A couple of days ago was a national holiday in Japan, but it was raining the whole day so we stayed at home and got kinda bored. I went to my sewing room, trying to find things to do, and found this piece of grey tweed fabric that I bought a long time ago. It was only 50 cm and I had forgotten why I bought it in the first place. I decided to turn it into a pair of pants for Sidra.
It was a really simple pants, I use a pattern from R&D.M.Co-boys & girls that I have used so many times for Sidra, so it was finished quickly. Anyway, after I finished the pants, I remember that I had planned to use the fabric to make a bag. Too late for that, I guess.
After finishing the pants, I made a curtain for bathroom area from a couple of meters of IKEA fabric with the famous bird print. Sorry, no picture because it was so hard taking pictures in the narrow hallway.
I went back to my computer and started browsing again when I found this tutorial on sewing with knits on Patterns by Figgy’s site and it inspired me to make a T-shirt for Sidra. I don’t have a serger, so I rarely work with knit fabric. The tutorial is for sewing knits with a regular sewing machine, perfect for me!
I went back to the sewing room and took this striped fabric from the stash. It was bought sometime ago in a spur, just because it was on sale and very cheap. I only cut a little to make a pants for my son’s rat plush toy, the rest was left in my high stash that I look at everyday with guilty feeling. So glad that I found that tutorial!
I use T-shirt pattern from simple+one and cut the fabric on diagonal so I wouldn’t get bored with sewing ordinary stripes. The T-shirt was sewed using zigzag stitches as mentioned in the tutorial, I also tried using stitch no.6 on my sewing machine with good result. There are so many stitches on my machine that I haven’t tried out! All the seam allowances are left raw, but knits won’t fray so it’s okay. I put a little iron-on patch apple on the shirt so it will be easy to differentiate the front from the back.
I’m really satisfied with the T-shirt. It looks like something store-bought on the outside, but a look closer will reveal that it is handmade and homemade. I will make more T-shirts from now on! (^_^)/
Pants pattern is from R&D.M.Co-boys & girls
T-shirt pattern is from simple+one
I would like to know where to find the pattern “simple+one” in english…I have 2yr old granddaughter I would like to sew some t-shirts for. Or maybe you have another suggestion in patterns I could us. I did try to find the english version on Amazon but don’t think they have it…not sure…thank you for your time.
Gloria
I don’t think there is an English version of that pattern book. But I can’t read Japanese and I find the pattern is easy enough to understand.
However, T-shirt pattern is quite simple, you can trace a store-bought T-shirt to make your own pattern. Hope that helps!
really cute!!!
Love the outfit. Especially the little matching pants for the rat! How cute. I’m new to the world of sewing and blogging. Stop by http://purl2tog.wordpress.com/ to see my creations as well.
Cute shirt knits are very easy to work with I don’t have a serger either.
Hi Novita
Looks great, and the pictures are so kawaii!
I’d love to sew with knit fabrics. I have a serger, but I don’t know how to use it, so I have enrolled in a course. I’ll learn lots and start writing about my overlocking adventures soon.
Very inspiring Novita, as always!
Glad you found the tutorial helpful (I wrote it). As always, great job!
Thank you so much, Kelly! Your tutorial really gives me confidence to sew knits.
I’m enjoying your blog too
What an adorable outfit for Sidra. I had to laugh about the rat plush pants. My boys have me sew for their plushes too! Anyway, I hope you do feel good about sewing knits without a serger. I have a serger, but I prefer to sew my knits with my machine. I always seem to get better results on the outside! And that is the side that counts.
que guapo está, me encanta tu estilo!!
besos desde Barcelona!
Tatiana
I love your idea of using the T-shirt fabric on the bias, the diagonals look great, as does Sidra in his cute new outfit with those wonderful tweed pants!
Love the wee pants you’ve made for his toy as well!
You are so talented Novita!