I recently visited a different Walmart than usual, and of course I checked the mill end precut rolls. I limited my purchases to one three yard cut of a lovely double border eyelet, and one two yard roll of what seemed to be a sturdy navy cotton knit backed with a soft gray heather knit, which I thought would make a nice hoodie for Husband.
But.
When I opened and unrolled that knit, I discovered that, instead of two knits fused together, it was two pieces. (Expecting two pieces fused is not unreasonable, given other things I've seen and purchased from the mill end precut roll selection in the past.)
And the two pieces were both 24" long, instead of a full yard each. They were 70" wide, so I guess, by area, it's kinda the same.
And also, both pieces had, near a cut edge, the big ugly seams used to join pieces from separate rolls for continuous finishing processes. Which is surely why they ended up in the mill end precuts, but that didn't alleviate any of the disappointment.
The navy blue cotton turned out to be a technical fabric, which I might have a use for. But, the gray? In such a short length, with the seam making the contiguous usable area even shorter? Well...I was so irritated with it that I decided I needed to use it immediately.
(returning was not an option because I didn't want to be That Person walking in with two raggedly cut pieces of fabric and trying to explain that the label promised something different, so gimme back those $3.)
Because the length was so short, I decided to make a shirt for me (the kiddo is a lanky noodle.) I started with KwikSew 1650, cutting the front and back from that, and using some of the precious remaining spiderweb knit to make contrast sleeves.
After getting the neckband sewn, I realized that I absolutely would not ever wear the soft flowing cropped sweatshirt that it would be if I continued. So: New Look 6068 to make the torso more closely cut and the shoulders narrower, then use the adapted KwikSew 303 sleeve to squeeze out some tiny short sleeves, with the length limited by working with what was above the join seam, and add some contrast bits to eke out a bit more length.
It still seemed like it was going to be a bit bland, so...snail.
I decided to add a graphic before sewing the sleeves or side seams, so it was easy to make everything flat. I was hoping I could do the old trick of ironing on a laser print, but this fabric is too dark and textured, so I roughly cut the printout into a stencil and intentionally sponged the paint on thinly in some areas, hoping it wold look like a stamp.
I did that before stopping for the evening, and noticed the next morning that the snail was noticeably off center. The original image had more going on to the sides, and I applied the stencil over the vague shadows of the attempted transfer.
I folded it in half and realized it wasn't as far off as I'd thought, so cut a quick stencil to add some tail length, and that was enough to make me happy with the overall placement.
I used ribbing that had been cut off of something mass-produced. I sewed it on with the lock stitch machine, serged the seam allowance then edge stitched through all layers, stretching everything while sewing.
I used the same ribbing for the sleeves, length determined entirely by what was left. There are extra seams in them, on the backs, that were in the ribbing before I got to it. No top stitching here.
And then I got a scant few more inches on the bottom by sewing on a bottom edge cut from a T-shirt at some point (and, like the ribbing, possibly not by me, but arriving here as-is in a generous second hand lot)
It's a lot wider than the shirt, but not that much wider than I am in that area, and the gray knit is very stretchy and accommodated the width easily.
And, yep, I still haven't changed the serger thread. I had gray in the top and black in the bobbin by the end of the project, too.
Nothing going on on the back, except the grain of the fabric doing the wave. I did prewash it, so that's probably all the grain is ever going to do back there. Shouldn't be a problem.
And that's my Stubborn Use It Now sewing project.
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