Kirsten Kimono Tee

During my lovely Christmas break I finally got around to making the Kirsten Kimono Tee from MariaDenmark (which you get for free when you sign up for the newsletter). I’d printed it some months back but never got around to assembling it. When I did it was a breeze, though I’m always somewhat irked when the seam allowance is not included.

I was a tiny bit worried that the sleeves would be too ‘kimono-y’ as I have little shoulders and they can get lost when the shoulders drop over… So I decided to do a test run using some very cheap jersey I picked up in Walthamstow market back in June.  I really love the speckled effect and figured it would be great for a comfy, layabout t-shirt (thereby meeting a need identified in me-made-may).

I used a small zig-zag for all the seams and finished them with pinking shears and a slightly larger zig-zag. And I used my twin needle instead of sewing in the ditch for the neckband, as well as  to finish the sleeves and hem. This fabric tended to roll which made all the hemming a bit tricksy but I got there in the end. I’m pretty happy with how my mock turned out – its definitely wearable (though there is a bit of a wobble round the neck). Bada-boom bada-bing – it only took 1hr 26min first go round.

As it was such a breeze to put together I thought I’d get straight onto my next one using this fun Birch fabric I got from Bizzy and Boo a few months ago. It’s amazing how nice it is to sew with good fabric. The only changes I planned to make were to add about an inch to the bottom to allow myself to make a proper hem.

It was progressing nicely until I broke my twin needle – gah –  GRRRR.Then I realised that the neck was all out of shape – I assumed because I had made the neckband too long. So I unstitched it all and redid it. Bing bang boom, the real problem was the neck was  stretched all to hell. Bugger-shit-fuck. I probably should have stay-stitched the neckline but the pattern didn’t suggest it so I didnt bother.  Tears ensued. The threat of a tantrum loomed – time for tea.

I ended up cut the 2nd neck band off and putting in a gathering stich at the front and back, before basting a new (and slightly smaller) neck band on. This worked a treat and I think it looks really nice actually.