I’m kicking off “Me Made May” with a bang. I have totally hand sewn a T-shirt! I bought this organic cotton fabric from Alabama Chanin and it is dreamy.
I’m wearing it here with a skirt I made years ago. The pattern is the Everyday Skirt from oliver & s. It is an easy sew and I love the pockets!
To make the top, I traced around a favorite T shirt that I owned. I used a folded knit band to finish the neckline and sewed it down with a decorative stitch incorporating small little chop beads as I went.
I hemmed the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves using another decorative stretch stitch found in the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design.
All of the seams were hand sewn using a regular running stitch and then felled to one side also with a running stitch.
Practice samples
Fun beads and sequins from Alabama Chanin
I made this shirt specifically to wear with the Alabama Chanin skirt I am currently sewing. I guess I had better get going on that!
1 of 4 skirt panels. This is a double layer of knit that has been stenciled and then “quilted” together and the top cut away to expose the underneath layer.
Notes to self (or anyone else who’s interested):
- I used 2 layers of cotton knit on the front of this shirt and only one layer for the back and sleeves. I thought I might do some reverse appliqué on the front but put the bottom layer of knit with the right side towards the inside of the shirt. I could probably still cut and expose the layer with the wrong side showing, but it would bother me. Next time put both right sides facing the same way as I did with the skirt.
- I found the directions for Creating Mitered Binding for a V-neck in the book Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns on page 22.
- Directions for garment construction and the stretch stitches are in all of the books.Alabama Studio Sewing + Design has them on pages 24 – 27.
- Same book (as#3) has a page of pretty circular stitches – Pg. 81 These are used for a beautiful skirt on page 101 of the Alabama Studio Style book.
I Finally Have Time 
