Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tammy and the Growing T-Shirt


What with the new job and the heat, I haven’t felt much like sewing this week. Still, I was able to put this t-shirt together. The pattern is Simplicity 3571, view A. I shortened the sleeve and also lowered the center front neckline about an inch and a half.



The fabric is a matte jersey from FabricMart.com. Being only $3/yd., I wasn’t expecting much but neither the serger nor the coverstitch wanted anything to do with it. To deal with the skipped and loose stitches, I changed out needle types and sizes, trying out everything in the drawer. Absolutely no improvement in stitch quality came of my attempts, even with tension adjustments thrown in. I finally just sewed the thing up and didn’t look back.


Once completed, I took it to the laundry room for a visit with the steamer. Before my eyes, as soon as the steam met the fabric, the shirt began to grow! I’d never seen that happen before. Have you? The bottom of the armhole is now well on its way to the waist. I’m going to leave it on the dress form for a few days just to see what happens. Maybe it’s gonna turn into a dress…


In other news, I finally bought myself a cutting mat - the big one that they have at JoAnn’s. I used a half-off coupon so it was really quite reasonable. I knew from measuring my little fold-out cutting table that the mat was going to be too long but that didn’t stop me from getting it anyway. I used it, full-length hanging over the edges of the table, to cut out this t-shirt. It didn’t work very well and half-way through I took the scissors to the mat. I know, I was shocked too at my treatment of the brand new mat, though it was the right thing to do. It is now the perfect length and might just fit between the filing cabinet and the wall when I’m not using it.

Yeah, it has been an odd week…

4 comments:

  1. I'm glad to know I am not the only one who sometimes has insoluble problems with knits! It's a fun tshirt anyway. I would love a huge cutting mat! You didn't vandalise it, you customized it!

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  2. Agreeing with Karin here!

    A mat that falls off the edge won't sit flat on the table.
    The bits you cut off will be perfect for cutting strips of little stuff that you don't need a full mat for.
    It's also hand to have a scrap bit of matting for all those scrap-booking jobs where you cut endless straight edges that would otherwise eat into your dressmaking mat.
    I love the knits you have been making (the blue is divine!) and am trying to understand knit "personalities" as well.
    An expanding knit?
    Doesn't sound like a good idea for a dress either, but if you cut it down it'll still be a lovely top.
    The line of teal flowers down the center is gorgeous.

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  3. some knits can be so difficult to work with - they have a mind of their own and do their own thing - it can be very frustrating! The print is lovely!

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  4. I've never had a knit GROW before, that's a new one! I wonder what's up with it... it sure does look cute on the dressform.

    I think having a little strip for cutting out small bits is brilliant, personally. nice.

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