Maria Denmark Birgitte Basic Tee

I bought the Birgitte Basic Tee pattern from Maria Denmark something like five years ago, but this is the first time I have sewn it.

It's a basic scoop-neck t-shirt with a v-neck option and options for long and short sleeves and elbow-length bell sleeves.

I am in need of knit tops, and I recently had a stress-induced shopping spree at the remnants shop in town (stay tuned for a post about that), in which I bought a bunch of knits with the intent to sew myself some tees.

As always, the first thing I needed to do was make some adjustments to the pattern. I think there may have been an update at some point, because the size chart on the web site is different than the size chart on my pattern.

In any case. I have a 36" high bust and a 40" full bust. The pattern size medium is for a 38" full bust and 31"-41" waist and hip. The size large is for a 40" full bust and 33"-42" waist and hip.

I cut a size medium shoulder. I graded out to the large (40" at the bust (note, I did not extend the armscye out, I just made sort of a curve where the bust is immediately under the armscye) and back to a medium at the waist. The top ended up a little too tight below the waist, so next time I need to grade out to a large all the way down. My waist is 31.5" and the pattern size medium is for waists up to 31", but because the pattern purported to be loose at the waist, I thought I would be ok.

My bicep is 13.5" and the sleeve measured 14". I wanted an inch of ease, so I extended the sleeve piece to the size large from the armscye down. I'm not sure what happened, but the sleeve ended up being a bit large. I took the sleeves in 1/4" at the seam, undoing my faux full bicep adjustment, but they're still big. I don't know why that would be since the bicep circumference now matches my bicep circumference. The only thing I can think of, is that it has something to do with the sleeve cap, which is very high.

I wore the top once with jeans but it's a bit tight for me to feel comfortable doing that again. It does work very well tucked into denim skirt or my Maria Denmark Yasmin Yoke Skirt as pictured at the top of the post.

The striped knit was labeled cotton/lycra, but there's definitely a good dose of poly in there as well. It has great recovery but doesn't breathe as well as I like my t-shirts to breathe.

So then I decided to try again. This time I was using a remnant-shop knit that definitely felt like the cotton/lycra it was advertised to be. I knew I wanted to give myself some extra room below the bust, so I adjusted my pattern. Here the black line indicates the side of the first pattern; you can see to the left of the line what I added at waist and hip. You can also see how I curved the bust section when I did my faux FBA.

I made the elbow length sleeves, this time in a straight size medium. They fit better than the size large sleeve did. Here's what I ended up with.

The fit in the front is better, though I need to give myself a little more some room in the back. I cut the back as a straight size medium (I also did a 5/8" high round back adjustment and a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment for a shrug-free top).

A few more notes about the pattern:

Maria Denmark patterns require you to add seam allowances, which, shockingly, I remembered to do. This pattern also doesn't include a neckband pattern piece, nor does it give you neckband piece measurements. It just tells you to measure the neckline of your shirt after sewing the shoulders together, and then cut a neckband that is 85 percent of that measurement, plus seam allowance.

I wasn't super-pleased with either of these tops immediately after sewing them, but I've worn them both multiple times since, so I guess they're growing on me. Something about the fit around the armpits was bothering me, and looking at these photos, I think maybe I could do with shortening the pattern in the front above the bust. I'm going to try that next and I'll let you know how it turns out.



As always, thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Modified Metro T-Shirt

I made some good progress on rebuilding my handmade wardrobe in 2019. The biggest hole I had to fill was in my long-sleeved knit top drawer. Recently I sewed another striped Liesl + Co. Metro T-Shirt to fill space in that drawer.

I used the same pattern that I drafted for the narrow shoulder adjustment experiment I performed on my first Metro. I did a 5/8" high round back adjustment, a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment and a 1 1/4" full bicep adjustment the last time I drafted the pattern.

This time, Ilowered the neckline by 1.25" to make it more of a scoop neck. I also narrowed the shoulders by another 3/8" for a total of 5/8" narrowed.

I only had 43" of fabric, which wasn't enough to cut full-length sleeves. I ended up putting sleeve bands on to eke more length out of the sleeve.

I sewed the top on my serger, and cover-stitched the neckband and hems.

This photo really shows the curvature of my upper back and neck. I was a little bit appalled when I noticed it. My husband says I've always looked like that, but I'm not so sure.  In any case, this photo makes it easy to see why I have such trouble getting the shoulders and neckline of a top to sit in the right place. I've gotten a lot closer with my combination forward shoulder and high round back adjustment, but I'm still not totally there.  Maybe there's only so close you can get when you are shaped like this? I don't know.

I used a cotton rib knit that I picked up at a remnants store here in Bogota. The store is located on the top floor of a sportswear store and appears to sell remnants of fabrics used to make the clothes in the store, although I don't know for sure whether that is true. The remnants are all under $3 a yard, which keeps me going back.

They have a lot of knits that are marked as cotton, although the first fabric I bought there, marked as cotton/lycra, definitely had a fair amount of synthetic in it. This particular rib knit feels like cotton/lycra to me, though.

I was concerned about the recovery of this knit, so I cut the neckband at about 80 percent of the length of the neckline rather than my usual 85 percent. This worked well.

This pattern has a looser fit with a higher neckline than the other t-shirt patterns I've used. It's more of a relaxed fit without being slouchy. I usually gravitate towards tops that have lower necklines and are slightly more fitted, but this pattern has a place in my stash for when I want something a little more casual.  I do plan to lower the neckline about 3/4"-1" the next time I sew it, but other than that, I'll continue as is.

This is my third make from the pattern - I'll be sharing the second one next month along with a tutorial I wrote for the Oliver + S blog on how to hack it into a turtleneck.

Can you do a narrow shoulder adjustment in place of a full bust adjustment?

As someone who always has to do a full bust adjustment (FBA), I've long wondered whether it would be possible to replace this adjustment with the simpler narrow shoulder adjustment. If choosing a size based on your full bust results in a too-big shoulder, wouldn't doing a narrow shoulder adjustment on that size fix the problem? I decided to try it out.

Self-drafted t-shirt pattern

I should start by noting that this all started quite on a whim. A true flight of fancy. And as they are prone to do, this particular fancy has already flown. But I thought someone might be interested in reading about my experience dipping my toe into the world of pattern drafting, so here we are.

McCalls 7435 cowl-neck top

McCalls 7435 is a ridiculous pattern.  And clearly, everyone knew it but me, because it is out of print, and I've only found Internet evidence that three other people ever made it.  I'm sharing this review mostly just to talk about the sheer insanity that is this pattern, and also to talk about why I kind of love my finished garment and am going to be wearing it all the time.

Z's black velvet frock

While I was making this dress, I couldn't get A Little Princess out of my mind.  It was one of my favorite books as a kid.  Not long into the story, little Sara Crewe is informed that her father is dead so she must wear black.  Sara's only "black frock" is sizes too small, but she is forced to wear it anyway.  Thankfully, that story has a happy ending. And, happily, this particular black frock is just the right size for Z.

Green Blackwood

Three years ago, I made a bright green Lisbon cardigan. It was, hands down, my favorite item of clothing. I wore that cardigan constantly for two years, until a giant purple splotch, about the size of a half-dollar, appeared on the back.  I have no idea what caused the stain or where it came from, but no amount of stain-treating would get it out. It was a sad day when I realized this, so I'm just going to take a moment to reminisce about my favorite me-made ever ...

Plantains again

Today I've got a couple more Plantain tees to show you, which I think brings my total up to roughly 11,000 items sewn from this pattern.

I made both tees from the original (non-updated) pattern in a size 40 shoulder widened to a 42 under the armscye and size 42 sleeves.  I think, at a glance, these tees look like they fit perfectly well, and I certainly would agree, were I to happen on them in a store.  But as usual, here I am picking apart every wrinkle and pucker.  Every time I critique the fit of my garments, I get encouraging comments saying that I'm too hard on myself, etc.  And I totally appreciate and get that.   I do wear these tees a lot, so my fit critiques don't really hinder the amount of use I get from a garment.  I just find that I kind of enjoy analyzing fit issues. I guess it's almost like a secondary hobby to my sewing. Anyone else do this?

Striped knit pencil skirt and v-neck tank top

Spring is always my most productive sewing season.  Sewing for warm weather is almost a ritual, along with de-fuzzing my legs, painting my toenails and swapping out the cool-weather clothes in my closet.  I can't resist it.  

Simplicity 1358 Sleeveless Maxi Dress Review

You know how sometimes your style is altered by those around you?  I'm that way when I spend time with my sisters-in-law on my husband's side.  I always feel as though they are a little more fashion-forward than I am.  In the summer, my uniform is skirts and tank tops.  But sometimes when we are together I can feel a little frumpy - particularly if we are going out.  They always wear cute dresses and I'm usually in the same old stuff I wear every day.  We had a family reunion at the lake last week, and this year, I was determined to be fashion-ready for any occasion.

Lago Tank Pattern Review

Virginia tends to be pretty steamy during the summer.  I wanted to make a few knit tank tops for our summer trip home since most of my summer clothes no longer fit.

June 2019

This month was a little bit insane.  Fueled both by the need for clothes that fit AND the knowledge that I was going to be away from my machines for all of July and August, I sewed 15 16 17 garments (19 20 21 if you count both pieces of the four two-piece sets that I made). I completed another item off my Make Nine list- the Liana Jeans - twice.

May 2019

May was a super-productive month for me! I sewed mostly simple projects with the exception of one button-up shirt, and made three summer pieces for each of my girls. They wore them on our recent trip to Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast, and will wear them for the two months we are home this summer.

Striped Plantain Tee Dresses

I've been eyeing up the uber-popular McCalls 6886 pattern lately.  If we lived in the States, I would have picked it up at a Joann's sale by now. As I've been too spoiled by the $1 sales to pay mail-order prices for Big 4 patterns, I decided to use my Plantain t-shirt pattern to make the dress.

April 2019 and my Me-Made May Pledge

I don't have a focused Me-Made May Pledge this year.  I've gone from nearly everything in my closet being made by me, to not having much that fits, and even less that is me-made. I'm hoping to continue losing weight, so trying to sew a new wardrobe quickly doesn't make too much sense either.  So I will document my outfits on the days that I wear me-made, try to repeat outfits as rarely as possible, see if I can alter anything else to fit, and sew a few new things that I really need - like a pair of jeans and long-sleeved tops.

December 2018

December began without much hope of sewing. As I keep saying, I've had trouble carving out that time for myself.  I think that part of it, to be honest, was feeling a bit blah on living in this huge, crowded, polluted city. The weather was particularly awful in November and the first half of December - overcast and smoggy with very little sun.

I attempted to  jumpstart my sew-jo with a tiny project.  We had a Girl Scout campout in mid-December, and bandanas were on the packing list.  I used to have a drawer full of bandanas, but it turns out that only one survived my ruthless pre-move purge - I forgot about the fact that maybe my kids would need bandanas at some point too.  Hoping that it would jumpstart my sew-jo, I decided to make a couple the day before the campout.

June 2018

I'm late with June's update, primarily because I'm in a packing frenzy.  The movers come in a week and a half and I'm just a wee bit stressed out.  I'm closing up the sewing shop today so there won't be any more sewing for at least a couple months - that hasn't stopped me from buying a bit of fabric in July though.  

Without further ado, here's what I got up to last month:

PROJECTS COMPLETED

Cropped Blackwood Jacket

This is one of those instances where the garment told me what it wanted to be as I was going along.

February 2018

February was a busy month, and though I sewed quite a few individual garments, most of them were underwear and other things that don't take much time to assemble.  I still have to blog a couple of these projects, and others will only be recorded here.

PROJECTS COMPLETED:

1) Simplicity 1563A pj pants.  These used up 3 yards of flannel bought from FabricMart in January for this precise purpose.  Completed 2/2.  These will be on the blog soon.

Joining the M6996 party

This cardigan has been on my to-sew list forever.  It gets great reviews, and all the ones I had seen in the blogosphere looked fabulous.  The pattern is McCalls 6996, which I picked up during a $1 sale last summer but just got around to sewing up.