PowerDry T-Shirts are done!

Remember the stack of PowerDry I started with back in November? I finally finished up with it last weekend. Man what a journey!! I made 12 T-shirts in all, one for each family member in Periwinkle, Teal, and Raspberry.

Here's what the stack started like:


Here's what it looked like after I got all of the fabric cut:


And here's what the finished shirts looked like:


Notice two of the shirts have been decorated. I got Paintstiks for my b-day back in January, and used my Teal shirt and DD's Teal shirt as canvas for a little experimentation.


I like how all the shirts turned out. But can you say, "Janimal won't be doing this kind of thing again any time soon"? I had no idea it was going to take me this long to get the shirts done.

They're done now though and I can finally move on to other things. Whew!

Patterns Used:
Kwik Sew 3043 - View D - XS (for DS)
Kwik Sew 3043 - View D - L (for DD)
McCall's 4872 - View B (for me)
Kwik Sew 3299 - View A (for DH)

McCall's 4872 - View B - Complete!

This past week, I picked the final of McCall's 4872 - View B back up and finished it Friday evening.

There's not much to tell on this one. The pattern and instructions are very straight forward.

I did everything pretty much the same way as with the muslin, except that this time I got the neck band right! This time, I used a regular twin needle that I have to topstitch the neck band, and it worked fine.

The fabric I used is a stretch knit (97% rayon, 3% lycra) that I picked up from Fashion Fabrics Club. It cost $6.34/yrd with shipping (or $4.95 without). It was not bad to work with - not as firm as the green interlock, not as stretchy as the paisley. It's very soft and comfortable.

All in all, this is a really fast and easy little pattern for t-shirts. I suspect I will be using many, many times.

For my next project, I think I'll try out Simplicity 4076 - View A or B (the wrap version) a try.

McCall's 4872 - One for the win column!

Yesterday, I spent the day sewing up McCall's 4872.

This was my first attempt at making a garment using knit fabric, and I'm very pleased with the results.

For this first try, I worked up a muslin using a cheap ($1/yard) knit from WalMart. I think it might be classified as a jersey knit, but I'm not 100% positive about that. The most noticable attribute of this fabric is that it is very thin. Too thin to wear actually. My own attributes don't need that much daylight ;)

I made up view B with just a few changes.

First, I shortened it quite a few inches - maybe 5 or 6. Also, instead of making my normal big arms alteration, I used the XL sleeve on the L bodice. The shirt fit perfectly after these little changes.

I tried making a neck band with the same fabric, and I think it would have worked, except for the part about sewing in on the wrong side. Oooops! I save it by rolling it inside and topstitching it down.

I used my serger for most of the construction including serging the sleeve and shirt hems, turning them under, and topstitching them down. I did a fake coverstitch on the sleeves by running two rows of topstitches with my regular sewing machine (I would have used a double needle instead, but don't have one of those for knits).

(Sidebar explanations for my non-sewing, or beginner friends)

For the longeset time, I didn't know what a coverstitch was. In case you're curious, I'll tell ya. First find a t-shirt. Look at the hem of the shirt or the sleeves. Chances are, you'll see two rows of stitching on the outstide, and squiggly threads on the inside. That's coverstitching. It takes a special machine, or a serger with a coverstitch option, to make those.

So what's a serger? It's a special kind of sewing machine that overlocks and trims the seams at the same time. They've got an OK definition of it at Answer.com. Take a look at the side seams on almost any average piece of purchased clothing, a.k.a RTW - Ready-To-Wear, and they will be serged.

(End of Sidebar)

Lastly, I deviated from the instructions by using a technique called "sewing it in flat" to put the sleeves in. Instead of sewing the sleeve seam together first (making a tube out of it), and then sewing the sleeve to the bodice, you sew the sleeve cap (top) to the bodice and leave the sleeve seam unsewn. Then you treat the bodice and sleeve seams as one and sew them at the same time.

I really, really like this method of attaching a sleeve. My seam intersections come out so much better this way.

Like I said, this try is a muslin. I'm waiting on some fabric to be delivered to make up the "real thing".

In the meantime, I'm getting View D of Simplicity 4076 ready for a muslin workup.

Whew! Busy weekend, but I had a blast!