

I got the idea for this off of one of Peggy Sagers' YouTube videos. (Peggy's videos should be designated as a national treasure. Subscribe to her channel. Seriously. Do it right now.) I'm not a huge fan of cut-ion sleeves, so I opted to make mine with set-in sleeves, but I still think it turned out really cute.

Peggy says in the video that this is "quick." It may have been quick for her, but it took me the greater part of an afternoon (four hours) to get my pattern ready. So keep that in mind.

To be honest, the top reminds me a little bit of the Frank Gorshin Star Trek character. Are you old enough - or enough of a Trekkie - to know what I'm talking about? If you are, leave a comment below. If you aren't, there's a clue at the end of the post.

Making this top required some slicing and dicing of the basic #195 pattern and, as I said above, that took me most of the afternoon and well into the evening. Because I'm spatially challenged, I carefully held each pattern piece up to my body to make sure that, when cut, each piece would be cut of the correct fabric for so that I'd end up with the proper effect. This led to notes on each piece, like, "Left back...cut one with this side up" and "Right front...cut one with this side up."

Because the sleeve pattern didn't require any modifications, I made notes on both sides: "This side up for left sleeve" and "This side up for right sleeve." I held the pattern piece up to my body on both sides to make sure I was getting it right. Way to be thorough! Go me!

Unfortunately, I still got the sleeves wrong. Fortunately, the sleeves for this pattern seem to be completely symmetrical so I just turned them around and it worked out. I'm still wondering, though, what's a spatially challenged person to do? How can I ever aspire to doing these sorts of things right the first time?

Existential questions aside, once the I had the pattern pieces ready, the t-shirt sewed up quickly. I finished the neckline, sleeves, and hem with black foldover elastic. I like it around the neck. but I'm going to cut it off the sleeves and hem and coverstitch them instead. I just feel like the elastic on sleeves and hem gives a little too much of an activewear vibe.

I did cut the body pieces a little larger than I did for the teal t-shirt. This is because both fabrics for this shirt are lycra blends; the teal tee is cotton/rayon interlock. I was wary of the lycra fabrics being too clingy, so I wanted more ease.

The only other thing I have to say about this is that the fabrics are a little mismatched. The houndstooth check print has a little more body, and the black is slightly thinner, and decidedly softer and more drapey than the print. But they joined together without any puckering and seem to be getting along rather well so...I'm happy.

Frank Gorshin as Bele, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"