Kirsten Kimonos in rayon

Three months postpartum, the most comfortable thing to wear is still my assortment of ribbed maternity tank tops.  So right before our beach trip I decided to round out the wardrobe with a couple of Maria Denmark's Kirsten Kimono tees (sign up for her newsletter to get the free pattern).  

Despite having sewn eight of these tees over the last two years (1, 2, 3), I had never actually sewn the pattern without modifications.  I always scoop out the neckline, and for my maternity Kimono tees I either lengthened or trapeze-d them.  This time I decided to sew the pattern with the neckline as drafted.  

As I had to retrace the pattern to do this, I decided to do a dartless t-shirt FBA using the instructions on Maria Denmark's website.  I used a medium as my starting size and added a 2.5" FBA (yikes), grading the hips out to XL. 

I sewed up two tees using some stashed rayon jersey.  I picked up the blue fabric off the $2.97 table at G Street Fabrics last spring.  I am pretty sure the tie-dye effect is the result of the dye running when I pre-washed the fabric, but I don't mind it.  That spot by the neckline is just water, which did not leave any marks after it dried.  I did not finish the neckline with a band this time.  Instead I just turned over and zigzagged the neckline.  I had read about people doing this before and was skeptical that it would work without stretching out, but it has actually held up just fine.

The black is a rayon/lycra remnant from Joann's; I think it was a little less than a yard. I finished that neckline with a raw-edge band.

These photos were taken on our vacation which, sadly, is now over.  It was a nice escape, and the whole family enjoyed the sand and the surf.  I'm suffering from a mild case of post-holiday blues now.  The girls asked me today why we can't just live at the beach.  Now I'm wondering the same thing.

I did not finish the hems (or even even out the bottoms very well) of these tees, as I plan to hem them once I get my new coverstitch machine out of its box :) There isn't much more to note about these projects, other than that I finally invested in clear elastic, which works much better for stabilizing the shoulder seams than the regular old 1/4" elastic I had been using.  I should have done that a long time ago!