FO: A Plantain For My Mom

Since I've been successfully sewing so many t-shirts this year, I thought it was high time I branch out and make something for someone else. My mom's birthday and Mother's Day fall within a week of each other most years, and this year I offered to make her a shirt for her gift. She was all for it and originally we planned to use some leftover red fabric she liked. When I went to cut it out though, the pieces we had were not big enough and they were oddly shaped, so the red shirt was put on hold. Fast forward to months later when I came across some royal blue fabric in a thrift store that is no joke the same type of fabric she wanted in red. I bought all the shop had and when I got the color approval, I was off. A blue shirt it would be! My mom liked the fit on my floral plantain, so I made hers exactly the same. We both like the result :)

This was my first time working with an ITY knit, and a rather thick one at that. The different fabric caused a few differences in the example version and the one I gave my mom. This fabric has some serious stretch and recovery, that combined with it being thicker seems to have made the fit a bit more snug. She still likes it though, so we're good :)

See where I get my modelling skills from? :)

I didn't want to give just a plain blue shirt - that felt so boring! I dug through the trims I had acquired and sent my mom a few pictures of options after the shirt itself was finished. In the end she chose this pretty ribbon flower trim that was the EXACT same color blue. Seriously, this stuff looks like it was dyed with the fabric. I'm glad she chose these because I think it really makes the shirt look store bought and deliberate. The fit is good on the front and the back. She even the likes the length (a common problem for us both).

Obligatory mannequin shots. I'm really happy with how this shirt turned out overall. The fabric is a bit clingy for my personal taste, but my mom wears shirts from this type of fabric a lot. Construction wise, everything was done the same as my previous Plantains. I stabilized the shoulders with knit stay tape, and hemmed the sleeves and bottom edge with a twin needle.

The trim is actually roses made of swirled ribbon that are stitched onto a base of netting. I didn't want the netting to show through, so I tucked it under the flowers and I hand stitched the trim on all the way around the neckline. I stitched in a sort of S shaped line to go around the edge of each flower to make sure it stayed in place well with washing. I put the flowers just over the twin needle stitching and I love how clean it makes the whole piece look. I will admit I was worried my hand stitches wouldn't last, but my mom has worn this a number of times over the past few months and I assume she's washed it sometime in there but the flowers remain. Crisis averted! lol

So there you have it - the first item of clothing I've ever sewn for someone other than myself. I love how this top turned out, and my mom wears it fairly frequently, which always gives me a little glow of pride :) Hopefully she does really like it and isn't just wearing it for my sake, lol. You never can tell with moms. She seems comfy in it though, so I'm going to take it as a gifting win. Even though I didn't give it to her until September, it still counts as a birthday present, ha ha. Thanks for being such a great mom, Mom! And Happy Birthday!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards mystery heavy polyester ponte type ITY knit - $1.00
Pattern: Plantain by Deer + Doe - Free
Notions: royal blue floral rosette trim - $2.00 for the whole roll (Hobby Lobby), thread - $0.50
Hours: 3 including hand sewing
Total Cost: $3.50