April 30, 2011

t-shirt with stripes

Yeah! Here's something new and finished! And I can show it to you. I didn't draft the slopers for J's jumpsuit today. Instead, I decided to make a quick knit top.

I am really reconsidering my choice in tops this summer. For years, I've been happy with fitted t-shirts and tanktops with small variations. I guess the tanktops will keep hanging around for that real summer weather, but I find myself falling out of love with those skinny t's.
In fact, I even know why. For the past year or three, I've been playing around with high(er) waisted skirts and trousers. Often, I liked the fit, but, especially with trousers, I wasn't sure how to style them. Which meant I ended up wearing those t-shirts over moderately high-waisted trousers. Now, maybe thanks to my winter pencil skirts, I seem to have figured out the amount of room needed in a top which is to be tucked into high waisted skirts or trousers. (which, of course, leads to me wanting to make new trousers which would not be waist-high like most of those I have, but have a waistband at the natural waist and up, like those pencil skirts)

Anyway, my latest top is another take on the twist top (by the way, I made that as a muslin for my twist dress, but I have finished it and I've worn it a lot last summer). This time, I put the twist much higher up on the bodice, making it more of a neckline decoration. The fit in the body is the same as the one used on my colour-block top, but I kept the normal armscye for a set-in sleeve. The sleeves are adepted from my normal fitted sleeves. They are much wider, with a rather low sleevehead, making for a look which is fairly common on t-shirts.

I chose the stripey fabric to set off the twist design but I was afraid this particular version might be horribly see-through. As it turns out, there was no need to fear. I have some of this fabric left and I may just make a fairly normal t-shirt out of it because I like the back view of this one.

The one weakness of this top has to do with the stretch of the fabric. It doesn't stretch anywear near as much lengthwise as it does in every other direction which causes some hang-and-drape issues with the bias front. Which was caused, of course by my idea that a chevron-front would be fun.

8 comments:

  1. Love the top! The twist effect looks so fabulous with the stripes!!

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  2. I second what Debi said... and I really like the chevron effect too. This has the simple wearability of a t-shirt but has so much more impact, well done!

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  3. Gorgeous top! I love the twist detailing and the choice of fabric.

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  4. Yes, the twist looks great with the stripes - I guess they're just the right width for it to work. And it looks good as a neckline decoration! It has a very classic feel to it.

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  5. This looks fantastic in stripes!

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  6. This looks lovely! The stripe matching is perfect! I agree with you about the trickiness of difference in stretch in jerseys... it really means one cannot use the same pattern for different fabrics at all, but re-fit with each and every one.

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  7. Gorgeous!. I love the twist and chevron. What a wonderful top.

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  8. Great top! Looks fabulous with the pencil skirt.

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