sewing and serging
I’ve been trying to take it easy on my slightly inflamed elbow and wrist this week by not knitting, so I sewed a bit instead. That’s a Plantain Tee, which is a free pattern that’s been going around the interwebs. I used a plain organic cotton jersey that’s been in my fabric stash for years, and sewed it up by hand in an afternoon. I’m pretty proud that it looks like a shirt, but there a few problems with it! I didn’t finish the hems or neckband once I realized it was too small.
The fabric I used isn’t stretchy enough, and I totally cut the wrong size (I made the 42). I do think if I’d made a couple sizes bigger it might be wearable, but I have issues with the armhole depth and sleeve cap. I do usually have trouble finding clothes with a shorter armhole, but this one goes a little too far! There’s bunching under the arm and across the bust, and I don’t think it’s just because it’s too small – I’ve seen the same issue in other finished ones.
I get frustrated with sewing because of having to make the same exact thing over and over to get it right. I know the muslin is supposed to be a trial, where you adjust things before making the real one, but I don’t have to do that in knitting! Of course, this one would have taken much less time had I been using a machine, and then maybe I wouldn’t feel like it was a waste of time.
Which brings me to the machine that I do have. The ever lovely megan gave me this serger years ago and I just never got around to figuring it out. Turns out it was absolutely not as difficult as I built it up in my head! I had thread, new needles and everything. I downloaded the manual from Singer, threaded it up and sewed some practice seams. (Yes, it does need more cleaning.)
Heeyyy check it out! I’ve never used a serger before but it really wasn’t too scary. I’ve ordered Cal’s book about drafting your own patterns and I have a nice big roll of paper from Ikea – could this be the beginning of a foray into sewing more clothes?
