The Fall Capsule Collection: A Worthy T Shirt

I'm getting the hang of T shirts. Between my bespoke pattern - which I've continued to tweak at every opportunity - and my burgeoning awareness of the fabrics to which one must just say no, I'm making a lot of progress.

After my last go round, I realized that I'd need to find an appropriate fabric - harder to do than you might imagine. After some research, I opted to buy online.

I used a terrific jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics. It was well worth the money given that it's just what T shirt fabric should be: a little bit spongy, firm (but with great stretch), of excellent recovery, saturated colour, beautiful hand and terrific drape. It looks and feels beautiful AND expensive. I have to say that the client service Ann provides is excellent and the 3 fabrics I ordered are delicious. Alas, the shipping to Canada is at the very upper end of my comfort zone, and one can only order in full yards, so I'm viewing this as an occasional splurge. OK, a semi-regular splurge. :-)

This T shirt is almost up to RTW standards:

Even the seams line up nicely:

Between my serger (for seams), my regular machine (for pre-serging to ensure alignment and top-stitching) and my cover stitch machine (for hemming), I've got my own little factory.

The fit is perfect, if I do say so myself - well, I did take about 1/4 inch off the shoulder seam for next go around - but hopefully that will give me the narrowness in the shoulders I require.

Over time, I've had to make many adjustments to the flat pattern original:

• It's now observably hourglass in shape.
• The armholes are very high.
• The sleeves are reasonably narrow - 11.5 inches in circumference - and they are shorter than those of the original.
• The shoulders have been narrowed 4 times to get to the point that the seam sits properly.
• I've also modified the crew neck. Mine is not high, nor is it scoopy. (Of course, one reserves the right to change neckline on a whim!)

Unfortunately, when working with stripes - WTF was I thinking?! I DO NOT believe in pattern-matching and, alas, there's no avoiding it here - sleeve bands are a total liability. I should have just turned under the raw edge and cover-stitched. That would have produced a clean line. Instead I badly serged the bands and it's utterly obvious due to a) stripe-wonk and b) BAD top-stitching.

If you want to go undetected, don't create a visual roadmap. And don't work with skinny stripes! They're that much harder than thick ones cuz they repeat that much more frequently...

What I will say is that I bit the bullet and just figured out how to pattern-match. I didn't read about it. I didn't over-think it. I didn't loathe it. I just did it. I guess that's the sign of experience and confidence and I am grateful because I LOVE stripes and I've never felt comfortable using them before.

No doubt, there is no plaid in my near future, but stripes are in the palette from here on in.

So, whatcha think??