Sunday 25 June 2017

Wanted tee by Vanessa Pouzet

I think tshirts are the most satisfying thing I sew.  I knew I'm supposed to love getting deep into major projects.  But the truth is that tshirts are the thing I wear, and when I can wear me-made ones I prefer them every time.  Other, more complicated makes, usually end up being experimental.  I like the challenge but I don't need the item in my wardrobe.  If the experiment doesn't totally succeed then I'm far too likely to give it away.

Anyway that's all to say I always need more tshirt patterns and I drooled over this amazing Vanessa Pouzet top when it came out.  I like her designs but most of them are not very practical for me and I also get sad at the very idea of trying to read french patterns.  However a tshirt is straightforward, so although the pattern is in French, you don't need more than the diagrams.

This first version is a scrap from The Fabric Store which is purple on one side and black rib on the other. It's a merino-poly blend and is very warm and has good recovery.  I was going to do black and in my head that couldn't be changed...which is why the neckband ended up black.  It makes it hard to match things in my wardrobe as purple/black aren't a combo that I wear much.  But it does layer under scrubs very nicely.  Unfortunately I still wish I had made it black.

I cut a size 36, although I also traced 38 as a backup.  My measure: 33-27-37, and I'm 5'4".  I'm starting to bounce back from my habit of cutting things too big which was going on all last year. This rebound likely will eventually lead to cutting things too small.  We shall see. 











I thought that maybe the neck would be too low in the front.
In fact it's more like it's a touch wide and carries over into my armpits.  This also makes it slightly less bra friendly.

So I took out 2 cm of the centre front, including of the neck band, and then re-added the same amount as a strip down the side.  I considered changing the armscye as well but left it for now.  I am still really nervous about making changes to patterns!  I might be better off using fewer patterns and learning how to modify them better.

Plus we made pancakes on the beach...




I was surprised how much the front neck gathers when it's just sitting around, but when I wear it, it looks fine.  I think this was a small fix that I prefer - I can barely tell the difference except it doesn't feel like the shirt is sliding down into my armpits.  The second fabric is a very lightweight cotton/cashmere/something else blend and is glorious.  Unfortunately, I was sewing this when I had a friend over and I didn't pay painstaking attention to the neckband, which is necessary.  Therefore, it's not got very nice corners.  Please don't stare.  I managed to somehow salvage the mess and I'm happy.

The first of these two tops was the beginning of about 2 weeks tshirt sewing like a sweatshop, and the second one was the end of the two weeks when I had already had a knit-free few days and just wanted to finish one last tshirt!  

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