T-shirt Weekend, Part 1

So, after the successes of the quick t-shirts I made for the kiddo...and...after realizing that "comfortably baggy fit on a nearly-nine-year-old-kid" = "slim fit on that kid's mom," I decided to try making a few shirts for me from the same pattern.

Well...more or less "the same pattern" because...y'know...it's me...


I'd had the idea to make the shirt front from three different other t-shirts, with the different colors appearing as angled gentle waves.  Sewing three different knits together along curves is the kind of thing that really should be worked out first, with proper pattern pieces.

But, like I said...me.

So I cut everything freehand and eyeballed seam allowances and sewed it together and didn't make a terrible mess of it.

And it's not even too far removed from the very very vague original idea.

There's topstitching, of course (again: me.)

And I was very amused that I had heavier-weight thread to match all of the colors. (I seriously love  the Saba C Tex 40 polyester I've been getting from Wawak--this is in no way compensated, I just really really like that thread, especially for topstitching, and we all know how much I like topstitching.)  All seam allowances were clipped before being topstitched.  I honestly can't remember if I ironed before topstitching, because I hadn't initially wanted to clear the cardboard-panel-work-surface off of my ironing board...

The neckband ribbing was carefully cut away from the original pink t-shirt before being applied to this new shirt, and, yes, topstitching.  I left the black thread filled bobbin in place for all of the weekend's t-shirts--no problems, since it's all the same weight thread.  I still feel weird topstitching around ribbed neckbands, because that always seems like it should defeat the stretch, but it manages to work, so it's probably the usual case of me overthinking.  (I mean, yeah, I jump right into making a completely novel patchwork knit front panel without overthinking, but that doesn't mean I'm not overthinking something.  Still dreaming of a coverstitch machine, too, of course, but, pfft, like I'd ever change the thread on it...)

I did consider stopping the pink topstitching at the shoulders and changing to black on the back, but, enh, let's call this a design detail.  Since the lower edge is black front and back, that got hemmed in all black, no problem

And...yeah...the patchwork seams on the front may have given things a bit less drape so the sides bow out when it's hanging like this, but, worn, no problems. (I mean, it's not like I don't bulge in that area anyway.)

The sleeves were a cheat again, using the original coverstitched hems from the pink t-shirt

You can see a bit of the black thread, peeking out, that I used for the side seams.  That's OK.

Overall, this was a quick silly project and I'm happy to have another t-shirt.  (And I'll be posting others I made last weekend soon.)