FO: Blue Spotted Lark Tee

Sometimes you need to jump start your sew-jo by just grabbing a project and making it up! I've been in a bit of a sewing funk lately - part of it is due to the state of my sewing room, but part is just that I haven't really known what to do with myself. I find myself crippled by the thought of making muslins, and all the new patterns I want to make up would definitely need some fitting work. I just want to sew! Not fit! I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but it makes it hard to want to start any new projects. In a slight compromise, I decided to sew up a t-shirt with a new pattern I've wanted to try. Knits are so much easier to fit on the fly, so I grabbed my Lark Tee pattern and got to work.

So this is the Lark Tee by Grainling Studio. I grabbed the pattern in a Craftsy clearance sale thinking it would be nice to have all the different neckline options on a nice basic t-shirt like this. I was most tempted by the boat neck since that's one of my favorite necklines in ready to wear shirts but I still had yet to make one. So this is the boat neck with 3/4 sleeves. Going by their size chart, I sewed up a size 16 everywhere except I graded to an 18 at the waist. I did add in a hollow chest adjustment as I traced the pattern, so there is a 1.5" wedge removed from the center front in my version as well. The fit is ok, but I will probably size down in the future - the shoulders are a bit wide, and the neckline gets very bra-showy after an hour or so of wear.

Something interesting about this pattern - it's quite long! Usually I have to lengthen t-shirt patterns because I have a long torso, but this one actually seems a bit too long in the photos (but it's so comfy to wear in this length!) so I may need to go shorter next time. This is pretty crazy since I took a 1.5" hem and cut off the excess already. I also found the sleeves quite long and did a 1" deep hem there, cutting off about 3/4" excess. So this is just made for a larger build than me I guess.

I'm getting a lot of pooling at my lower back on this pattern - I'm not sure if I just usually don't pay attention to it or if this pattern has it more so than others. I certainly don't want to add a center back seam, but there must be another way to correct this. We'll see.

I guess I should mention my fabric, lol. I used this pin dot royal blue rib knit. I usually shy away from rib knit, but this was a great thrift store buy that's been in my stash for ages. It's a cute pattern, and it's a medium weight knit like an interlock, but it's very nice and soft. I had 3 yards in my stash, so I figured it would be worth a try to use it on this shirt. Now I think my "stretching out" issue might be because of the rib knit. 

Also, characteristically of rib knit, hemming with a twin needle stretched out the sleeve hems. This happens to me every time with rib knit! It's so frustrating! I use a walking foot and everything, but it doesn't seem to help. It's not awful on this one, but it does flare at the sleeves a bit. I can live with it on this muslin, and I'll still wear it, but it's something to consider for the future.

So ... I made something! It may not be perfect, but it is certainly wearable :) In fact I wore this out for dinner on my birthday. If I make another Lark Tee, I will definitely size down and make it shorter. I also would like the neckline a bit higher, so I will probably use Heather B's Slash Neck Hack she posted a while back.

Anyone else out there like the Lark Tee pattern?

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards blue cotton rib knit with tiny white dots - $0.50 (thrifted)
Pattern: Lark Tee by Grainline Studio - $6.40
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.05, blue thread - $0.50, white woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $7.70