Re-inventing the wheel again [View all]

I'm almost finished with my next top - an oatmeal shawl-neck long-sleeved t-shirt. The fabric is probably 75% cotton with the rest Spandex, so it's fairly stretchy and doesn't seem to ravel. It's a rib knit in very thin fiber, not much thicker than sewing thread, and the rib is probably close to knit 6. purl 2. The rib gives it a thermal quality without too much bulk. I went from "Mmm, not sure" to "I'd really like a whole bolt of this". Of course, that's not happening.

The problem has been that I have no pattern at all for an inset shawl collar. Can't find one on the internet. The rest of the design is loosely based on a Kwik Sew tee - I've used this for years as the basis for anything from casual to formal, loose to close, every other neckline you can imagine. This is the way I sew; I have a rough guideline pattern (usually Kwik Sew) for fit, and either Frankenpattern elements from other patterns, or just make something up. But this has
been...complicated.

I can't believe I don't have a pattern. I have a bookshelf of patterns, including the more interesting from my mother's collection. She bought things she was never going to make. (A tennis outfit? Really?) More 50's and 60's undergarments than you can imagine, and patterns for sewn sweaters for golfers. Dad didn't play golf. Many of these are from old Minneapolis companies, like Kwik (which is now out of business, too. Rats!)

I finally worked the collar out. I swear I made it in my brain a dozen times before I dared take a scissors to the neckline. Each time I imagined it, I found some new problem to solve that would have totally screwed up the project if I hadn't found it. This did not inspire confidence. I lost sleep.

But it did work. The collar is the focus of the whole shirt. I'm even hemming the bottom and sleeves by hand, invisibly, to keep from distracting the eye (and also because I'm frickin' nuts!).

Once I've finished the sleeves, it's done. I'll whip off a quick thermal tank undershirt with what's left of the fabric, and move on.