Take a bag of fabric scraps and a simple pattern, no small amount of time and fiddling and you’re rewarded with a pretty unique item of clothing. I’d wanted to make a tee from the different white and blue pieces of jersey in the scrapbag for ages, inspired by a tee from a Burda magazine from a couple of years ago.
I decided to make the Lark Tee, traced the 4 with slightly widened shoulders, moving to the 2 at the waist and then out to the 6 for the hip. This was to be for a friend. I started by tracing the outline of the tee from the pattern art/line drawings and playing around with placement of the different prints.
It needed to be done hand in hand with checking the actual amounts of the different fabrics, no point in deciding to do a large panel and finding out later there was only enough for a neckband! Once I decided I’d have enough of each of the pieces to do the required panels, I started blocking off the traced pattern, making sure each piece had a grainline and was labelled with the intended fabric. I also marked the top and bottom of each piece. The fronts and backs were cut separately. There were two types of blue and white stripe, a solid navy blue and a piece of navy blue with randomly placed white blocks. As each piece was cut I pinned and sewed, making a full front and back.
I’d have liked to have been able to have more of the solid blue, but as I told myself I was only using what I had this is the result. I’m pretty chuffed with it, for a pretty much free tee, can it get better? Afterall, I’ve used the narrow stripe on 3 other tees, and the solid blue on two. That pile of stuff on the right of the above photo is what was left once I’d finished cutting! Not too shabby!!
I haven’t been able to persuade my friend to show it off herself yet, so Betty will have to do. It’s a little baggy on her as she hasn’t the same shape.
Now that this has turned out so well, I’m keen to make another – but for me this time! It’ll join the sewing queue, so it might be a while before I’m showing it off! I have just finished my Morgan Jeans today, so perhaps their blog post will be ready mid September…
What’s on your sewing table for the weekend?
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 
FABULOUS !!! 😍
Thanks so much for showing us how you figured this all out, Anne. It took a fair amount of time, but it certainly looks extremely wearable, fashionable, and comfortable.
My weekend will be (hopefully!) spent finishing up a black gauze duster, and maybe a short-sleeved knit shirt.
Am in the midst of sorting through all the fabric I stuffed anywhere during the move and trying to put some aside for donations. All fingers crossed I get to sit down and actually sew.
Thanks Del, it did take a while, but totally worth it! I hope you’ve found time for your sewing and sorting!
Thanks, Anne. Have gotten quite a bit of sorting done and learnt a few things. (More on that later.) Picked up super large (2.5 gal) zip top plastic bags just now for storing bulky winter fabrics. Piles stashed around the house can get put away. Progress! Hope you’re also continuing with your To-Sew list!
Wow ! This Tee turned out really cute.
What great friend you are.
Thanks! It’s an experiment I need to recreate soon!
Inspiring use of scraps! I’m now thinking about all the pieces of denim I have in my scrap box …..
There’s much we can still use if we’re flexible with it! I just didn’t feel I could throw those scraps away (donate to local primary school) when they were (slightly) big enough to use!
FIESTA 🙂
What a gorgeous T! I absolutely love it. The colours (navy is my favourite colour anyway), the combination of prints and the style of the T I like too with it’s V neck. I could gush about this all day 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration. I can’t imagine a BETTER way to use up some beautiful knit fabric. If I perfected this process I couldn’t stop making them for myself – in fact after making a few knit garments I’d make a T with the leftovers and just keep doing that until I had a ridiculous pile of these T-shirts 🙂
Thanks! I never was much into patchwork, but this is different! I do really want to make more with my scraps, but finding the time required to put it all together will be short this month!
This is so beautiful. Great use of stripes and colour. Beautifully done. I’m sure your friend loves it!
Thanks Evie, yes, she does – and wouldn’t say no to more… 😉
This is fantastic. It looks so professional and you can really tell that you thought it out. Really great job.
Thanks! More will be on the table after I’ve finished my coat marathon…
This is lovely, what a great idea!!
Thanks Lynne!
How did you finish the seams for this shirt? I love the idea, but am afraid of bulk and/or fraying.
It’s all overlocked, didn’t turn out too bulky at all