Monday, May 11, 2015

Rowan Tee with gatherings plus Seraphic Pants.

My love affair with my new CoverPro from Janome continues and my favorite knit patterns are getting extra attention from me these days.


This is The Rowan Tee (slightly altered) from Titchy Threads and The Seraphic Pants from Figgy's Patterns (also slightly altered).



I recently bought this 100% rayon knit from Fabric.com and it was quite light weight. Which means excellent drape but also not super suitable for a slim style t-shirt since they are usually a bit see-through if it gets too close to the body. So I took my Rowan Tee pattern because I love it and I know that the fit is right AND then I added some center front gatherings. 
That is simply done by moving the pattern piece out from the fold line on the fabric before cutting. I moved it 10 cm / 4" away. Which meant that I added a total of 20 cm / 8" extra fabric to the front piece. I added two rows of long gathering/basting stitches to the neckline and gathered a 30 cm / 12" center front piece back to 10 cm (5 cm on each side of center front (CF)) so the neckline stays the same size as the original pattern.
I'm sorry if I'm making it sound complicated. It really isn't, promise!


Then I overlocked my neck rib on and used my cover stitch to sew a single stretchy chain stitch to hold down the seam.
Stitching the seam down afterwards it not at all necessary but it helps the overall look of the garment after wash. I'm sure you have noticed how your seams looses that lovely pressed looked it had when you just finished sewing it after the first wash. And sure you can press/iron it again but seriously to me life it too short for ironing t-shirts (and most other things too, ahem) on a general basis.

I kept the back and short sleeves as it is from the original pattern but I overlocked it together with 0.7 cm SA instead of using the pattern's 1 cm / 3/8" which overall gave a tiny bit looser look.
I'm super happy with the result and I can't believe how much different this tiny change with the gatherings made.
HERE is a link to a post where I made the original pattern by the book for comparison.


The Seraphic pants is a new favorite. I have already blogged about the original version HERE and in that post I talked about putting elastic at the bottom hems for my next pair and oh, how I love that. I also made them more cropped and I think it gives such a funky yet ultra relaxed look. I seriously wish I could rock pants like that, ugh.


The fabric is the same type in navy blue and royal blue. Both are Laguna cotton jersey from Robert Kaufman bought at Imagine Gnats Shop. I seriously LOVE this knit. Firm and medium weight and yet soft and stretchy at the same time. LOVE!
The waistband rib is this heather sky blue rib from Girl Charlee. The rib is quite loose and very stretchy and I have an elastic inside the waistband too.


If I didn't already love my cover stitch machine I really started doing it after making these elastic hems.
I basted the elastic on the very bottom of the pant hem, folded the elastic up including fabric and then cover stitched from the right side of the fabric through the elastic (which is as wide as the top of the cover stitch that you can see above) while stretching out the elastic to fit the fabric. It worked sooooo well and no annoying twisting elastics in casings anymore, seriously yay!
It's funny because the machine can at times have problems sewing over many layers of fabric (e.g. at a seam like where the navy and royal blue meet above) but when it sews through a thick elastic there has been NO problems. I guess it is in it's element there.


That's all from me for now.
Thank you!

15 comments:

  1. You are on a roll! i really love the colors and prints in this outfit. and great photos too. I want more!!! I guess we are lucky you are loving your new cover pro ;) <3

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  2. Very cool way to use super thin knits. Thanks for sharing because I have so many of these in my stash!

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  3. Such a great outfit, Mie! And once again, your photography is great as well! That first photo is so adorable!!!

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  4. Your photography has improved so much over the last months! Amazing. I really should start some photography courses, too. Which ones have you taken so far?

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    1. Hi Annika. Thank you SO much…It makes me very happy that it shows that I’m trying to improve my photography :-)
      I have only taken one course so far ‘From Auto to Manual’ at The Define School and I highly recommend it. Then I got a new lens which made a massive improvement too. I got a Nikkor 50 mm 1.4. And Last week I started another Define course which is called Light & Life and so far I really like that too!
      I really needed these courses because I didn’t even knew how to practice…I was so clueless. Now I have gotten some basic tools and it is so fun when you can see improvement. There is still a long way to go…but at least it is going forward now :-)

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  5. Great outfit! I'm so scare of thin knits because my machine always "eat" them at the beginning of the stitching. I like lots that subtle alteration you added to the rowan Tee. And the photos!!!

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  6. Brilliant! I will be making Teresinha a gathered Rowan tee! Tks for the inspiration!

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  7. You're on fire!! Love everything about this outfit! Such a great idea for the Rowan, must try it!! Gorgeous photos as usual! <3 <3 Amen for you getting a cover pro and sharing with us all the amazing things you make, super inspiring! xxx

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  8. I love a gathered front t (or dress)...such a sweet little detail. :) And those pants are SO COOL!

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  9. So awesome, Mie and I love these photos!

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  10. Such great photos, Mie!
    Thank you for the tutorial on the tee alteration. I need to make a couple of summer tees for my kids and now I know what to do!

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  11. I love front gathers on the tee! It is amazing how a small adjustment/modification can change the look of a garment, hey! I guess having drapey fabric helps, too :) The pants are also cool, of course, and the jumping pics!

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  12. Amazing outfit, love the colour combo and your photos are amazing as well 😊👍

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  13. Perfect outfit - practical and cute!

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