A Pile of Tees!

It seems that t-shirts have become a wardrobe staple. At least they have for me! I wear them for workouts, and casual dress with everything from jeans to skirts. And, I even wear them to bed with my pajama pants. 

There are lots of great t-shirt patterns out on the market. I love the Terrific 'T' from Londa's Creative Threads. This pattern offers the option of a dart, or no dart, as well as a number of neckline and sleeve options. 

    

A new favorite is the Molly Tee from Pattern Union. There are a number of sleeve length options, and it also offers the option of bust cup sizes from A-G.  

I have made a pile of Molly Tees!!!

The basics, black and white with long and short sleeves. 

I especially love the extended shoulder seam that rolls to the front. The pattern works so well for stash busting leftover knits.

Another example with the print in the front and also used for the sleeves.

 More basics. I absolutely love the print tee on the left. Got the fabric at Tina's Fabric Nook in Granby, Colorado. She has more!!!

And finally...
I bought a maxi dress at a resale shop just because I liked the fabric, and then cut it up to make this top.

I have quite a few more tees in the sewing lineup. They literally take no more than an hour from cut to finish. So, no wasting time shopping, settling for tops that are cut off grain, and inferior fabrics.

Hope I've inspired you to make a pile of tees too!!!

Rhonda

A Month of Woven Tees/Week 4

What a lovely month it has been, except for the incredibly hot temperatures we have had in Chicago! As a child, I lived without air conditioning. For the past few weeks, every night as I crawl into bed, one of the last things I say is, "thank you Lord for air conditioning!" Complaining aside, I have so enjoyed the push that Becky of Trial Balloons gave me. Had it not been for her, I would not have ended up with all the new pieces in my wardrobe. 

THANK YOU BECKY!!! 

Now, this is just the best!!! You may remember the piece I painted and then had made into fabric. Well, I sent a piece to Becky and look at the AMAZING top she made!

Oh my, I am beyond flattered. The panel that I sent to her was unfinished, which I felt a bit bad about, as I thought she might just turn the edges and use it in a bread basket. What she did with it is a masterpiece. Be sure to pop over to her blog and see the back, as well as all the other lovely pieces that she made...and the poor woman has had pneumonia!  You can see all her work HERE.  

When Becky asked if I would like to participate in a month of woven tees, she said that she would put a Pinterest page together for us. The top below is one that she found and pinned to the page. I thought it was rather nice, so I used it as my inspiration for my tee, which is really a dress. To be honest, I wear more dresses than anything else in the summer, so a new, pop over the head dress is always up my alley. 

Once again, I used the free raglan tee pattern from fabric-store.com You can find the pattern HERE. 

Rather than dividing the sleeve, I decided to just start my design line from the underarm intersection. 

I did do a funnel neckline, which I really like. Super easy to do BTW.

If you look closely, you can see that I tapered the side seams just a bit, but not so much so that I can't get the dress over my head. I also added a pocket.

I think you can see the lines of the pocket better in the picture below. The seam line begins at the style line of the bodice and comes down to the pocket, but not all the way to the hem of the dress.

It makes the pocket area a little trickier to sew, but not that much. The reason that I did not want the seam down to the hemline was because of the shirttail hem that I wanted to do. Having the seam line to the hem wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but I just didn't want the extra bulk in the hem.

To balance the dress, I used the white for the bias binding along the hem. It should give the eye of anyone who bothers to look, something to notice

If by chance you would like a tutorial on how to make the funnel neckline, or how to draft the pocket, just let me know. They are both fun to do, and you can see that they can easily be added to a basic pattern such as this.

I do have a fun tea inspired recipe to share with you, but it is going to have to wait a few days as it has just been much to hot to bake. I hold my head in shame, especially when Becky has had pneumonia, and managed to get sooooo much accomplished :( 

I hope you have enjoyed the month of woven tees, and I hope that it has inspired you to maybe venture out and do something a little different :)

A Month Of Woven Tees/ Week 2

I am getting this post in by the skin of my teeth! At least it's still Tuesday in Chicago ;)

This is week 2 of the Woven Tee Challenge that Becky of Trial Balloons and I are doing. This week, we looked to the Orient for our inspiration, using vintage kimono fabrics as inspiration.

Check out Becky's fabulous tee! You can read all about her inspiration, how she put the Kung Fu Bunny tee together that she made for me(a great story), and see her lovely tea recipe HERE. 

I decided to use the same pattern for the entire challenge. I think it's fun to see lots of possibilities with just 1 pattern. and since it's a free pattern, all the better! You can find the pattern HERE on the Fabric-store.com site.

A friend of mine from Texas had a wonderful store in Galveston for years. At that time, she was able to get bundles of vintage/antique kimonos from Japan. She told me that when the bundles would arrive, it was a lot like Christmas as you never knew exactly what might be in the bundle. Of course the kimonos, but sometimes fabrics, and other clothing. The kimonos that were in good shape, she would sell, the others, she meticulously took apart and used the pieces for the most incredible table runners that she would make and then sell. She ultimately closed the store, and brought home all of the leftovers. In time, she realized that her years were growing short, and that she would never be able to use all that she had, so she began finding homes for her beloved fabrics and scraps. I was the lucky recipient of some wonderful pieces. 

My top. 
I had quite a bit of the black fabric, I think it must have been an entire kimono. The contrast strip was just a small piece, initially about twice as wide as what you see. Since the kimono fabric is only 14" wide, and I'm not!!!, I had to piece the fabric, and decided to offset the contrast.     

Rather than sew the raglan seam together on the left sleeve, I left it open, used a bit of the cream fabric from the contrast strip to accent the opening. I gave a nod to the beautiful Chinese knots with the ties.  

I used the leftover piece of the contrast strip on the sleeve. 

For the back, I was able to just put a seam down center back.

I had just a bit of the cream fabric leftover, so I folded it and did an insert on the right sleeve. Once again, the fabric is only 14" wide, so the sleeve needed to be pieced and this made it look like it was intentional.

This was such a fun project, and I am in love with my tee. It will make a great travel piece as I can pair it with a lovely pair of pants, or a skirt for an evening out, and it can also be worn a little more casually as well. I'm going to Galveston the end of October, and I know my friend is going to be so very pleased :)

Now for my recipe. Like Becky, it's a drink, but rather than a hot tea drink, this one is perfect for a hot summer afternoon. 

My favorite chai tea is from Adagio Teas. The name is of course a play on the slang term for Chicago, Chi Town. The tea comes in a lovely tin.

Take a look at the lovely spices. Heavenly.

For my Frozen Summer Chai, I brew a cup of the chai tea, you'll need 1 cup.
I mix the tea with 1/2 cup of Almond and Coconut milk. Place the mixture in a blender, and add sweetener of choice. Mine is stevia.

Add a handful of ice, and blend.
I serve the drink in a big wine goblet and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top.

Guaranteed to cool you on the hottest of days :) And it will satisfy that late afternoon sweet tooth too!

I hope that Becky and I have inspired you a bit. There are a number of vendors that come to the sewing expos with baskets of vintage kimono pieces. So pick up a few and make your own tee!

Bragging On You!

Another day at the zoo! ;) Night before last, Mr. Berkley woke me up at 1 in the morning, thrashing around in his crate, the horrible cone scraping against the sides. I listened, thinking he would settle down, he did, so I went back to sleep. When I got up at 5, and opened the crate, I saw that this little bugger had managed to pull out some of his stitches. So, another trip to the vet. Now he is wearing a lampshade sized cone on his head, and has brand new staples in his incision. But, I figured out that I could take the cone off of his head when we go for a walk. He and I are so much happier. And, no crate for sleeping, he has found a place beside me. So, I don't know, maybe I would have been the worst mom in the world, or maybe the best ;)

There is nothing I love more than being able to brag on things that you do, especially if I have given you a bit of inspiration.

A few weeks ago, I received a note from Jelena telling me that she had made the Caught In A Wave dress, but in a woven fabric. I asked that if she had time, to send a picture. I am SO very happy that she did!!! Isn't this a lovely dress?!!!

I love how it drapes. Check out those fabulous shoes! 
The dress was worn to a Tango Festival. She said that it moved beautifully, and that she received tons of compliments, and she should have, it is gorgeous. Jelena was a little concerned about the dress staying in place with it being such a slinky satin, but it did. Thanks so much for sharing your lovely creation! 
   

You can find the original post and how tos on the Caught In A Wave Dress HERE.

I also received a note from Penny. I did not inspire this make, but since I posted something on working with tea towels, she thought she would share these pics of her daughter. It was actually her daughter's inspiration that brought about these lovely tees. She was shopping at Ikea, found the towels, and thought they would make great summer tops. Had her mom put them together for her. 

I especially like the top below with the embroidery along the hem. Who would ever think that these were initially intended for the kitchen?!!

Thanks so much for sharing your lovely makes. This is where my inspiration originates :)

Rhonda

Tea and Tea Towels/ A Challenge

Well, I am getting a taste of what it's like to be a mother today. Little Berkley went in to be neutered yesterday, and has had a few issues with the medication. Add to it that he does not want to leave my side. And then I have Gracie, who is terribly afraid of the rain. Between fast trips outside, if you know what I mean :/, and 2 dogs that are wanting lots of attention, I've had a difficult time getting anything accomplished. But the rain will come to an end, and Berkley will heal, in the meantime, I'm just enjoying the fact that they look to me for comfort :)

Today is the first day of woven t-shirt challenge that Becky of Trail Balloons and I are doing as a collaboration. The fun part about it is that we have a specified challenge each week, but we have no idea what the other will be doing.

This week, the challenge was to work with tea towels. Becky picked up a lovely towel while on vacation and used it as the basis of her design. You can see her post HERE. It really turned out to be the perfect 'throw it on and go' top as well as an airy, 'stay cool through the summer' piece. For anyone who loves good tea, she offers a wonderful idea for making your own tea bags. 

I have a box full of vintage linens and tea towels that I have collected over the years. When Becky suggested using tea towels, I thought of a pile that I had found, all new/old stock, so, old but never used. And, all the same. They were especially wide, so maybe not really tea towels, but they would work for this project. 

I decided to use the free raglan tee pattern that I used in THIS post. The pattern plus my pile of towels resulted in this!      

I was able to turn the pattern so that I could use the finished edge of the towel for the hem of the top. There's a faint black accent line woven into the fabric, so I decided to use a piece of vintage black gingham as an accent. One corner was cut, turned on the bias, and then laid on top of the gingham to create the pocket. 

For the back, I used another corner to cover up an issue. While the towels had never been used, there were some age spots that I could not work around. For fun, I added a piece of the gingham to the back and topped it with some embroidered initials from another tea towel.

A lovely time when towels were monogrammed :) 

Below is the age spot that the back overlay covers up. I also used the black gingham to bind the neckline.

I felt that the sleeves needed a little interest, so I added a stripe of the gingham. Just stitched it over 1 of the stripes in the towel.

Not quite sure what I will wear the top with, maybe a pair of linen pants. 

And now for my recipe...

Like Becky, I love tea, and I have quite the collection. During the summer, I especially like a glass of lavender iced tea. While the tea is great to drink, it's also great to cook with! Believe it or not, it's the secret ingredient in my lemon bars. 

I begin with a box of lemon cookie thins that I get from Trader Joe's. If you don't live near a Trader Joe's, I'm sure you can find something comparable in your grocery store.

The cookies are crushed to make a  cookie crust.

Mashed into a foil lined pan and baked until golden brown.

All of the ingredients for the lemon/lavender filling are combined in a blender, and then poured over the baked crust.

The result is a lemon bar that is sinfully good!

Lemon Lavender Bars

Crust Ingredients;

8 oz. butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups crushed lemon cookie thins

Filling Ingredients;

8 large eggs

1 1/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 3/4 cups lavender sugar

zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup flour

To Prepare Crust

Crush cookie thins. Add vanilla extract and melted butter. Mix well. Foil line a 9"' x 13" pan. Spray or grease the foil. Pour cookie mixture into pan and press out smoothly. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. 

Filling;

While the crust is cooking, place eggs in blender and blend until frothy smooth. Add lemon juice, and continue blending. Add lemon sugar and flour and blend until smooth. Finish with the lemon zest. 

Once the crust is golden brown, pour the filling over the crust and place in oven, reducing the heat to 325 degrees. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until filling is set.

Remove from oven and allow the bars to cool. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. The bars will store well in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

Lavender sugar can be purchased, but you can also make your own. I used the lavender tea to make mine. Use 2 tablespoons of crushed lavender to 3 cups of sugar. This is a very nice sugar to keep on hand. Use it in cookie recipes, as well as pancakes.

Enjoy!

Rhonda

A Collaboration

Can you believe that it's the last day of July?!!! 

One of the best things I did for myself this summer was to create the Summer Bucket list. It was not my original idea, but the idea of a precious teenager who sadly lost her list. But in doing so, gave me a wonderful gift. 

The pictures below document a few of the things I've done. While in Colorado, I did a 13 mile hike along the Fraser River. All alone, and I loved it. Took a hot air balloon ride. The bottom pictures are of me at Gene's Sausage Shop here in Chicago, eating at their lovely rooftop garden. BTW, I did not eat sausage! I had their potato pancakes. They are sinful, but so worth it!!! I have wanted to enjoy the rooftop garden at Gene's for years, but finally made it happen this summer :) The view is so lovely.   
   

Not exactly on my list, but I took a fun block printing class at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. Finished up my leather sneakers, and have been enjoying my artwork.  

 
There are a number of things on my list that are fast approaching. One is Shakespeare in the Park. Should be a delightful evening.

Now for something new... 

A number of years ago, I decided to do the Passion For Fashion contest at the American Sewing Expo. Sadly, the expo no longer exists. The contest was set up to be a mini Project Runway competition. On Thursday night, we chose our models. Friday morning we were given out challenge, along with $100 to create our garments. We were given until 7 that evening to work, and then again on Saturday until 3. At 3, our models returned, and we had about 45 minutes to make any adjustments that needed to be made. We then went before the judges. All a bit of a whirlwind. We even had our own version of Tim Gunn, Becky Fulgoni. 

A few months ago, Becky sent me a note and asked if I would like to collaborate on a project with her. Of course I would!!! Becky is so very talented, and has the loveliest sense of style. What she proposed was a t-shirt collaboration.

We have finally worked out the particulars, and here's a little peek at what will be happening every Tuesday the month of August. 

We have decided to do woven t-shirts, and we will be using some non-traditional fabrics. With each post, we will also include a tea based recipe. It might be a drink, and it might be something to eat.

You can find Becky's blog, Trial Balloons HERE. Be sure to pop over and follow her blog so you can see what she creates. But, in case you forget, I will be posting links on my post to make it easy:)

When I think of summer, my mind always goes back to picking vegetables, afternoons swimming at the lake, a big glass of ice tea, and wearing cool, comfortable t-shirts. I'm excited about the collaboration/challenge. What a fun way to finish out the summer!

T-Shirt Tango/Cowl Neck Tee

Thanks so much to all of you who sent such supportive messages on my post about my extremely out of control studio. Stay tuned for next week's video. The cleanup will not be completed, but progress will be made. Some of you asked questions. I will answer those questions when I do the next video. 

The beginning of the T-Shirt Tango posts! Always fun to start something new :)

We'll begin with the Cowl Neck Tee. As you'll see, it's very easy to do.

I'm using Londa's Creative Threads Terrific T pattern. If by chance you missed yesterday's post, I am sponsoring a giveaway of the pattern, so be sure to visit THIS post and leave a message for a chance to win.

I like this pattern as it's truly a basic pattern. I am using the round neckline that sits just at the base of the neck. Her pattern offers a straight side seam which gives a relaxed fit, or a tapered side seam for a little more fit through the waistline. 

I took the basic pattern and created a sloper. To do this, I removed the seam allowances and then transferred the pattern to a piece of poster board. By removing the seam allowances, I will never be confused once I begin manipulating the pattern as to where I need to add seam allowance and where the seam allowance was left on the pattern. I know that I need to add seam allowance to each and every seam.    

Now that I have a basic sloper, I can trace around it to begin my design. 

I did not want my cowl neckline to fall too far below my bust area, so I measured down 3" below my armhole and squared a line across the front bodice pattern. 

Cut on the line from center front to the side seam, being careful not to cut through the edge.

I spread my cutline open 3 1/2". For a less dramatic drape, 2 1/2" will be fine.

Rather than cut the entire pattern all over again, I simply taped the piece I had cut onto another piece of paper to develop my cowl. 

The center front edge of the pattern was extended up.

I did not want the neckline to be close to my neck, so I marked the shoulder 2" from the shoulder edge. From that point I developed my cowl facing. 

In the picture below, you can see that my ruler is resting along side the center front line that was extended from the original pattern. From the neckline to the top of the cowl facing, measure up 7". From the 7" mark, round a line back to the mark that was made to establish a 2" wide shoulder seam.  

The final pattern. You do not need to cut the pattern as  a full front as I did. The pattern can be placed on the fold of your fabric. 

Remember to reduce the shoulder seam on the back pattern to 2" as you did the front. 

If you would like construction instructions, let me know and I will be happy to do a video and walk you through it.

Cowl neck tees are wonderful to have in your pattern collection. This tee can be worn with jeans, and paired with a skirt. The pattern can also be extended into a dress, so it is extremely versatile.

Enjoy!

Rhonda