Ginger Made: Scout Tee

Hi, guys!  Happy 4th of July, Americans (and a belated Happy Canada Day to my neighbors up north)!  You may notice that I’m posting on the LAST POSSIBLE DAY for the Summer Spark Sew-along (unsurprising).  I made it (but just barely)!

You may remember that my grand plan was to sort out the Iris Shorts pattern for this sewalong, buuuuuut… I’m telling ya, they licked me!  I just don’t have the chops to figure out why they don’t fit.  I even had a private lesson at the Sewing Studio, after which I transferred all the changes to my pattern, cut a new muslin, and they looked worse than before!  I was so frustrated that I couldn’t even stand to look at them!  So.  I decided to try out a different kind of summer staple and made Grainline’s Scout Tee.

I used a lightweight cotton from Paron’s that I really like.  It’s a sort of irregular, geometric print, but it’s fairly subtle and interesting.  It makes for a breezy, cool tee, which is awesome.  The style, however, is probably not the best for me.  I really like that it’s an easygoing, casual fit,  but it doesn’t really do any favors for my kinda rectangular shape.  My poor choice, not the pattern’s fault. The combination of the boxy shape and a fairly crisp fabric makes it stick out a bit.  Not my favorite, but not awful.

I thought this pattern was drafted nicely and the sleeves went in easily, which is a huge bonus!  The neck binding is nice and neat (a first for me!), but it sticks out a bit (every time I bind a neckline, it always sticks out!  What gives?!?!).  Overall, it was super quick and easy to put together– yay!

Even though I don’t think this top is super flattering on me, I’m sure I’ll wear it a lot.  It’s hot and sticky today, and the loose fit is really comfortable for this kind of weather.  I may try this one again in cotton jersey and size it down one step, or maybe I’ll try it with a drapier fabric, perhaps a silk.

This was the BEST photo of the back view… eek! Maybe I just made it a size too big?

Big thanks to Ali, Alessa, and Sarah for hosting the sewalong!  I really liked the idea– one month to make one pattern that will be a nice summer basic!  Did anyone else participate in this one?

Ginger Made: Tiny Pocket Tank v3

GUYS. I love this pattern. Have we discussed this?  OK, we have, like, maybe 100 times, but I’m sayin’… dudes, you gotta make this thing!  It’s basically my favorite ever.

This is a cotton lawn from Lisette’s collection for Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I bought it a little over a year ago with a dress in mind, but I’m glad that I used it as a top.  Next time I make one of these, I’m going to skip the binding piece included with the pattern and just make my own double-fold bias tape.  I’m too clumsy to cleanly attach the binding following Jen’s directions (not that I’m very good at attaching regular bias tape, either…).

If it looks like my Tiny Pocket Tank is missing a tiny pocket this time, it isn’t!  I just matched the pattern very, verrrrrrrry carefully!  Yay!

What are you guys up to these days?  Working on anything fun?  I’m just about done with the muslin for my Hazel dress, and hopefully will get one more project finished before the end of the month.  We decided on a whim to move, so it’s been super hectic around here lately with packing and all that stuff.  Hopefully that will go quickly and smoothly so I can get back to sewing!

Ginger Made: Tiny Pocket Tank + Me-Made-May ’12: Day 8!

Another puggy cameo today!  Man Friend’s laundry is still in the same spot.

sweater: J. Crew

top: Grainline’s Tiny Pocket Tank, previously unblogged

jeans: Uniqlo

necklace: Rare Bird on Etsy

This was my first Tiny Pocket Tank (my second was the top in my Pink Nightmare Pajama set).  It’s a lovely pattern, but… I dove headfirst into sewing this, thinking, “eh, it’s a swingy top, no need to muslin!”.  Famous last words!  The shoulders were way too big, which I decided to fix with a box pleat in the back, but that wasn’t a very elegant solution.  And even worse, the armscyes are too tight and ride up in my armpits all. day. long.  I need to take off the armhole binding and lower it, but the fabric is pretty sheer and delicate and doesn’t take to seam ripping too well. I did a pretty awful job with the bias binding, too… hopefully it’s not too noticeable.

The fabric was labeled Liberty lawn (totally untrue– unless Liberty is now practically transparent and $8/yard).  It’s underlined with yellow cotton batiste that I had in my stash.  I was worried that the tank looked too much like PJ’s, but Gail suggested that I wear chunkier accessories with it, and I think that helps.

Despite the issues that I have with this, it’s really a nice pattern and I’m glad that I was able to work out my fitting issues before I made the second version.  I’m hoping I can fix this one enough to wear it comfortably because I really do like it.  Make one (or four)!