Jane T-shirt

Part of the reason to have this blog is to have log of everything I make. Yet, I almost didn’t blog about this latest project.

Not that I consider the project a failure, quite the opposite. However, the project is a simple T-shirt, and I wasn’t sure that was ‘exciting’ or ‘inspirational’ enough to warrant the attention of a blogpost. Plus, to be honest: these pictures were taken inside, and I’m not the biggest fan of indoor project photographs (although I’m even less of a fan of taking pictures outside in winter in just a T-shirt). Nevertheless, if this really is an online logbook of my makes, this project should be in here. It’s a basic garment, that I made in early autumn, but one that will -hopefully- get a lot of wear over the coming summer. Moreover, I don’t only want to dazzle with the fancy stuff; the dreaded ‘instagram effect’. And hey, who knows, maybe my project notes can help someone out there, so let’s give it a go.

Why yes, I do have cats, why do you ask?

I’d been on the lookout for a T-shirt pattern for a while, mostly to wear with pinafore and dungaree style garments. But a T-shirt is a T-shirt so I’ll end up wearing them with separates and under knitwear too. Over the years I’ve realised I’m quite particular when it comes to T-shirts: I don’t like fitted T-shirts and I prefer round necklines. In the end I had my choice pinned down to two options: Seamwork’s Jane T-shirt and Fancy tiger crafts’ Wanderlust Tee. They both are beautiful patterns that I can see myself wearing regularly. I can’t even remember what make me decide to go for the one or either, it might have been a coin toss to be honest. In the end it was Seamwork’s pattern that the choice landed on.

Seamwork, which started as a Colette side project, is by now a well established name in the indie sewing world in its own right. They especially shine in the type of basic/everyday wear. The Jane T-shirt is more or less the epitome of that aesthetic. This design is mostly a classic t-shirt design with a loose fit at the bust and waist, but semi-fitted at the hips. I went with my bust measurements to pick my size. I fell in the middle to higher half of my size range, and am quite happy with the fit. The bust and hip measurements are the most important fit points on this type of garment anyway. I am quite pleased with the how it turned out straight from the pattern. It has as much positive ease as I envisioned. I noticed when looking through projects of others that some people commented that the loose fit is a bit too loose and even plainly too big. I don’t have enough experience with Seamwork patterns to know whether this is a general thing with them, and as I didn’t have any fit problems with this pattern, I am not too invested in it to find out quite yet. I’m am planning to use more Seamwork patterns in the future though, so I guess I’ll find out at some point.

For the fabric I used a good quality cotton jersey. As a result, the shirt has bit more body to it than viscose jerseys. In terms of material quality, this is probably the best jersey fabric I’ve ever worked with. There is possibly a lesson in here about good quality material, and in general I do try to heed that, especially with regards to fibre content. On the other hand, I don’t really consider myself to be proficient enough yet to really splash out in the fabric department, so the high grade fabrics will have to wait for some time.

I tried to match up the stripes as best as I could, and am quite happy with how that went. I’m not too strict about matching patterns up anyway, but with stripes I do try to make an effort. The sewing itself went quick and without a problem. Maybe if I were to do it again, I’d redo the neckline a smidge tighter, or do it with ribbing instead of the self fabric to give it more of a retail look. I’m not too bothered by how it’s now though, and certainly not enough to go back and redo it.

Well, that’s it for now, I hoped you enjoyed reading about this project! Speak soon!