FO: Disney's Best Princesses Top

It's that time of year again - where I feel compelled to sew a new shirt for my Disney going adventures :) I never really intended this to be a tradition of mine, but each year I go to The Sewing Studio sale and they have a new, cute Disney jersey fabric that just screams to be made into my favorite pattern - the Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns. This year's knit was perfect for me because it only has my favorite princesses on it (none of this Frozen-on-everything stuff for me). Sleeping Beauty was my favorite classic Disney princess, and of course as a kid I loved Belle on principle of being about 6 when that movie came out, and Tangled has quickly become one of my favorites to watch as an adult (as evidenced by my Halloween costume 2 years ago). What could be more perfect then to combine just these three on a great quality jersey fabric? So I bought a chunk in July with the intention of making this exact top, and once the sweltering heat of summer had a prayer of dying back a bit along with the horrific crowds of vacationers at the parks in June and July, I made plans to go to Epcot for the Food and Wind Festival with a friend at the end of September - which meant a deadline to get this made - so I cut out the fabric just after Hurricane Dorian passed us by.

I've made this pattern 6 times now, 5 of which are Novelty prints, 3 of which are Disney prints. What can I say? I freaking love this pattern. Before anyone asks - sadly this pattern is still not available to buy. It's so sad! And I'm so extremely glad I bought the pattern bundle that included it back in 2014. I'm not sure what ever happened to Seamster Patterns, but she dropped off the internet just after this pattern bundle came out and she never released this on its own. Ugh, so sad. But the design will definitely live on with me for years to come. Every time I wear one of these tops, I get compliments on it. It's just such a cute and different design, and when you add a fun fabric it really demands attention. Even my first version, which is made in a solid fabric with a printed collar, gets compliments. One of these days I should try it out in all solid fabrics. Ooh... this needs to happen. Anyway, I adore the pattern and always will.

The fabric is the same brand of jersey I've used for my other 2 Disney tops, and it's a lovely quality. The fabric is thick enough to smooth over lumps and bumps but thin enough to not make you want to die in the Florida heat and humidity. It seems Springs Creative has the licensing on Disney prints, which I'm not complaining about since I like the quality of their base fabric. It's soft but not overly pilling, unlike some other big brands I've worked with (Art Gallery, I'm looking at you), so it holds up to a lot of wear and still looks nice. If you have the chance to buy some of their knit fabric, I definitely can recommend it. My other 2 tops have been on many sweaty, long day Disney trips and they still look nice years later. Can't argue with that.

I did try to take care to avoid any boob medallions when cutting out this fabric, and I'm happy to say I succeeded. I also cut out identical sleeves that have one of the medallions in mid-bicep just because I actually bought enough fabric so I could afford to do some fussy cutting instead of my usual squeeze-those-pieces-in-there approach. It definitely adds to the quality feel of the garment. The white fabric was a piece I bought in a Joann's remnant sale YEARS ago. It was only a 1/3 yard cut of white cotton/spandex, but I knew it could come in handy for trims and whatnot eventually, plus I probably paid less that $1 for the piece. So I'm glad I had it on hand for this project.

At least all my iterations of this pattern mean I've had a lot of practice at getting that point between the collar pieces really nice :) I adore this collar, folks. 

So that's my Disney shirt for 2019 :) I've already worn this to Epcot last month and then to Animal Kingdom just last Friday, and I can attest that this is another comfy winner of a shirt that gets lots of compliments around the park (particularly by the employees, who always say they've never seen this shirt before, which is cool). I'll be going once more this year and wearing this shirt yet again - maybe I'll actually get a photo in the park with the shirt, lol. The other times I've been too busy having fun. Yay for fun and comfy clothes!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.25 yards Disney Princess Friends cotton jersey - $10.35, 1/4 yard white cotton jersey remnant - $1.00
Pattern: Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns
Notions: fusible knit interfacing - 0.50, thread - $1.00
Time: 5 hours
Total Cost: $ 12.85

FO: This Year's Disney-Going Sorrel Top

It seems that I have started a bit of a tradition for myself. For the past few years, I have earned Disney tickets by singing at the hotels each Christmas, and while I would not be one to wear Disney items outside of the parks, I certainly would when I visit them. I found two cute jersey prints at The Sewing Studio and bought them on a whim. Back in 2016 I used one cut for my Seven Dwarfs Sorrel Top (which I wore each time I visited Disney in 2017), so it only follows that the other cut would be used for this year's edition of my Disney-Going-Shirt, right? I toyed around with what pattern to use - I contemplated switching it up,  but nothing ever felt right - but if there is ever a place that an adorable collar looks great with a novelty print, it's at Disney. Why re-invent the wheel? So I pulled out my pattern and made my 6th Sorrel Top, lol.

The collar is always my favorite feature of this pattern. The Sorrel Top is from Seamster Patterns, but it was only available in a pattern bundle a few years ago and has yet to be released - it's such a shame too because I adore this pattern. The asymmetrical collar is my favorite, though I have made the symmetrical option as well. I love the chance to use coordinating fabrics and that the collar is color blocked into the shirt, so you don't have to futz with it throughout the day. I've had enough practice now that I can get the point just the right size, which is nice. 

My second favorite feature of the pattern is the curved sleeve cuff. It's hard to tell here, but it curves up along the bicep to echo the collar. So cute! My cuffs and collar fabric is actually a ponte di roma that I got as a remnant piece at The Sewing Studio this year for just this project - it was surprisingly difficult to find the right shade of blue to go with this print. I would've preferred a cotton as I thought the ponte might be too thick, but color won out plus this was nice and inexpensive being a remnant :) It was the best option I could find so I went with it, and having worn it all day I can vouch that it was just as comfy as the cotton. The Disney fabric is by Spring Creations and it is a cotton spandex jersey. I actually really love the fabric base they use - it's so soft and comfy and has great recovery. I'm not sure of the fabric name or if The Sewing Studio has any more, but you could probably find it online. The print has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy all over it. 

And the back view - you can see the cuffs curve up here, and I was very appreciative of the non directional print, lol. I cut this out of a 30" long piece of this fabric. Yeah. It was a challenge, but I'm glad I squeezed it in.

So that's my top :) There's really not much more I can say about this pattern at this point, having made and blogged 6 of them, lol. I blog this more for my own documentation at this point. Plus how else would I be able to share my Disney photos?! ha ha ha gotta love a captive audience.

We went to the Magic Kingdom last week and much fun was had. I wore my new shirt with my black McCalls 7475 skirt and was nice and comfy. It was actually quite cold that day, so I had to bring a jacket (so weird).

I worked out our fast passes pretty well, I must say. Insider top: get your first 3 Fast Passes on the app before you go and make them all for earlier in the day. Once you use the first 3, you can get 1 more at a time as the day goes on, so we pretty much hopped from pass to pass and avoided the sizable lines. Anyway, one of our earlier rides was Buzz Lightyear, and I only show these pics for documentation purposes because this is essentially a moving video game and I actually beat my husband, lol. This has never happened before and probably never will again, so I needed photo proof. Look at my fave in that middle shot - that is the face of intent, lol.

We also had to make sure Justin got to do one of his favorite classic games and we both had fun in the old fashioned shooting gallery.

I also grew up in a house where you always took pictures on the carousel horses, so we gave that a shot.

We got one decent picture and the rest were us being ridiculous.

I had to investigate the new(ish) Rapunzel area - which turned out to be a fancy bathroom and resting spot. This mural is inside the ladies bathroom :)

And they were taking really cute pictures of guests holding a lantern with the lanterns in the background. I had to give it a try. Pardon the Disney watermark as I still haven't decided if I'm buying the photo yet, lol (for real though it's $16.95 to download 1 photo and I don't know if I can stomach it).

And of course we hit the Haunted Mansion (our combined favorite) and Dumbo. And we had to get a pic with the castle at night. Another tip: get in the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train line about 30 minutes before the fireworks start. You may miss the fireworks, but they line went from being 175 minutes most of the day (absolute insanity to wait that long, folks) to us only being in line for 35 minutes - I kid you not - and we wound up being on the ride while the fireworks were going off, which was pretty amazing. We probably couldn't swing that again if we tried, but it made for a really neat experience. 

All in all we had great weather, and while it was crowded we were still able to ride everything we wanted thanks to Fast Passes and luck. I felt comfy and cute in my shirt all day and got a fair few compliments too. I'm not exactly a huge theme park person, but we had a lot of fun. Yay for new shirts and yay for Disney trips!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard Disney printed cotton jersey - $7.75, 1/4 yard blue ponte di roma - $0.50
Pattern: Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns
Notions: blue thread - $1.00, woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 4 hours
Total Cost: $ 9.50

FO: Seven Dwarfs Sorrel

This is a project I finished a month ago (!) and I was hoping to get fun pictures at a Disney location since I'm about an hour away. But life happens, and while I still may get those pictures sometime, I wanted to go ahead and share my shirt now :) 

This is (yet another) Sorrel Top from Seamster Patterns. I seriously love this pattern - obviously as evidenced that this is my 5th time making it up in a year. This time around, I just wanted a simple and fun *win* of a project. I needed one. My schedule has been crazy, and while I dream all day of making shirt dresses and coats and other more complicated projects, I just haven't had the mental capacity to do all the muslins I will need to make those other projects work for me. So I'm just enjoying making t-shirts in the meantime. I can be "fun t-shirt girl" for a while. I'm cool with that.

So this shirt is obviously a bit more "novelty" then even I usually go for. Let's get one thing straight - I am not a "Disney t-shirt wearer". I did my time growing up here in the 90s, and I've feared that persona ever since, lol. But back in January at the Sewing Studio's major sale I came across this Seven Dwarves printed jersey and knew I needed a ridiculous shirt from it. And how much more cutesy can you get with dwarf fabric than by giving it a funky Peter Pan collar and sleeve cuffs? So I bought a yard of this fabric and planned to make it up when I had the possibility of going to Disney and wearing it there.

I did have a hard time deciding on the color for the collar and cuffs. When I bought the dwarf fabric I thought I'd use white, but I've made this pattern a few times with white collars and I feel it makes it seem like I own a bunch of the same exact shirt (which I do, but whatever - other people don't need to know that, lol). So I dug in my stash of knit material and pulled out a few other options. Nothing was a dead match to the colors in the main fabric, but this sagey-mint green was pretty close, so I went with that. I really like how it turned out! This green fabric was a thrift store find, and it's really nice actually.

I cut the body of the shirt about 1/4" wider at the sides this time since last time I used a jersey of this weight it came out a bit snug. I'm really happy with how the fit turned out here. Fitted but not digging in. Yes!

Detail shots! I'm pretty proud of my ditch stitching around the collar. There was a lot of changing of threads going on with this. I used a light blue for some areas since the main fabric has a light blue background, I used a mint green for the collar and cuffs, and I used white woolly nylon thread in the bobbin for the hems. I even took the time to match it up at the collar and used blue in the top and green in the bobbin. It really helped make the stitches invisible. Unfortunately I didn't take my time at the actual collar when attaching it to the body and there is a sizable space where the collar points meet. It bugs me a bit, but realistically I don't think anyone who doesn't sew would notice, especially since they don't meet at the center front. I AM proud of the fact that my shoulder seam actually meets up with the collar shoulder seam though, lol. I think that's the first time that's happened. Also the hems look great. I love a twin needle with woolly nylon in the bobbin!

So there you have it! The first in my line of latest projects. I'll be sure to post again when I finally get to Disney so I can show this baby off in the environment it was designed for :) I took pictures of several things that I've worked on lately - all simple projects, but it just feels so much better to be blogging and actually show something for my time no matter how simple it was to do, you know? Sometimes (well, often for me) blogging is more of a personal outlet and score card. I like looking back and seeing things I was able to make in spite of whatever was happening at the time. Anyway, not trying to be depressing, lol. Just my thoughts at this moment. I love being able to show off my silly projects. So thanks for reading about them :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1.25 yard of The In Crown Dwarves Knit from The Sewing Studio - $9.70, 0.25 yards green interlock - $0.25 (thrifted)
Pattern: Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns
Notions: blue thread, green thread, and woolly nylon thread - $1.00
Time: 5 hours
Total Cost: $10.95

One Week, One Pattern 2016: Completed!

This past week was  #OWOP (One Week, One Pattern), an online sewing challenge where you wear only garment made from the same pattern for a whole week. I've always wanted to participate in but never had enough garments from one pattern until this year. So I just had to jump in! Most people choose a very diverse pattern that includes tops and bottoms so they have lots of choice, but that's just not my style, lol.

This year, it was hosted by Hannah from Cinderellis Sews (it's been hosted by others in the past) and there were prizes and online fun. It's silly, but just sharing your makes and having other sewists project to look at really made my week. I decided to go with my favorite pattern for this challenge and only wear my Sorrel Tops all week. The Sorrel Top is from Seamster Patterns and it's me-to-a-T. It's also the last project I posted, lol, which put me up to 4 versions from the same pattern so I knew I would be able to wear them all for a solid week. No one even mentioned that I was wearing the same thing every day (which I was actually expecting since this is such a distinct pattern). Sadly my newest version was only worn once because I spilled something on it and it was in the wash after the first day :/ The others held up beautifully though. The challenge was fun, to be sure, but it also brought things to my attention:

• Looking at the photos I have to admit that my most flattering version is my wearable muslin (blogged here) which makes me realize I need more solid versions. I've had a navy one planned with a white collar that has a piece to look like a bow and I think I may need to make this one a reality.
• My Forest Friends and my Birthday Birdie versions seriously look like the same shirt at a quick glance in these photos, lol. No one can say I'm not consistent!
• The asymmetrical collar is more flattering on me, so I will probably stick to that version in the future.
• These shirts are super comfy and I'm fine with wearing them everyday. Yay!

The eagle eyed among you may wonder about the last photo in the collage - it's yet another Sorrel top! lol I started making this one on Wednesday but after mixing up the collar and facing pieces I had to unpick the whole collar and recut a few pieces which caused me not to get it finished in time to wear this week. It's even made of Disney fabric - how ridiculous am I? It's all for a purpose though, so just know you will soon be seeing yet another novelty print Sorrel top on this blog. Just after posting another one. Like back to back. I have no regrets. I do think I will have to set this pattern aside for a while now though. I want to branch out with my fun t-shirt making and try some new things. Maybe I'll actually get around to sewing something off my Make 9 in 2016 list. I can dream, right?

So I really enjoyed finally getting to be a part of #OWOP after all these years! I'm excited to pick a different pattern next year and keep the tradition going. Yay for fun sewing challenges!

FO: Birthday Birdie Sorrel

Oh my gosh I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! I've been on a mission to get my estate sale done ever since I posted my socks, but I had this post already lined up waiting and just completely forgot to put it up. So I actually made this last month :) The sale was this last weekend though and I am now trying to ease back into a somewhat normal life, so expect to see more posts (and probably more silly bird fabrics, lol). So here we go!

On my birthday this year (back in June) I got to do a little splurging on some Doodles fabric before going out to dinner with my mom. I mean, we were eating right across the street ... we had to go in! I was good and only got two lengths of cotton interlock for t-shirts - the green birds for my Swirly Birds top and this bird and flower print. I justified this because a) they were half price b) I knew exactly what I would make with them and they would be quick projects and c) it was my freakin' birthday, ok? Personal justifications aside, I knew this print would be great as another fun Sorrel Top, channeling the total cutesy factor of my Forest Friends Sorrel. I've had the habit lately of putting all my stuff together on my Kollabora page to keep me motivated, and this top is a perfect example of that. It's like because I made it a project profile already, it was next in line to make. Funny how that works.

I love this pattern for novelty prints! It's also nice for fancy fabrics that you don't want to buy much yardage of - not that this is a "fancy" fabric by any means, but it's nice that the main body pieces for the top in the largest size fit nicely onto 1 yard of 58-60" wide fabric. You will end up with scraps when you're done too, which just feels very satisfying. I did have one little snaffoo with the fabric though this time. I asked for 1 yard, but just before cutting out my top I noticed it looked a little short. They only gave me 32"! What?! Come on, Joann's. How hard is it to get it at the 1 yard mark? I've had it happen where the cut line isn't straight making you get not quite what you asked for, but this was just flat out 4 inches short of a yard. I squeaked by, but I had to piece the underarm of one of the sleeves. Moral of the story - measure your stuff right when you get home so you can do something about it if you're shorted. End rant.

I went with my favorite elbow length sleeves with curved cuffs again because they are just awesome. The pattern also includes plain sleeves, but seriously why have plain sleeves when you can have these cool cuffs, right? I originally planned on making my cuffs and collar out of white Laguna jersey, but out of the 3 other times I've used this pattern, 2 of them have white collars. I just really wanted to switch it up this time. I dug through my stash and pulled out this buttery yellow cotton interlock I bought at a thrift store for $1 a yard a year or so ago. I bought it to make muslins with at the time because I just couldn't imagine wearing such a pastel color with my skin tone, but it works great as an accent color. It's not exactly as bright a yellow as the bird fabric, but it's close enough that I don't mind it and I don't think anyone else will either (if they do, they're a jerk. just sayin', lol).

I played around with the length on this top a bit. I've noticed lately that several of my shirts are longer in the back, almost like a high-lo looking hem, which tells me I need to make the front longer for my body. I lengthen the body pieces to eliminate the hem band anyway, so this time I made the front a full 2 inches longer while I only extended the back by about 5/8ths, then when sewing the body together I matched up the waist notches and then stretched the back fabric evenly from the waist down to make the bottom edges match up at the sides. I really like how this fits! The length seems pretty perfect, so I think I will continue to so the same thing on future iterations (because let's face it, there will be more of these ...). This also seems to have helped with my slight sway back, oddly enough.

I'm also thrilled with my collar stitching this time around. The key to this collar is to really slow town and take your time when attaching the facing. You sew the facing to the collar at the neck hole, then fold it over and secure it by stitching in the ditch all the way around the collar itself. One slip up and it looks home made. I also discovered last time around that it's better to match your top stitching thread to the body fabric (it helps the seam blend into the background), so this time I used a purpley blue thread on top with the buttery yellow in the bobbin (which was an old serger cone I was given years ago that I never thought I'd use - it matched perfectly, lol).

Speaking of the collar, isn't it cute?! This is my first time making up the symmetrical collar option on this pattern, and I mostly just did it to switch things up a bit. This is a very distinct pattern (especially in the crazy prints I make it with), so I don't want it to look like my uniform (though that would not be bad in my book if I needed a uniform, haha). Anyway, so this is the symmetrical collar, which seems like it's thinner just because of how it sits on the neck, but it is actually the exact same collar pieces shifted to meet in the middle instead of off center. It's cute, and I certainly won't rule it out in the future (I still want to make my own version of the black and white striped version in the pattern samples), but I really prefer the asymmetrical collar on me. If you're going super cutesy and different, might as well go all the way I say. I still love this shirt though, make no mistake. I love that it's a little different but still fun. That's me in a nut shell: different but fun :)

This is an awful picture, but it shows the piecing I had to do under the sleeve. It looks a lot like an underarm gusset but it's only on one sleeve. My sister couldn't even make it out when I showed her in person and she also sews, so I'm not all that worried about it. I just sewed a scrap piece to the area of the fabric that needed it before I cut out the sleeve, then finished the edges and pressed the seam open, then cut the sleeve piece. I don't even feel it when worn, which is good. It's just the memory of being shorted 4 inches of fabric that will haunt me. Rrrr....

So that's my newest Sorrel Top :) Man, I love this pattern. I keep checking but it looks like this pattern is still not available to buy. I got it as part of the Sewing Indie month bundle last year as an exclusive release, but she mentioned at the time that the pattern would be released individually later on. I'm thinking something must have happened to her? Sewing Indie month kind of fizzled out mid month. No winners were ever announced, no more blog posts, etc. Anyone know what happened? It's really such a shame because I love her patterns and I'd love for more people to be able to make this cute top. I'd be really interested if anyone knows anything :) Thanks!

So there's my latest fun t-shirt :) It's been a fun and comfy shirt to wear in all the hubbub of my last few weeks. It helped to still feel like me in the midst of being dirty and hot and sorting through piles of old stuff for hours on end, so that's a win in my opinion. I will confess I now have another one of these planned for an occasion in the next few weeks, lol. Man, I love this pattern. I can't wait!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard (actually 32", grr...) of Doodles brand cotton interlock from Joann's - $7.00, 1/4 yard of yellow cotton interlock (thrifted) - $0.25
Pattern: Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns
Notions: knit interfacing - $0.25, thread (purple and yellow) - $1.00, woolly nylon thread - $0.50
Time: 4 hours
Total Cost: $ 9.00

FO: Artsy Flowers Sorrel

I'm taking a tiny break from posting about Christmas gifts - mainly because I've been itching to show off my final make of 2015 :) I grabbed 1 yard of an Art Gallery brand knit in a retail therapy style splurge at the beginning of December in a big sale on Fabric.com. I've read nothing but great things about this fabric line since it's release and I've always wanted to see what the fuss was about and if it was worth the cost. This seemed like a great opportunity to find out. I refused to let myself make this shirt until I had finished all of my Christmas gifts, which just made me dream of making it all month long as I tediously made things for other people, lol. Not that I don't love my family and all that. I just love making myself clothes. You can bet your butt though that I started making this as soon as Christmas was over - I cut and sewed this on the 26th and 27th, lol. 

I went with my beloved Sorrel Top pattern by Seamster Patterns because I wanted a guaranteed win for my special fabric, plus it only 1 yard of the main fabric thanks to the contrasting cuffs and collars. I love a cute project that is conservative on fabric.

I made this shirt exactly the same as my last version and the only change to the pattern was to lengthen the hem and use a twin needle to finish instead of a hem band. Knits are a funny thing. Even though this was made with all the same seam allowances and everything as the other, this one is a smidge tighter. It seems that every time I think I've got knits figured out, I have something like this happen. Is it the recovery that affects this? Anyone know? I just wasn't expecting it from a thin jersey. It's certainly not too tight by any means, just something I noticed.  

And mannequin shots. I paired my fancy floral knit with some Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey in White (also from the same sale). The laguna comes out as a slightly warmer white just so you know. I read others mention the same thing in the comments on the website, but it is not stark white - the oddest thing is that their printed jersey that has a white base DOES have stark white, not this warmer white. It wasn't an issue for this project since the flowers look nice with the warmer white, but I figured I'd mention it for anyone else who may go for this fabric and be disappointed.

Ah, that collar stitching though :) I did my usual stitching in the ditch around the collar to secure the facing and I am always thrilled with how the stitching just disappears when you go slow. It's so clean!

And again - the curved cuffs. Aren't the just so cute?! I seriously love everything about this pattern, and I still haven't even tried the symmetrical collar yet, lol.

So there you have it - another favorite shirt that feels oh-so-me and my first time working with more expensive fabric. Isn't it funny how our perceptions of cost in sewing are all so different? I see others buy yards and yards of this brand to make dresses and whatnot without batting an eye, and here I'm worried about "splurging" on 1 yard when it was on sale, lol. That's a strict budget for you. It's nice to treat yourself occasionally though, especially when it's on a project that you know will fit great and you will love to death. Plus this goes so well with my brown Melissa skirt! Woo hoo! I triumphantly wore this outfit to the big sale at The Sewing Studio on New Year's Day. Extra points for shopping for fabric in a completely self made outfit, right?!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard of Curiosities Splendiferous Warm Knit by Art Gallery Fabrics - $13.03, 1/4 yard Kaufman Laguna Jersey in White - $1.50
Pattern: Sorrel Top by Seamster Patterns
Notions: Pellon Knit Fusible Interfacing - $1.00, thread - stash
Hours: 5 total
Total Cost: $15.53

FO: Forest Friends Sorrel Top

This week marked a momentous occasion - I used one of my most beloved pieces of fabric :) This week is Selfish Sewing Week plus it's the final few days of Sewing Indie Month, so it just seemed fitting that I make something I truly love for myself.

I used the Sorrel pattern again - I've wanted to make another ever since my first version. I wear that shirt about once a week I love it so. It's comfortable and flattering and a little different. All my favorite things!

Again, my hair obscures the fancy collar detail, so here's a shot with my hair behind me. I used a little of this amazing fabric for the body. The fabric is from Joann's in their Doodles line for kids and it's called Majestic Cord Woodland Animals. Sally over at The Quirky Peach posted about this fabric when she found it back in June and I was thrilled to find the same fabric at my local store during their 4th of July sale. I grabbed 3 yards to possibly make a dress, but I'm still torn about knit dresses on me. In the meantime, I just wanted to make something, and I still have enough left for that dress should I decide to take the plunge. This fabric is 100% cotton and it's like a super soft interlock knit. I paired my beloved fabric with some simple white interlock from my stash for the collar and sleeve cuffs.

I went for the cuffs on the sleeves again, because it's just such a fun detail :) I will confess that this time the shirt took much longer to make due to a) me being really picky and b) making stupid mistakes. I had the bobbin run out twice since I decided to use partially filled ones instead of just winding a full one :/ Of course this happened while top stitching and about halfway across the front of the shirt. Like I said, I'm picky, and I just couldn't look down and see a restarted top stitching line on the front of my favorite fabric, so I pulled the whole thing out. The other issue was the stitching in the ditch around the collar. I used white thread to stitch between the collar and body of the shirt, but it was visible every so often which I knew would drive me nuts. I picked out the entire thing. Ugh, it was not fun. I switched to purple thread after that and it came out much better.

The obligatory mannequin shots. Another change I made from my last version is that I lengthened the body and twin needle hemmed instead of adding a hem band. I like this way much better. I think it's a little more laid back looking to just have a standard hem, plus I don't like how hem bands tighten the shirt up around your hips - this one is more free flowing and comfy.

Here are some close up shots :) If you look really closely around the back collar you can see my purple thread. I'm pretty ridiculously proud of getting it so hidden. It was a long, slow line of stitching, but it was totally worth taking the extra effort.

And the insides. The collar facing just fascinates me on this shirt - it's so great that it sits so flat and I never have to worry about it. Totally comfy :)

And there you have it! My forest friends sorrel top :) I know that I will wear the heck out of this top and I will bask in its five-year-old-like goodness. Maybe I'll name the critters? Is that going too far?

Summary:
Fabric: 3/4 yard of Doodles woodland print interlock knit - $5.00, white cotton interlock knit - free (in the stash for years)
Pattern: Sorrel Top and Dress by Seamster Patterns
Notions: knit fusible interfacing - $0.50, woolly nylon thread, polyester thread in white and purple
Hours: 7 (due to mistakes)
Total Cost: $5.50

FO: Blue Floral Sorrel Tee

As soon as I saw the Sew Independent bundle this time around, I wanted it for this top pattern. I'm a huge fan of peter pan collars, so add in fun options like an asymmetrical collar AND the fact that it's actually color blocked on the shirt - I'm totally there. I was too excited to wait. I had to make this one up now. So here is my entry into the Everyday Casual category of the contest for Sewing Indie Month.

This is the Sorrel Top and Dress pattern from Seamster Patterns (not for sale individually quite yet). It has several fun options to play with: symmetrical collar, asymmetrical collar, short sleeves, elbow sleeves with contrast cuffs, hem band, no hem band, dress with godets, or dress without godets. This was the first pattern that I printed out from the bundle and set to work that night. I taped the pattern together which wasn't as awful as some (though I'm never a huge fan) - the pattern was really big though. Like too big for my table big. This is understandable since it has the asymmetrical collar option - this has to be a flat pattern piece instead of one that is cut on the fold, adding several pages to the pattern. I just had to cut the pieces apart on the assembled pattern so I could manage everything, so no big deal.

Since this was my "muslin" of this pattern, I went with some "sacrificial" fabric. All the fabric for this was thrifted. The dark teal is an interlock knit that I grabbed a while back in a large lot of good knits - the only problem is whoever donated the fabric had tried to sell it themselves and had the bright idea that they would sell better as 1 yard pieces. So I had four 1 yard pieces of this fabric :/ It worked out for this top though since I certainly had plenty of the fabric to use a piece on something that might not turn out perfect. The floral knit I used for the contrast piece is actually from a Croft & Barrow brand t-shirt I thrifted YEARS ago. I liked the print, but it came out too short for my taste when I washed it so I never wore the shirt. I just chucked it in a refashion box and forgot about it until I searched through that box last week - it was meant to be!

Ugh, so wrinkly. One of these days I'll do a sway back adjustment. Or I'll just continue to smooth out my shirts.

Even though this was technically a muslin, I still tried to do everything right so it could be a true trial run of the shirt. The directions were fine, but definitely no hand holding went on there. (*I've learned since then that there is a separate file of illustrated instructions. Apparently I was a little too excited to start sewing and didn't look through the files, lol) The directions I used had no diagrams, so I had to re-read certain steps a few times to make sure I got it right. I thought I had messed up with cutting, but it turned out ok. I was assembling the collar when it hit me that I hadn't paid any attention to which side I cut the pattern pieces out on since generally it doesn't matter and I'm able to just flip things over since most patterns are symmetrical. Lesson learned: when making an "asymmetrical collar", pay attention to how it's cut out! It turned out my panic was unnecessary as I had luckily cut it out correctly, but it was certainly a head scratching moment to figure that out.

I was worried about getting the collar to lay smooth at the seam, so I really took my time and I am seriously thrilled with how it turned out! My one complaint is that the little spot where the two collars meet at the front is very bulky. Next time I make this, I will trim that spot down as far as I can. I am pleased that it meets up so well though! The pattern gives little dots to align on each piece so you don't have to guess at it yourself - this was invaluable for me and really made things come out great.

Here you can see that bump at the collar join. It's really not awful, and I don't think anyone else would notice. Another point I'm proud of is my stitching in the ditch. The pattern tells you to flip the facing to the inside and either stitch around the collar or stitch in the ditch. The reason I love this pattern is that you really can't tell that the collar is color blocked until you touch it, and I thought that stitching around the neckline would ruin that illusion. So I went with stitch in the ditch. I pressed the facing back really well, and then just went very slowly around the collar seam. I'm pretty ridiculously proud of how well that turned out! I didn't even use a special foot - just my walking foot - and I managed to stay just in the ditch of the seam the whole way around. This caught the facing really well and holds it all in place. I did completely disregard the suggestion in the pattern to cut the facing out of thinner/drapey-er fabric since I was just using this as a test run. It's a little thicker around the neckline, but not terribly so. I've worn the shirt a few times now and I've haven't felt it was too thick at all. Normally I hate facings on a knit garment, but the one is so securely held in place that it doesn't bother me at all :) Yay!

A few more details. This is my one flub up in construction - apparently I caught the edge a bit and caused a little pucker at the shoulder.  Honestly, it's tiny and it's around the back of my shoulder so I really don't care about it. One other slightly odd thing is that the shoulder is a little bit pointy when I raise my arms at all. I'm not sure if this is just that my shoulders aren't as wide as the pattern is made for (which is a close call), or if it's because I put the sleeves in flat when the pattern said to set them in. I'll play with it next time, but it doesn't bother me enough to not wear the shirt. Another thing I didn't notice while I was cutting out - the asymmetrical shirt  body is drawn a bit shorter so it can accommodate a hem band. This isn't a pattern flaw per se, I just hate hem bands and I didn't notice until it was too late and I had cut it too short. So this time I put the hem band on. Next time around I will be sure to add the length so I can do a twin needle hem. I also included a pic here of the curved sleeve cuffs - so cute!

Realistically how this shirt looks when I wear it. #longhairproblems

In the end my "muslin" turned out completely wearable in spite of the little issues I've mentioned. The fit is spot on for me :) It turned out a bit dressy looking due to my fabric choices this time around, but I would love to make one that was just a casual t-shirt too. I'm thinking in a lighter jersey and without the hem band would make it more everyday, and I really love the example shirt on Seamster's website with the striped body and solid collar, so I'm sure that will happen eventually. I'm really pleased with how this top turned out and I can't wait to make a bunch more!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard dark teal interlock knit - $1.00 (thrifted), blue floral print Croft & Barrow t-shirt - 25¢ (thrifted)
Pattern: Sorrel Top and Dress by Seamster Patterns
Notions: Pellon Knit Interfacing, thread
Hours: 6 hours (including taping and tracing the pattern)
Total: $ 1.50-ish :)