The following is a real conversation that the author had with her 10 year old son.
Boy: Mom, did you make that shirt?
Me: Yes ! (A short pause follows in which I realize this might be a loaded question.)
Me: Why do you ask?
Boy: Oh, well. . . . It looks sort of weird.
Me: (Controlling myself and using fake calm voice) Umm, Weird like wonky and sloppy or weird like unusual?
Boy: Oh just. . . experimental looking. Like no one else would wear it, because a store wouldn't ever sell it because no one would buy it.
Well that statement pretty well sums up my me-made clothing dilemma. If I am going to bother making clothes do I sew stuff that looks like something that would sell in a store? Or do I create (and then wear) "experimental looking" clothes that could be described as "weird" by a 10 year old boy who think wearing mis-matched socks with paint splattered cut-offs held up with suspenders is normal? Well, I guess I can't help it, but I am going to walk around looking like this freak:
The experimental part is the slightly pleated shingles on the shoulder and front, because I'm tired of plain T-shirts and feel weird in ruffles. Maybe the next new thing in fashion is going to be shingles, in which case I'll be prepared.
Sewing Notes:
This is another knit top based on the Burda Lydia pattern. I find that the Burda patterns seem to run large. So, I recommend using a favorite t-shirt to check the size first. Now that I have sewn a couple, I realize I need to grade everything down except the shoulders. Since you have to print out all the pages and tape them together anyway, this isn't too hard. I just made a vertical fold through the lower front pieces after I taped them together, and left the shoulders as is. When I taped the shoulders to the lower front I just cut a new armhole line to smooth the transition. I'm sure other changes could be made in a similar way.
This soft rib knit fabric was very hard to sew on the cross grain because the needle would just push the fabric down through the needle plate bunch up and then skip stitches. I found it to be one of those "easy" projects that expanded my ability to combine curse words in new combinations. I had to use a stretch needle (and a double stretch needle for the hems) and finally just put tissue paper under all the hems to stabilize the fabric. I'm still picking it all out. I'm wondering if there is a cheap paper that dissolves easily because this fabric is so soft and I have a lot more.
