A simple t-shirt. But when I finished sewing it I tried it on, threw it to the back of the sewing table, tried it on again the next day, wadded it into a ball, and threw it under the sewing table by the garbage. There was a sort of smudge spot on the back I hadn't seen on the fabric when cutting it out. The neckband looked stretched, twisted, and off somehow. And I guess I was in a mood. Part of my bad mood was that when I was stitching in the ditch around the neckband I thought the thread was showing up oddly and just not right. I didn't realize until afterwards that the spool of thread that I thought was white was winter white. Oh.
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| Would NOT stop talking while being photographed |
The thing sat on the floor for a month before I picked it up, shook it off, and tried it on again. This time I thought differently -- it wasn't so bad afterall. The neck really just needed a steaming to get it to sit right. So I fixed it. And the off white thread didn't really show since it did sit in the ditch - plus it wouldn't be difficult to pull it out and redo it anyway.
And then had a miserable time hemming it. I pulled out the modern machine for this. Twin needle: thread kept breaking or one was skipping stitches. I made sure the two spools were feeding off in different directions (one from the front, one from the back). I checked that one thread went through the last thread guide before the needle and the other skipped over it. Nope. Still trouble. I tried a narrow zigzag with the walking foot. Would you believe the machine ate it? I had to yank the cuff out of the throat plate and tore a small hole in it! Cut one inch off sleeves. I ended up using a straight stitch with the walking foot. Worked fine. Because this isn't a tight fitting shirt the straight stitch hem isn't strained any and will work.
The pattern, by the way, is Kwik Sew 3617 . The 29 mark on the envelope is the price Goodwill charged for this pattern -- all my Kwik Sew knit shirt patterns came from them for 29 cents. I used a white cotton interlock for a shirt with more weight than jersey. I have a few yards of interlock in the stash.
In the end once this thing was hemmed and washed (the spot did come out) it fits pretty good. I like the feel of the interlock too. Success afterall -- I've worn it twice this week.
5 comments:
Sometimes we just need to get a little perspective that time and distance give. Your shirt looks great -- I'm glad you persevered.
I think it's a good thing that you gave this project another chance - I think it looks great! I always have a hard time finding a knit pattern that fits well, so I think you hit the jackpot at 29 cents. :)
Are you using a stretch twin needle? It can make a big difference in your results.
Yes, I admit this isn't the first time I've needed to step back and get a new perspective on a project.
No, I wasn't using a twin stretch needle. I tried locally to find one and couldn't. Now to try online. This did occur to me and I put two jersey needles in the Rocketeer (which can take two single needles) but the stitching was too close together.
It is good it didn't land *in* the trash can the second time ;) I think it looks great for all the drama that you had to go through to get it done! Great job!
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