More tees! Whether they’re shortsleeved for the summer, 3/4 for just about all year round or long sleeved for the cooler months, you just can’t beat tees for filling wardrobe gaps. They don’t take much fabric, certainly don’t take much time to make and are a very satisfying, sewjo boosting project to whip up! I’ve recently added 3 new tees to my wardrobe, and added 1 to Daughter No1’s.
So what patterns did I use this time? Let’s start with the Uvita top from Itch to Stitch. As said before, this is a free pattern when you sign up to newsletters. I really rate this pattern, it just works so well. I bought a piece of blue and white jersey from Rosenberg & Son at the Knitting and Stitching Show in October, this was my first victim! I love the swirly white dots. I ran up the Uvita in an afternoon and it’s been in constant rotation since then!
Next up, another blue and white fabric from the show, this time from Montreux Fabrics. I’d bought some of this earlier in the year, and was hoping they’d have more on the stand, because it wears so well! I made the Lark Tee, v-neck with 3/4 length sleeves in this. The drape of the fabric is perfect for the shape of this pattern. It’s slightly flared from the waist, skimming the hips (and tummy area). Usually I breeze through this pattern, even with that v, but this fabric has polyester modal content, so it was just slightly slippy – and it kept moving!!! I had to do that v a few times before I thought I’d better leave it. I also pinned and basted the side seams 3 times to get the stripes to line up! They just weren’t playing ball so I left them after the third time, having seen little to no improvement in the pattern matching.
The third of my tees is another Lark Tee, v-neck with three quarter sleeves. This time my stripe fabric is a blue/grey with narrow white stripes, bought online from the Frugal Fabric Shop. It’s lovely and soft and great to wear. I had the same problem with the v on this one!!! But the stripes were more accommodating.
All three tees are the perfect colours for fitting into my colour palette and will undoubtably be worn loads over the winter and spring.
Now on to Daughter No1’s tee. I had some navy pique jersey in the stash, bought earlier in the year from Montreus Fabrics again, and I offered it up to her. She chose the Lark boat neck tee with long sleeves.
If I make this again I’ll raise the neckline for her, it’s quite low cut for a boat neck. It also needs a swayback adjustments. You can see the fabric pooling in the small of her back. But she loves the length and is happy with the neckline for now.
In the mean time, I have a nice 3m of black viscose jersey I got from Croft Mill Fabrics earlier in the year, and I have plans to turn that into a long sleeved Uvita for Daughter No1. She’s also in line for a long sleeved scoop neck Sewaholic Renfrew. It’s a teeshirt pattern you don’t see much of online anymore, but it fits her well. The last tee will be a Basic Instinct Tee, and that should use up all 3m! They will need to be done in the next couple of weeks, because they need to go under a certain tree….
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 
All the beautiful Tees! I have several patterns for Tees as well and I have a couple of the patterns you mention (ie the Lark) but I’ve always found I can get the best fit through Jalie patterns. Have you ever tried those? They come in a huge range of sizes which are handy when you’re sewing for daughters or sons too 🙂
I’ve not used Jalie at all, but have heard lots about them.
I love these tees. The swirl is stunning and you simply can’t go wrong with a good stripe. Let’s face it….they’ll always be better matched than RTW, no matter how shifty. Thanks for the tip about Frugal Fabrics. They have some lovely stuff that I might be tempted to once I’ve got Christmas out of the way.
It’s nice to find a fabric shop with cheap prices, but not cheap fabrics!
Absolutely! They have some lovely choices.
Drooling, as usual, over your quality fabrics, which seem so hard to find over here. Just lovely, all of them!
It’s a shame you seem to have such trouble finding good fabric, I always expected the States to be swimming in fabric stores! 🙂
Not any more. Most every mill has closed and is not reopening. No Sewing Bee, no one championing wool production, no time to sew, no sewing education in schools and absolutely no concept of how clothes can look and feel when the fabric and fit are better than cheap buy-and-toss “clothing.” Sorry for the soap box! 🤨
I have noticed the Lark Tee pattern, but was hesitant. You seem to have mastered that v-neck in-spite of difficult fabrics. I love the look of it, especially on you! I have been using another Indie pattern company, but I may have to give Grainline another chance!
I really like this one, although I have used others too. I like the flared fit over the hip, the neckline never gapes, and the sleeves don’t need adjusting!