The Perfect T-Shirt - Almost!

The thought occurred yesterday that sewing success goes in waves. We're doing well and then we're not and then we're doing well again. Perhaps learning and forgetting and re-learning is also wave action. Some of the conclusions I came to along this t-shirt perfecting journey were oh, I remember now kind of conclusions made before while developing my moulage and then forgotten while erroneously believing I had a handle on things and all was well. All was not well. Apparently, I needed to be reminded. Perhaps this time I should write a list.

To recap, I used a simple t-shirt pattern - the shortened lining of Vogue 1314 - and the same stable knit muslin material and worked step-by-step to confirm alterations and results by sewing many, many muslins. It's a rather tedious process that gets discouraging at times but was worth the work. It resulted in the perfect t-shirt - almost!

After all those black muslins, I enjoyed working with real fabric for a change. This blue knit is one of the remnants picked up during my brief career at Fabricland. It's a lightweight cotton lycra blend. The quality isn't the greatest and there was a flaw to work around but the color and design are gorgeous - IMO anyway.  It sewed and pressed beautifully and has great retention. It's just that the back is white and the puncture marks show. Oh well!

The cap of the sleeve meets the shoulder seam at a point ever so slightly outward from my shoulder point. The line of the armscye moves directly forward in a straight line before curving under the armhole. The curve does not look sucked into the underarm. The bicep has enough room and the sleeve width and height do not appear strained.

It's in the back where things are better but not perfect. The center back seam provides more shaping as does the sway back adjustment. There appears to be slightly too much center back length and I don't like...

 ... the look of back fat which I can do nothing about or the look of this wrinkle just under the armhole which I can do something about. It seemed that the problem was one adjustment because it runs from the body of the garment into the sleeve. To find the answer, I read through Fast Fit by Sandra Betzina until I came to an alteration that affected those two areas - the narrow back adjustment.

To make the adjustment, an equal amount of width and length are taken out of the back and across the back of the sleeve cap. This was the ah ha reminder. Quite often, I need to take in the center back seam on a garment and before when I was working on the Vogue fitting shell, I remember pinning a tuck across the upper back. I'd forgotten.

Sandra makes the adjustment by pinning a horizontal tuck into the shoulder and a vertical tuck into the back armhole and then says to ease the back shoulder to the front when stitching together. Easing the back shoulder in essence creates a dart curving toward the shoulder blades however, I didn't like the idea of making an alteration that affected shoulder length because too short of a shoulder length is not flattering. The way that Connie Crawford makes the adjustment hinges the back shoulder leaving the shoulder length intact. Both make the vertical tuck parallel to center back. Because my pattern has a center back seam, I incorporated the tuck into the seam.

Connie notes that princess lines are especially nice for women who need this adjustment. And they're also nice for women with curves and who are pear shaped and... and... and... apparently they are the perfect seams for me. Princess Myrna.

This black version is the t-shirt sewn with the 96% cotton 4% lycra that I bought at Fabricland yesterday. My husband says the back is attractive and shapely. My eyes go straight to the bumps. Perhaps if I post this picture in my studio it'll be motivating. I've put on a few pounds recently and not that losing them would make those bumps disappear completely but it could move in a positive direction OTHERWISE, the sleeve is improved at the back... somewhat...

If I'd had more of the blue fabric, it would have been a better comparison. After the adjustment, there isn't a big tuck into the armhole. The dimple that is there appears to be for wearing ease. Supposedly we need to move! That said, I will experiment with adding some width to the back sleeve to see if it'll hang slightly better. First, I'll walk the armscye seam and and see if it matches well or if another 3/8" would create a better line. Either way, both of these t-shirts are wearable.

The black knit is a heavier weight than the blue although it has more and both crosswise and lengthwise stretch. It would have been better sewn with a smaller seam allowance for more ease. That's opposite to what I would have thought using a fabric with more stretch and another point in favour of Peggy's method of wrapping the fabric around you to determine sizing. Thickness and stretch both matter.

And now, I am VERY tired of t-shirts and in particular of black t-shirts and it's time to work on something different except... I need some t-shirts. Perhaps I'll sew one a week on Tuesdays and call it T-shirt Tuesday - LOL. We'll see. That's not really my style but it would get the job done. First, I'm going to make good copies of the pattern pieces and write some notes to tuck into the pattern envelope PLUS... now that I've done all the work with the lining... I could sew the Vogue 1314 dress. I thought it would be perfect for the Christmas party only Howard said last night that there's no dancing - just gambling. YUCK.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - two weeks ago my knitting group phoned to ask where are you and last night when I finally showed up after a few months hiatus, there was a chorus of hello and we missed you. That was very nice. Even though I knit but am not a knitter, knit night is good for me. It gets me out of the house and simple knitting is good and enough.