Itch to Stitch: Idyllwild Top & Dress

This is my first make of 2015. I already finished it a few weeks ago, but did not get around to taking pictures. It is so difficult in this season of the year to take good pictures. So please excuse the heavily photoshopped and dress form images.

The pattern is from Itch To Stitch and I was one of the pattern testers. It comes with different options for neckline, sleeves and lenght. I made one version with cap-sleeves and one version with ruched long sleeves and ruched T-shirt length.

2015_01_25_IWT_capsleeves

2015-01-25-IWT-front

2015-01-25-IWT-sideview

Fabric:

I used lightweight knits for both T-shirts. The blue one is viscose, the other one with the nondescript color (it was described as taupe on the website where I ordered it) is a bamboo knit. Except for the color I love it very much. It is the first time that I have used bamboo knit and it is incredible soft and feels very comfortable on the skin. It was a bit slippery while sewing, though.

Alterations:

I cut a size XS according to the measurements chart (which also comes in cm and not only inches!). My bust size is somewhat smaller, but usually I can neglect this fact with knit garments. The only fitting alteration I needed to do was lengthening the shoulder line. I added 1 cm for the blue version, but the sleeves were still pulled up a bit. For the long sleeved version I added 2cm and this is the right shoulder width for me now. With the new shoulder point I had to draw a new line for the armscye. I did not change the sleevecap. I assumed that the knit would be forgiving enough and still fit into the new armhole. the dashed line in the picture below is the original cutting line.

2015-05-25-IWT_pattern_alteration

For the long sleeved shirt I made the neckband wider. I also had to shorten the band by 1cm. I am not sure if this was because of the stretchiness of the fabric or because the band was wider now.

Construction Notes:

As this were simple T-shirts there is not much to say about the construction. Kennis provides detailed instructions with drawings, so that you will have no problems to sew this together even when this is your first T-shirt ever. I serged nearly all seams. For the neckline I sewed in the band with my sewing machine, folded the seam allowance to the inside and finished with the cover stitch of my serger. I am still not able to use my serger for sewing in a circle…All hems are just folded under and stitched in place with the cover stitch.

2015-01-25-IWT-neckline

I was quite curious how a cap sleeve is sewn: the whole sleeve is doubled with the hem as foldline. Then the sleeve is sewn to the top of the armscye. The seam allowance of the lower part of the armscye is folded to the inside and stitched in place. It is a bit fiddly if you do it the first time. I also sewed in some clear elastic to the lower seam allowance to prevent gaping.

Conclusion:

I really love the fit of this T-shirt: it is fitted but not too tight. For those who do not want to draft their own variations I think it is a nice idea to have many different options inluded in one pattern. In addition to this, Kennis is selling this pattern for only 1$ and all proceeds will be donated to Salvandos Corazones who care for child survivors of commercial exploitation.

Disclaimer: I got the test pattern for free with no strings/review requests attached. 

Side Note: I now have also a faceook page which you might already have noticed from the little icon on my side bar! I am quite new to facebook and still learning how it all works but it might be quite useful if I want to post something that is not worth a whole blog post.

 

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