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Crystal Made A Tee Shirt

And I love it! Sorry the pictures suck.

The fabric is a blue and ivory lace striped poly-cotton blend jersey that I bought a year or more ago at Hobby Lobby. I know, right? They actually have 1 or 2 bolts of something that isn't for quilting.

This was my first successful knit that I can wear in public. I read on all sorts of blogs about how easy and forgiving knits are to work with. Up until now, that was not my experience.



I used Butterick 5497, View A with V neck front and back. And I'm pleased to say that I didn't have to make any alterations, really. I cut my size based on my measurements, only adding 1/4 inch to the center front and back when cutting out my fabric. I also left out underbust elastic. Completely unnecessary. The whole time I was sewing, I was convinced that the upper half wasn't nearly long enough to properly cover my bust. Turns out I was wrong.






This pattern was very easy to put together and I don't even have gaping in the front V. The girls fill it out perfectly.

I managed to match the stripes perfectly along the sides and underarms, as well as in the front and back crossovers. I only finagled them a little bit to ensure my bra strap was covered.

The main seams were constructed on my serger, but the in SA elastic on the shoulders, gathering stitches and top stitching were all done on my regular machine. There's some pretty obvious tunneling where I twin needled the top stitching on the front and back V. I probably should have slipped in a line of knit stay tape where the facing portions fold back, but I doubt anyone but me will notice it. I used knit stay tape on the sleeves and hem and there's no tunneling at all there. Those seams are simply serged, turned and twin needled.


The only tricky part of construction was preparing the binding where it crosses over the back opening. they have you stitch that length closed, then turn it right side out. The turning is the PIA part. After that it's just a matter of tucking your back edge in there neatly and top stitching to secure.


I will be making the remaining views of this pattern. I'm actually very excited by my success with this. Tee shirts are a main staple of my wardrobe and I'm SUPER excited to make myself a collection of interesting shirts that are easy to wear and DON'T SHRINK in the wash! (The benefits of pre-washing fabric a couple times before it's made into a garment...)

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