Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Union Street Tee For Me

Continuing in the 4x7 Sewing Challenge this month, I made a top for myself out of this knit fabric.  There must be a rainbow theme perpetually in my head lately, because I see rainbow colors here too!

I bought this fabric originally to make the Sloan Leggings from Hey June, but decided it was too thick and probably didn't have enough 4-way stretch.  It's 2 ply knit, I would call it.  Two thin pieces of knit material put together to create a pattern on each side.  On one side is the rainbow stripes you see here, and on the other, are tiny little heart, which I will show you at the bottom of this post.  I am neither a heart not rainbow wearer, so this made choosing a side difficult!

You might wonder why I chose the fabric if I don't really love to wear rainbows or hearts.  It was all the feel of the fabric.  I liked the way it felt both weight-wise and texture-wise.

My first ridiculous error of the day happened when I printed the pattern.  Hey June patterns are really neat because you can get just your size printed, if you choose in the layers in Adobe reader.  That way you aren't cutting away all of the other sizes and wasting time and paper.


However, even when you've selected to view the layers for your size,  you have to still put in the pages you want to print.  Instead, I just hit print and got ALL 45 PAGES!!  I couldn't believe I did that AND, it wasn't until after I printed that I decided I wanted to go up a size because I wanted this to be looser, like a sweatshirt.

You can be sure that I chose the size I wanted and then only typed in the specific page numbers to print the second time around!


This is the first top I've made that was actually meant to be a top with sleeves.  The other tops I've made have been a hybrid of kitschycoo's Comino top and Lady Skater dress, or the Maria tank that didn't have sleeves.

I was thrilled to see that there were just a couple of pieces to cut out and I wasn't going to have to make adjustments.

It went together really easily, but I had a problem with the neckband and had to put it in twice.  Not an easy feat thanks to my serger stitches, but it looks better the second time.  I still had an issue and need to work on it.  After I've worn the top a few times and washed it, I'll see what the neckband looks like.

It turns out, the fabric isn't really as heavy as I thought, so it's not really sweatshirt worthy.  It's a good weight and I have already worn it.  I think if I made the short sleeve version, I'd go down a size, but for a long sleeve, I think I'll keep the medium.



This is the first top I've made in a long time that I didn't shorten at all in the middle.  I like the 2 inch hem on this one.  If I made it as a t-shirt, I might cut it slightly to keep the hem at less than an inch, but for this top, I think the 2 inches works.

I also like that it doesn't have bands for the arms.  I hemmed mine a little shorter than I like, so I will be taking them down about a half inch more.  I used a zigzag stitch for those hems but it was tighter than I like, so it's all the more reason to undo them.


The zigzag on the hem of the whole top is my most favorite stitch in a long time.  I finally got the stitch width and length just right so it's stretchy!  Usually, one is too tight and the hem always feels like it will pop. 

I've just about given up on the twin needle for hems.  The zigzag is great for this and I think I'll just play it by ear with future hems.


Here's the print from the other side.  While the rainbow stripes are a little strange, so are these little hearts, for me.  I used the hearts side for the neckband, but the rest is all rainbow stripes.

I'm not sure if this is a top I will wear to school because I'm not in love with the stripes.  Finding a good  knit in a color or pattern I like is really difficult for me.  We have one local fabric shop, just Joann fabrics, and I find their knits to be all over the place.  Several have pilled almost immediately, which is a big no no for me.  A few have held up beautifully.  And a few have just been strange prints.  I don't know exactly what I am looking for, which might be part of my problem.  I like solid colors but the solids there are the least desirable texture.  And I'm not a fan of mixing two colors or patterns together in a knit top the way everyone is doing around the internet.

I'm afraid to order knits online because I have no idea what they feel like or how heavy they really are. 

I like sewing with knits and I've liked most of the finished products I've made, but I'm not sure it's been a very thrifty way to supplement my wardrobe.  For me, sewing is usually about making something for less than I'd pay in a store and in a color or texture that I want that wasn't available in the store.


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