/striped sweatshirt tee

3.02.2015

Just checking in to make sure everyone knows I'm still sewing almost exclusively with striped fabric. (Har har.) I feel like I've been seeing this sort of short sleeved sweatshirt style around everywhere (probably just Madewell... I always have their clothes on my mind!) so this striped sweatshirt tee was pretty much destined to pop out of the serger.

To get a little stripe-blocking going on, I changed up my raglan sweatshirt pattern. I created side panels and closed up the neckline a bit to be more of a crew. It's pretty boxy because I'm all about keeping the lines at right and 45 degree angles. The top is drafted so that stripes can match on the top of the raglan seam; it needed to be as close as possible to a 45 degree angle but still somewhat shaped under the armpit.


This tee is made with a really nice sweatshirt terry from Mood; you can see from the link that the reverse side is sooooo soft! To me, it was obvious that the non-fuzzy side was meant to be the right side, because after a few washes the fuzzy side is still blissfully soft but a little too pill-y and linty to be facing outward.

Even though I've had a lot of experience sewing with knits, this project wasn't without its road blocks. I had to baste in and trim the collar ribbing three or four times before I got it to lay flat! The neckline is so closed in and I wanted the ribbing to be somewhat wide, so I couldn't just wing it like usual. Also, the side panels meant that I couldn't follow my usual order of operations (1. attach raglan seams to back and front 2. sew SS + sleeve) but had to do it in reverse and sort of set in the sleeves, which felt weird but turned out alright. As always, I matched the stripes using this method.


The hem isn't turned up because long torso and I forgot I wouldn't be adding 2 inches of ribbing to the bottom to compensate for this. I will likely just hem it and only wear it with high-waisted bottoms, but for now it's finished with just overlock stitches and constantly curls up at the CF and CB (as evidenced in the photo on the right). I guess as with any sewing project, there's always that one thing you've just gotta let go!

seymour.
Blog design by Labina @ Plexicod.