Tuesday 29 May 2012

Three (four) tees mini-marathon

Hi There,

Just thought I'd share with you what I have been obsessing over the last couple of days:

 

Nothing spectacular, three veeery simple t-shirts you say? I would normally agree, but this time it has been an experience, to say the least. There were four. On my list were a couple of t-shirts, of which one would be a birthday present. I really liked the royal blue jersey; lovely quality and all, and decided it would make a good present. I used a pattern from the Finnish Ottobre magazine, a back issue from 2009. It has puff sleeves and a wider neckline, perfect for summer.

Gathering the sleeves was a nightmare. I put two rows of hand stitching in the seam allowance, then pinned it to the shirt with about 30 pins and it came out all bumpy and uneven. Second attempt. Even smaller stitches, same results. I plough on and finish the shirt, regardless of the sleeves being a bit funny. But then, when I cut off the extra seam allowance at the hem after having done the seam, this happened:


My scissors got caught, aargh. Luckily I have enough fabric for another shirt so, trying hard not to be annoyed, I start over. This time everything that can possibly go wrong, goes wrong. I think I must have unpicked every seam at least 3 times before I finally call it quits. It does not want to be this shirt, that's for sure!

I can't stop when it isn't going well, just too afraid the bad luck will stick. So, as soon as I could, I used the fabric to make a smaller and even simpler t-shirt. But somehow my cover pro also had an off-day. I literally unpicked the neckline 7 times! One of the shoulders sadly is a bit wonky too. And look at the inside of it, it is really untidy. I tried different tension settings on the lower looper, but didn't get much better results. It remains a mystery to me...


I still couldn't stop. I must turn this thing around! Luckily my fabric order arrived in time to continue with a light blue tee that was also on my list. All potential sticky points were omitted from the original plan; I used the simplest pattern and normal thread instead of the woolly nylon I used on the royal blue shirts. And, * Big sigh *,  it does what I want it to do, it becomes a t-shirt.

Why am I sharing this with you? So you know that not everything goes according to plan all the time. That, when you make a mistake and continue, you may make a lot more! 
Basically, lots of really loud music is needed to get back into the flow. Which is what I will try next time!

Hope your plans turn out nothing like this!
XO


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