I haven’t spent much time in the sewing room recently but I did have a little time to sew up this T-shirt. I need to replace a bunch of T’s from past summers that have gotten pilly and shapeless.

I bought this pattern mainly for the long-sleeve version because I really liked the neckline. But upon closer inspection, I realized how cute the other view was as well.

Overall this was a very simple and quick project. I cut a size large to the waist and then graded out to the XL from the waist to the hips. I sewed it pretty much just like the pattern indicated with the only change with how the neckband was attached. I sewed the top edge, right sides together as indicated in the pattern directions. Then I basted the raw edges of the bottom edge together and used my serger to sew it to the neckline of the top. 

Conclusion: Cute top, simple pattern, great wardrobe builder. Can’t wait to try the other neckline, I think this will be a good go to pattern for a variety of easy wear tops.

I now have no need to go to the land’s end to find a perfect swimsuit! (See what I did there?)

I spent most of Thursday working on my final project using the Danglez pattern and the dark plum Milliskin Matte spandex. I’m going to try to go through my process step by step. This way I have a reminder for myself for the future when I want to make this suit again and maybe some of my modifications will come in handy to anyone else that wants to attempt this pattern. It really is a great pattern, it just needs some help for the average sewist and maybe a few “translations” for the American audience.

The first step is to assemble the V-insert into the front bodice and doing the gathers on the body front and the bra cups. For the most part this is pretty straight forward. But I definitely recommend that you baste the seams with the gathering together before the final sewing, especially if you are using a serger. I had to rip out a couple of time because the gathered areas kept popping out of the seam.

The biggest modification I made was how the V-insert was assembled. The instructions have you sandwich the insert between the cups and the lining and then after turning everything right side out you are to apply elastic to the neckline and then turn that under and topstitch. I did that on my muslin and didn’t like the way it looked. I referred back to my Lands’ End suit and saw that it was seamed right sides together from the bottom of the V all the way up the neck line and strap. I chose to do it this way and to apply the elastic all the way from the bottom of the V instead of starting the elastic at the top of the insert. When I make this again I will cut my cup/strap lining pieces as long as the outer cups so I can continue this seam all the way to the end of the strap and also will do the underarm/strap seam the same way and then turn each cup back right side out.

I also under-stitched the lining to the elastic along the neckline edge to keep it from curling out. Next time I make this pattern I will cut my seam allowances 3/8” instead of 1/4” so that the seam allowance was the same width as the elastic.

For the under-bust seam I again sandwiched the cups between the lining and the front piece and serged this seam. This is where I really wished I had basted everything together first. I had 4 layers of slippery fabric with one being tightly gathered and they didn’t want to go together smoothly. I picked and restitched the one cup a couple times and finally got an acceptable result. I then applied elastic to this seam for extra support and better fit. If I had basted these 4 layers together first I probably could have sewed this with the serger and apply the elastic all in one step.

The rest of the suit went together very quickly and easily. I learned my lesson on the cups and basted the side seams before serging them. The crotch assembly can be a little confusing but is simple once you understand how it all goes together. The writing instructions in the pattern are very confusing. If you have access to the Kwik Sew book I recommend using it as a reference for this step. Basically I used the “burrito method” of putting it together and hiding the seam inside between the front and lining pieces. Match the front and back crotch seam right sides together and then wrap the lining around over everything and match that seam right side of lining to wrong side of back piece and stitch. When you untwist everything it will all be right side out with the seam hidden between the lining and front piece.

On Monday I completed the last steps; the leg elastic and the back/armhole elastic. If you do the entire front bodice right sides together with the full lining you will only have to put elastic along the top of the back piece. After putting all the elastic in, turn and top or coverstitch it in place.

The back doesn’t have a center back seam but my Land’s End suit does. I may add one next time with a little waist curve for better fit. But all in all I don’t think it will be a big deal. I also didn’t line the back but might in the future just for better coverage and bulge control.

In the photo left the original Land’s End suit is on the right and my version on the left. I think I did a pretty good job of recreating my favorite style suit.

• Other posts about sewing this suit:    
• Round One Wadder
• Preparation

I pinned this scarf tutorial from Make it and Love It a few weeks ago. I thought it was such a cool technique and would be a great use for this Tencel © knit we carry at the store. I finally had some time at work yesterday to give it a try and I love the result.

This was not a quick project. I did have a few times when I was trying to sew too fast with the elastic bobbin thread and the machine didn’t like it and my top thread broke. All I had to do was slow down and take it easy and it worked great.

I didn’t really modify the project from the basic directions except that I cut two WOF (60”) strips, 12” wide (total of 2/3 yd. of fabric) and sewed these together for a starting scarf that was 12” x 120”.

I wore it at work today with a big pin. I just wrapped it around my neck like an infinity scarf and pinned the ends. It was very comfortable and I love the texture it added to a plain black dress.

This is a pretty cool shirring technique and I am thinking of ways it can be used in other projects. I’m also inspired to try some traditional elastic shirring on some tops and skirts I want to make for summer. This soft knit really is the perfect fabric for this technique.

This weekend I’m going to continue working on my Jalie jeans and my Danglez swimsuit. I received my order of Milliskin Matte this week so if I like how the Danglez suit works in the cheap Joann’s fabric I can try it with the good stuff. I accidentally ordered the wrong pattern number for the Kwik Sew suit that I wanted to try too. I’ll have to wait on that one. I wanted this one: 3609 and got this one: 3608. Oops!