Tee Top Challenge

The Lansing Clippers, a chapter of the American Sewing Guild, had a recent program where the members were challenged to fit a pattern and make a tee top.  The pattern was the ABB (Anything But Basic) tee top from Cooper Creek Patterns.  I joined the challenge and set about the task of fitting a new knit top for myself. 

The fitting part of the challenge was relatively easy for me because I just finished an online class taught by Alexandra Morgan of In-House Patterns.  Although the class was about fitting a woven top, I still learned techniques that enabled me to fit a pattern for a knit top.  I used her information on how to make adjustments to the pattern as well as the order to use to make those adjustments.  That information was very useful to me to get the ABB tee top to fit.

Although fitting the tee top was easy, I cannot say the same about actually making the top.  I chose a red and black plaid knit that I had in my stash.  I knew it would not be easy to match the plaid where the sleeves joined the back and front of the shirt.  I decided to avoid that hassle by making the lower front and lower back from the plaid and using a black yoke for the upper front and upper back.  That way, the plaid sleeves would join the black upper front and black upper back, so no matching would be required. 

I thought my plaid matching problems were resolved.  Not so!  They were only beginning.  I decided not to cut the front and back on the fold.  It would be easier to lay the entire front and back on a single piece of fabric so I could see where to match the plaid on the front piece to the plaid on the back piece.  I spent most of one evening trying to accomplish this.  I finally realized it was never going to happen because of two things:  1.  The front pattern piece was wider than the back pattern piece and 2.  The pattern change in the plaid was too large.  I needed a Plan B!  I decided to use the plaid fabric for the sleeves, the lower front, and the neck band.  The front yoke and the entire back would be made from the black knit.   

I thought all my problems were resolved.  I cut the fabric and started sewing.  At first, I thought things were going well.  I sewed all the seams and pressed up the hem at the bottom and on the sleeves.  Then I used my cover-stitch machine to sew the hems.  If you have used the cover-stitch, you know that stitch is sewn on the right side of the fabric.  As I stitched on the right side, I noticed the fabric tended to bunch up a little under the machine’s foot.  I made sure to lift the foot and smooth the fabric after stitching a short distance.  When I finished, I took a look at the hem and it was a mess!  It had bunches of fabric everywhere.  It was the wobbliest hem I have ever seen.  It took me half a day to rip the stitches out.  For someone who doesn’t see well, there is nothing worse than ripping out black thread from black fabric.

Before I used the cover-stitch machine, I pressed a strip of iron-on interfacing to the bottom edge of the tee top.  I think the reason that did not work to stabilize the hem was I stitched on the right side of the fabric and the interfacing was not directly under that area.  After I finished ripping the hem, I added a second strip of interfacing above the fold line on the hem.  That put the interfacing directly under the right side of the fabric.   However, I chose not to use the cover-stitch machine to re-sew the hem.  Instead, I serged the edge of the fabric and then sewed a regular machine hem from the wrong side.  A picture of the garment is shown below.

 

I made a second knit top from the same pattern.  I used a white sweater-knit fabric from my stash.  I ironed interfacing to the bottom of the garment one inch below the fold line for the hem and one inch above.  That stabilized the hem and I had no problems when I sewed it using the cover-stitch.  The all-white garment is a little plain, so I added a green and black scarf in the picture below.

 

I hope you are making progress with your sewing projects.  Don’t let stumbling blocks keep you from finishing them.  You can usually find a way around or over anything that gets in your way!

Judy