Seven Slapdash Sleep Shirts

For quite a while, I've been sleeping in thrifted T-shirts that had gotten too worn out in everyday use.  I'd thrift a shirt, wear it until it started developing holes or other signs of damage, and, if I didn't creatively repair them for continued dressing use, retire them to the pajama drawer.  However, since I drastically cut back how much I thrift, my T-shirt supply has dwindled, and the pajama shirts have started more or less disintegrating.

Not too long ago, someone I've known online for ages asked if I'd like some fabric—left over from her clothing sewing projects—that should be good for doll clothes, and I said Sure, Thanks!  The parcel arrived and the generous amount of knit cloth was indeed a good weight for doll clothes.  The quantity would have taken me years to sew through if limited only to doll use (and probably had a lot passed on to other doll sewing people—in fact, I just sent two huge boxes of doll appropriate fabric remnants off myself); however, a lot of the pieces were large enough to be able to use for ribbing in person-sized sewing projects, so I sorted out those bigger pieces and put them on the large yardage shelves, then crammed the rest into the small yardage knits drawer.

I realized a few days ago that I just might be able to solve the sleep shirt problem with the larger odds'n'ends of the gift knits.

And I did!

Snail Shirt Snail Shirt

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.

 

Floral Knit Shirt

 After making the dress from the thrifted English chintz print cotton interlock, I had enough left to make a shirt.  I mixed aspects of views A, B, and C/D from New Look 6068 plus the sleeves from KwikSew 303 and ended up here

Cool Splat T-shirt

 After cutting the previous project, there was a large(ish) piece of fabric left that was just enough to eke out a little T-shirt for me.

Mixed Knits

 I had a little bit of flocked swiss dot fabric left from this, bits'n'pieces left over from this shirt and tights, the remnant of floral knit from the free bin at the craft thrift store, and more of the fabric than I'd need for the intended project, so I could use a bit of it here, from the same visit to the craft thrift store, and I put them all together to make a silly dress.

Two Pink Shirts

 So, last time I went to the craft thrift store, I grabbed a few yards of a bright pink knit, figuring I could make a few shirts from it.  Fabric there is sold per pound, so it wasn't measured, and I could tell there was a lot there so I didn't unfold it, either.  Cue the feeling of BETRAYAL when I got home and discovered it was not contiguous yardage, but, instead, five two-yard strips of roughly 10" wide each.

After accepting that what I had was what I had, I realized I could just...piece the fabric to make it wide enough for the front and back.  I considered getting fancy--exposed seams, adding extra seams, more and more piecing, to make it look Designed.  I realized, though, that there was still some resentment about the BETRAYAL, and that meant I didn't want to work with the fabric that much.  Simple center seams it would be.

I used New Look 6068 with Kwik Sew 303's sleeves again.  I finally traced 303's sleeve pattern, to keep with 6068, too.  The "rough" part of "roughly 10" wide" meant there were areas wide enough to cut sleeves as one piece, in both long and short lengths.  I also went with one scoop neck and one crew neck.

Muted Mauve Knit Lace Mock Turtleneck

 This is what I cut first, then used the remnants from it to cut the shirt sewn first, blogged in the previous post.  That project proved that the serger wasn't going to immediately break the left needle, so I went ahead and sewed most of this with the serger as well.

Serger Shakedown

 I have been cautiously using my serger with one needle since I tried to rectify its propensity to destroy the second needle when it was installed.  The serger seemed to be fine with the single needle, so I decided to go ahead and try a project with two needles...not that I had much shirt-appropriate knit fabric left after making all the T-shirts in February.

I finally settled on a heavy knit lace to make into a mock turtleneck for layering purposes.  After I cut that out, I looked at the amount of fabric left and decided to see if I could eke a tank top out of it, and that became the project used to test how the serger would behave with the left needle in place.

It behaved just fine! (although I still don't entirely trust it, so didn't run it at full speed.)

Fleur de Lys Tee

 Oh, look, it's another New Look 6068/Kwik Sew 303 hybrid T-shirt

 

 

Blended Tee

 I really do plan to sew fewer things this year than I did last year. It's just that...these T-shirts are really easy to sew, and are things I've wanted to make for a while, so I'm riding this T-shirt wave until either the available appropriate fabric--or the T-shirt sewing motivation--gets used up.

And this version of New Look 6068 (again with Kwik Sew 303 sleeves) shows that the definition of appropriate fabric is flexible--no, not switching to overwhelmingly synthetic fabrics, but instead to...scraps!

The Most Basic Tee

 The Selfish Seamstress had the philosophy of saving your sewing effort for fun things, for things you couldn't go easily buy.  I get the idea behind that, absolutely, but I'd say the definition of "easily" is variable enough that this can still qualify as good ol' Selfish Sewing (with good ol' New Look 6068)

Just Another T

Another no-frills T-shirt made from New Look 6068 and the sleeves from Kwik Sew 303

Check Tank

 ...and then I used the rest of the fabric from the previous shirt to make a tank top

Just a T

 I did it! I made a plain T-shirt, with no extra decorations!

Sponge Stardust Skeleton

 Going to start with the declaration that I do not, as of this post, own any fabric medium.  So, when I used the freezer paper bones left over from what I used to make the reverse appliqué rib cage shirt to paint a rib cage on another shirt, I knew it would end up...crunchy.

 

 

Strawberry Shirt

After finishing the reroots, I wanted to get back to sewing with a quick project, and New Look 6068 (and the ways I vary it) is one of the quickest.

I also decided to use up a bit of dark red cotton interlock, the origin of which...I have no idea, and there wasn't enough for sleeves.  I really wanted sleeves.  So! Contrast sleeves it is.  And I would use the same contrast fabric for the neckband ribbing modification I use on that pattern.  The pink rib knit I've used many times seemed like a good candidate...but...I didn't have enough of that for long sleeves.

Since I need to replenish my "t-shirts for layering" supply, I decided against using the flared/elastic sleeves included with New Look 6068 and once again borrowed the sleeves from Kwik Sew 303, which is definitely my standard combo now, so I took an official photo of them together

That brought me to the point of cutting things out and getting ready to sew and thinking...hmm.  Dark red and gray-heathered pink aren't exactly summery short sleeve colors.  Maybe I could add...appliqué?  I'm certainly no stranger to that.  So...what shape?  Heart(s)?  Red and pink in February certainly suggest hearts, but I'm not, in  general, a hearts kind of person.  So...strawberries, again?  I found some muted pink calico with scattered white dots in the small yardage stash, and still had more than enough green broadcloth with Wonder Under already fused to the back, so, yes.  Strawberries.

Floral Tank

 A much quicker project this time: a simple tank top made with New Look 6068 and the Most Precious thrifted chintz cotton interlock

Batty

 I have a list of projects I want to sew eventually, but didn't feel like working on any of them yet (although the list did include the previous jacket, so it has been worked on already.  Just a little.)  I still wanted to sew something, and decided to finally see how much of a shirt I could get out of the 3/4 yard of Halloween bat print interlock from Joann that's been in my stash for a few years.

Turns out I could get quite a bit of shirt out of it

Simple Sequins

 It's past my bedtime but the neighborhood is already exploding with New Year's Eve fireworks (there's nearly an hour left until midnight) so I might as well make this post now, huh

Behold, the first thing made from the as-is sequins: a super simple mock turtleneck...that I still managed to miscalculate

Not enough of a miscalculation to regret, though!

And a Shirt for Me from the Leftovers

 As when I was making the cut sew tights from the 2 yard mill end pre-cuts earlier this year, there was a significant amount of fabric left over from making the kiddo's pants in the previous post.

So I made another little shirt for me