Fixing a Mistake

Fixing a Mistake

Pattern – Classic Ringer Tee from Peek-A-Boo Patterns

Fabric – Cotton/spandex from l’oiseau fabrics

Skills – bands for sleeves, necks

A cute little tee was ruined when I attached the sleeves.  For some reason there was ugly buckling at the front where the sleeves met the body.  Did I cut the sleeves too small?  Was the body too big?  I still don’t know what caused it, but the dinosaur fabric was so cute that I simply couldn’t make myself throw it away.  It sat there accusingly for months while I dithered.  Donate it to a thrift store?  Toss it?  I just couldn’t make myself do it.  Finally one day I’d had enough.  Grabbing it up I advanced on the garbage bag – and suddenly I knew the answer.  Remove the sleeves and make it a muscle tee.

First thing to do – remove the sleeves.  I carefully cut the sleeves off, scissoring right next to the seam.

Next I needed bands – how long?  I measured around the openings (using the curly edge of knit fabric – I always save those!) and got 16”.  

If you multiply that by .8 (80% of the length) you get 12.8.  Add the half inch seam allowance to get 13.8 – then I rounded it to 13.75 for ease of cutting.  My bands were 1.5” wide.

Stitch the bands together at the short ends, press the seam flat and then press again to double the bands over. Now I pinned the bands in quarters.  I always use a distinctive pin to match the centre back or the bottom of the arm and developed this method after putting a neckband on backwards one too many times!

Then I quartered the armhole (or armscye to use the correct term!)  Watch your quarters here, especially when doing neckbands as the shoulder seams are usually not quarter pinning places.  Again, I used a distinctive pin to mark the bottom of the armscye.

Now to pin the band to the armscye matching pins.

Next to the serger.  I used a quarter inch seam and serged with the band on the bottom.  This makes it easier to avoid tucks that are hard to see or feel when you’re serging.  Gently stretch the band as you serge, being careful not to stretch the body.  I always leave a good tail and weave the tail into the seam with a large needle.

Nearly done now!  Over to the coverstitch machine.  I turn my garment inside out to make it easier to do this step.  I generally coverstitch on the body side of the join as it makes for a flatter seam which also makes it more comfortable to wear.  I’ve learned to fix my eye on the front of the presser foot as the band feeds through and not the needles.  I get much better, straighter stitching this way.

 One last step - ironing.  Never skimp on ironing as it gives you the best finish.  And now I have a little muscle tee that any dinosaur lover would be happy to wear!