Lace T-shirt

I love sewing. I sew a lot, but for the past little while I haven't really been into sewing clothes.  I think my lack of interest in making clothing comes from a mix of having to sew lot of clothes in college for projects (somehow sewing for school automatically makes it less fun) and because I work with clothes all day long, fitting them and telling people how to make them. Either way, I have been more interesting is sewing things like bags, as can be seen here.

However, in the last couple weeks I have been in a clothing sewing mood.  It all started while I was reading a fashion blog the other week.  The author wrote a post about a knit lace top that she had, and how it went with everything.  Later that week, I went to JoAnn's (not at all looking for fabric to make a lace top) and happened to see some really awesome knit fabric that has a lace pattern on one side and tiny pinstripes on the other.  I knew it would be perfect for a lace T-shirt, so I had to get it.

I didn't have a pattern for a t-shirt, and I was feeling lazy and didn't really want to draft a pattern.  I decided instead to use a t-shirt from my closet that I knew fit well and use it to help me create pattern instead.  Before I go on I just have to say, that I want to scream every time I see a blog post or Pin about how you can make a pattern for something by haphazardly tracing around a piece of already existing clothing.  Pattern making is NOT that simple, and there is no way that what you trace is going to fit like the original garment.  That being said, that is basically what I did.  I know, I know, I'm judging myself.  BUT, I did do something a little different than what most of those bloggers suggest. I very carefully cut apart the t-shirt I was using as a guide and used the pieces for the base of my pattern.

By base I mean I traced around each piece and used those initial lines as a starting point for my pattern.  I then went back and tweaked the pattern, making sure lines and corners were trued, everything matched up, and there were no wonky shapes, etc.

Once I had trued my pattern pieces, I cut everything out.  I decided to have the front and back bodice be the lace pattern and have the sleeves be the wrong side of the fabric with the pin stripes.

After making this top, I think I am addicted to sewing with knits!  Seriously, it is so easy and quick.  To sew a t-shirt it takes 7 seams (shoulder seams (2), armhole seams (2), side seam/underarm seam (2), and attaching the neck trim).  That's it!  So quick and simple.
 

There were a few things I want to change about my pattern going forward, however.  First, I had too much shoulder slope on the pattern, so the shoulders don't lay as flat to my body as I would like.  I have very square shoulder, so I really need very little slope built into my patterns.  Also, I didn't do a stellar job on the neckline of this guy.  I didn't cut my neck trim short enough, to stretch it to meet the neckline, so the neckline doesn't lay flat very well.  Despite these small details, overall I really love this t-shirt.  I have worn it several times already and it really does go with just about anything!

Lastly, I just wanted to share a close up of my new shoes :)  I got them at Target, I wasn't really sure if they were my style or not, but I love them!  I have actually worn them a lot, and surprisingly they are pretty comfortable.  I can wear them an entire day at work and my feet don't hurt which is great.