While browsing, I came upon the Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono tee pattern. You can download it free, at either Pattern Review or Craftsy. It's a simple tee that is fitted through the shoulders and bust and then more relaxed through the waist and hip. And what do we love most?? It only has two pattern pieces (ok 3 if you add a neck binding), is totally able to be constructed solely on the serger (BONUS!) and uses max, 1 yard of fabric! Wooohoo!
So, I am looking at the measurements and thinking, this is a knit so I don't want tons of ease...maybe 0 ease...and I cut a large. I used some peachy (weird to me) colored knit I got in a free Fabric Mart bundle once. Oh. There are no seam allowances included. Oops...
I constructed it on my serger-- first garment ever!! and used the smallest SA I could get away with...trimming off only 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch.
Kind of snug. I don't know if those are "swayback wrinkles" or slightly too tight wrinkles. It's pulling at the arms, across the back and at the bust. ok...maybe I should redo it with SAs added!! :) This knit fabric was also in the FM bundle but it has more stretch than the peach fabric. I still cut a large, with about 1/2" SA. I still constructed on my serger as well. But it seems a bit big.
I took a 3/8" wedge from CB, adding the length back at the hem. The back fits better but the front looks too big at the neckline. Is it the fabric? Possibly. I'm going to cut one out of fashion fabric and sew it on the sewing machine so I can check the fit before finalizing it. I mean, who in their right mind wants to unpick serger stitches!?!?
This pattern will be great for that "must have" fabric that you can't get a lot of. And because it's so basic, there's tons of options on fabric choices and layering options -- hey, I'm a Minnesotan, layering is in our blood!
In other news, I have been chomping at the bit to sew for the teen. She hemmed and hawed and NOW, now she wants me to sew a back to school top to go with her floral jeans - Yay!
Or so I thought.
This child is 5'7", 120 lbs (max). She is all legs. She has a 35" inseam and a "normal" length shirt is about 20" for her. 20"!!! I think for me it's about 23-24"! I thought *I* had a short torso...sheesh. Her back is broad meaning the back pattern piece needs quite a bit more room than the front. She only has a 1.5" difference between HB and FB. Her arms are ridiculously long. Uhmmm...I'll take my relatively minor issue of shortening shoulder to bust length, "need" for an FBA that I usually cheat on by just cutting a smaller neck/shoulder size and swayback that I simply ignore :-)
She's getting NL 6216 , the long sleeved version, in a olive-y green knit and she asked for M6702 in an off-white linen. But that linen is WRINKLY. So wrinkly. She doesn't like to iron so we'll see...
She's smaller than the smallest size on both of them, so I'll be sewing and then adjusting the finished garment. Should be FUN! ha!
