Fixing a gaping neck, after the fact

So you've just sewn your knit neckline/neckband carefully and correctly and STILL end up with The Gapes, like this:

And then you end up with a big case of The Mehs when you had such high hopes for a cute top/dress using that pretty fabric you just bought (or sacrificed from the stash).

Well first, stop beating yourself up. It happens to all of us and doesn't make you a sewing failure. Sometimes bad things just happen to good fabric and/or techniques. Next, get yourself some elastic thread, like this:

And a big-eyed, blunt-end needlepoint needle, like this (the blunt end is important so you don't snag the fabric and make a difficult task of threading the elastic through):

Cut a LONG piece of the elastic thread, roughly 2-1/2 times the length of the neckline area you need to fix, stretch it a couple of times, and thread your needle with it. Then, push the needle under the stitching that's holding down the neckline/neckband, starting at one shoulder seam.

Make sure you get the needle up into the space above the stitches, like threading elastic through a casing (which is pretty much exactly what this will end up as). Work the needle/elastic through the whole length of the gaping area and leave a long tail on the end you started from (this is why you need to use a long length of elastic).

Push the needle out at the back of the other shoulder seam and into/through the serger stitches (or seam allowances if you haven't serged) of the shoulder seam, and ...

... tie a knot. Make sure your knot is behind the shoulder seam, since you've pressed those to the back (right?) and want any elastic tension to pull toward the back.

Next, go back to that long elastic tail you left at the beginning and pull the elastic taut enough to cause rippling but not enough to create actual gathers. The neckline isn't going to lay flat now, but that's OK because it *will* lay flat on you.

And tie it off at the starting shoulder seam, again behind the actual seam. (If you leave your needle threaded while you do this, getting through the loops of the knot is easier.) Finally, unthread the needle and trim your thread tails.

Now be happy again because your new top/dress with that fabric you can't believe you just "wasted" is now a keeper! Look Ma! No gapes and ...

... no gathering.

I won't tell anyone if you won't. ;-)

This little fix works for front necklines/neckbands too. Just run your elastic through the front instead of the back and make your knots in front of the shoulder seams. If you need to fix back AND front, do it in two steps, using two lengths of elastic (or 3, if you have a vee or wrap neck) so you can keep the "drawing up" effect of the elastic separate, which will work better than one long piece of elastic thread doing all the work in different locations.

You're welcome. :-)

SBCC Tonic Tee

This is my Christmas outfit. And my little photobomber. We were quite casual around here today. Hello wrinkled shorts. :-) What's all that green stuff, I hear you northerners asking. Why, that's grass and tropical plants. Hee hee. No White Christmas here. But then I'm guessing you also weren't dripping sweat as you pulled the Christmas ham from the oven. ;-)

This is the fit of the Tonic, pretty much out of the "envelope" ... (pssst ... there's not really an envelope since it's a downloadable PDF). After deciding on size (more on that below), the only change that I made, and kept, was my square shoulder adjustment which I made before cutting the pattern. I also added 2 inches to the bottom length and 1 inch to the sleeve hem on paper, and then ended up cutting both off in the fabric after sewing the sideseams and trying on the tee. So, while at 5'5" I'm not technically a true petite, I am a petite in the chest, shoulders, and armholes. Something I've known and usually have to adjust for in other patterns. Armholes are ALWAYS too low on me as drafted, but not this one! How nice. Also, no FBA was done or needed.

The photobomber strikes again.

The sewing instructions are simple/easy but really good and very nicely illustrated. Some PR reviewers commented that there is no instruction to stabilize the shoulder seams, but this is NOT a teach-you-to-sew pattern so I'm OK with that. Besides, I don't stabilize every shoulder seam I sew anyway. It depends on the fabric. (I did use Design Plus on these shoulders.)

(Mini rant ahead.) I'm of the opinion that you if you're serious about your sewing projects, you should be serious about educating yourself. In other words, reference books either purchased or borrowed from the library, videos, classes, sewing friends with a little more experience, and even free blogs and YouTube. Yes, it's nice when you learn something new from a pattern or blog but I don't expect to learn it all from one place at one time and I always give myself permission to use a different method than a pattern instructs if I know what works better for me or something just isn't making sense. Just jumping in as a newb to start is great, but after dipping your toe, knowledge is power. I feel empowered and much more confident when I've equipped myself with information before I start a project.

So, back to the pattern. The only quibbles I have is with the print-out of the pattern. I'm really glad I read the PR reviews first, because I probably would not have caught that the individual sheets are to be butted up against each other instead of overlapped as with most other PDF patterns. But since most home printers don't print to the absolute edge of the page, some of the pattern lines go missing. On this simple (and FREE) tee, it didn't bother me at all. But I'm not sure if I would feel quite the same on a more detailed pattern. I think it really would depend on how the layout landed on the page tiles. But on the other hand, I LOVED not trimming the pages and overlapping before taping. This pattern printed in 16 pages and I had it off my printer and taped in 30 minutes or less.

Once I had it taped together, I got out my TNT Ottobre tee, which has been my Holy Grail of tees and tee morphs for years now. My Ottobre is NOT from a straight tracing out of the magazine. The pattern was a good foundation but there was also some finessing to get it to Holy Grail status. So, to see how similar the Tonic was hot off the printer was a very nice surprise. And a little bit of a shock. ;-)

I traced a straight XL (from the Curvy Chick side of the size range) for the front. For the back, I blended from XL at neck/shoulder/armhole to XL + 1/2" at the hips. The 1/2" is pretty much right in the middle of the XL and 1X, and was where my TNT "told" me to blend. The waist shaping of the Tonic lined up well with my Ottobre, which told me the SBCC petite body length would work for me. As I mentioned above, I added 2" to the bottom which I ended up cutting off. But I always cut my tees too long because I want the insurance I'm too lazy to just measure. Even my TNT pattern has the extra length on it, as you can see above.

Overall verdict: Winner winner chicken dinner! It fits great out of the envelope, nice instructions, and it was free!! What more could you ask for? Oh, the link, you say? Well, here it is again: SBCC Tonic Tee

Before I sign off for some sleep before starting my woooSEWCATIONwooo tomorrow, here are a couple of tips for sewing the neckband of this tee (and others, as applicable):

The pattern comes with a piece for the neckband, to be folded in half WS together and pressed flat. It is intentionally longer than the actual neck hole. You are instructed to leave one shoulder seam open so you can apply the neckband in the flat. (I don't mind the minimal extra bulk at the last-sewn shoulder seam. I do this all the time when using my CS binder.) You are also instructed to gently stretch the neckband around the tighter curves of the neck opening. This is all well and fine. But what if you don't know how your neckband fabric is going to behave?

Well, get out the pins!

Put the tee on your sewing table, not your lap, so you can work flat and eliminate fabric dragging down with gravity. Leave a little "grabber" end and then start with one pin at the open front shoulder. (If you leave the right shoulder open, when you sew on the neckband you'll be sewing the already-sewn/serged left shoulder seam allowance to the back naturally as you go over it, instead of trying to wrestle that seam allowance and the neckband at the same time.) Then work your way around the neck opening 1-2" at a time, gently stretching the neckband as you go. Don't stretch enough to create actual gathers and curls in the tee fabric, but only enough to create gentle waves.

Now here is the scandalous part. Leave the pins in and SEW OVER THEM. Sew from the top so you can see the neckband and keep your stitching even on it so you'll end up with an even band, and just sew S-L-O-W-L-Y and steady, leaving the needle down if you need to adjust as you go. I guarantee that as long as you are sewing slowly and steadily, your needle will not hit a pin and instead it will work its way around a pin to find the fabric, just like it's actually engineered to do. You only break needles when sewing over pins at Danica Patrick speed.

Below, you can see the backside with my stitching ... and the pins still in place. I practice what I preach. ;-) Most of the time I don't use this many pins but the print is a poly knit and the neck band is rayon/Lycra and they just weren't behaving nicely together. It's a lot faster to just pin the suckers down than to fight with them on the sewing machine, so sometimes I do actually use a crap-ton of pins. As with most everything in sewing, it just depends.

Another tip ... leave the tails at the beginning and end until you've sewn the second shoulder seam. It will give you something to hold onto when starting or ending the seam.

Final tip of the night ... press the seam allowances to the tee with steam and then lay your clapper on the front neckband until it cools to create a shape memory in the fabric (before topstitching or edgestitching). If you don 't have a clapper, something heavy but porous over a press cloth works too. It has to be porous so it can absorb the steam/moisture.

And, t-t-t-t-hat's all folks. Good night!

Repurposed

I now have a new top to wear with my new skirt. Yay me. ;-)

This morning, the "fabric" looked like this, a too-big dress that I didn't think would be flattering anymore even if I took it in. The problem was, I couldn't just toss it either because I really like the fabric. It's just one of those perfect knits — it feels good, drapes wonderfully, and the print works well with my wardrobe.

So after I altered my pattern pieces for skirt #2 — and then chased down Dani who I thought had escaped the yard but apparently had turned invisible instead and was in the way back behind big full plant-y things stalking something in a hole for over an hour (was I ever mad and happy) — I put the skirt aside in favor of a no-brainer palate cleanser, which was repurposing the dress into a top. Enter McCall's 6078, which I have made before, although my pattern is now a morph between the original McCall's (front) and my ever trusty TNT Ottobre tee (back, armholes, and sleeves).

Many knit tops use a narrow self-fabric facing strip to finish the back neckline, which is usually a royal PITA to sew nicely with an ornery, slippery knit. Instead of fighting and swearing, I'll opt to bind with my coverstitch machine and or use clear elastic as the "facing." I couldn't bind today even if I wanted to because I didn't have any fabric to cut for a continuous binding strip. So it was the clear elastic method. I took a couple of pics so you could follow along. :-)

First, if the neckline has 5/8" seam allowances, you need to trim it back to a 3/8" seam allowance (to match the width of the elastic). Then, using a Teflon foot so it glides over the clear elastic, align one edge of the elastic to the cut edge of the neckline and attach to the wrong side with a small ZZ stitch. (f you don't have a Teflon foot, GET ONE. It's great for sewing those ornery knits and lots of other things too.) Leave elastic "tails" at the start and finish so you have something to grab onto when starting and finishing. Trust me, don't skip the tails or there will be swearing involved after all. Also, don't stretch the elastic (but pre-stretch it before you attach it). Just keep it taut against the fabric.

Next, turn the elastic to the inside of the neckline just the width of the elastic and use your coverstitcher to topstitch. If you don't have a coverstitcher, you can use a twin needle or a ZZ stitch. And that's it. See how nice and flat? No ripples, no stretching out. No swearing.

This (below) is what happens when you decide on a pattern and cut out the back piece before determining if you actually have enough length in the rest of the original dress for the cowl front piece. Uh, yes, I did and then I didn't. I ended up piecing the rest of the cowl onto the top edge. In this print and with the drape, it doesn't show at all. But since the shoulders have stitched pleats, close up the piecing seam looks like another stitched pleat anyway. It all worked out in the end. Whew!

Here's skirt #2 altered and laid out to cut. The alterations were minimal but since I do not have a flat tummy, I needed more room for it. I added 1/4" to the sideseams and front princess seams at tummy level, which you can below. Because the waistband fit in the muslin, I had to taper back IN to the waist after adding for tummy, which makes for a weird pattern piece, but hey … if it works …

I may cut tonight or I may just veg in front of the TV. Anyone want to place a bet? ;-)

Techniques: Perfect Curved Patch Pockets

Pressing the curves on a curved patch pocket can be a pain and since I like doing things the easy way, here's what I do.

1. Use the pocket pattern to cut 1 piece of lightweight fusible interfacing per pocket. I used Palmer/Pletch's Sheer.

2. Measure the top turn-down allowance of the pocket and trim this from the interfacing. My turn-down is 1", so I trimmed 1" from the top of the interfacing.

3. Overcast/serge the top of the pocket.

4. Pin the interfacing to the pocket with the fusible side OUT.

5. Sewing the two together, starting and ending the same distance from the top of the interfacing as the top turn-down allowance. My turn-down is 1", so I started and finished 1" from the top of the interfacing (the interfacing, not the pocket). The red dots in the photo below show my starting and ending points.



6. Fold the interfacing down and out of the way. Fold the top edge of the pocket right sides together. Stitch as shown by the red lines below, being careful not to catch the interfacing.



This is what the pocket looks like at this point.



7. Trim seam allowances close to stitching, with pinking shears. Using pinking shears will notch the curves in the same step as trimming the seam allowances.



8. Turn the pocket right side out. Use a point turner to turn out the top corners and use your fingers to "wiggle" the seams open and shape the pocket around the curves.



9. Once you are happy with the shape, press the pocket from the front (fabric) side. Remember, it will be permanent since you will be fusible the interfacing in place, so make sure you have it shaped the way you want it to be.

10. I fuse a strip of Steam-a-Seam under the top edge of the pocket to keep it from bagging out, especially helpful for this stretch woven. This step is optional.



11. Admire your perfect curved patch pocket, topstitch the top edge in place (not shown here), and then attach the pocket to your garment.



(Obviously, this will work for non-curved pockets too.)

Techniques: Remaking a Man's Tee for Your Female Shape

How many bad-fitting men's tees like this do you have in YOUR dresser drawers?? (No comments please about the groovey PJ pants!)

It's time to remake them into something a little more flattering on a woman's body.

If you have a choice, buy the men's tee 2-3 sizes larger than you would wear. This gives you some wiggle room for placing the front pictures, etc.

First, cut apart the tee.

1. Cut off the sleeves at the seam attaching them to the tee. Cut apart the underarm seam so the sleeve lays flat. Keep the sleeve hem intact for later.

2. Cut the sides of the tee where sideseams would be.

3. Cut off the neckband. Save for another project or toss it.

4. Cut apart the shoulder seams.

When you're done cutting, you should have 5 pieces which look similar to this:

Next, fold the front of the tee in half vertically and lay your front pattern piece on the fold, and cut.

You may need to redraw or reshape the pattern neckline if the tee's original front picture/design is in the way. Since all logo tees are different, this step may take a bit of fiddling to get both the best picture placement and pattern placement where the fabric is.

My original pattern neckline is shown in pink in the photo to the right. In order to be able to include all of the tee's front design, I had to cut this neckline as shown by the blue line. Don't forget to include seam allowances if you're planning to turn the neckline under. I bound my neckline so my tee remake was cut without neckline seam allowances.

What helps to make the remakes more flattering — besides the overall better fit — are (1) the lower neckline, (2) the shaped sideseams, and (3) the shaped hemline. All of these features can easily be incorporated into the tee pattern you use for the remake.

Next, fold the back of the tee in half vertically and place the back pattern piece on the fold and cut.

I like shortcuts whenever they make the most sense. So, I lay my sleeve pattern on the tee sleeve pieces so that I can keep the hems. If your sleeve pieces allow enough room for you to do this, don't pass up the opportunity to save the step of hemming later!

(Those yellow and pink tabs you see are stickers I use to mark the front and back of the sleeve piece.)

Sew your "new" tee pieces together as instructed by your pattern, or using your favorite method.

Here's a close-up of my bound neckline, applied using my coverstitch machine.

Below are more football tees I've remade.

Before:

After:

Comparison:

Another After:

Another After:

Before/Comparison:

After/Comparison:

Back, After: