Monday, February 8, 2010

Marcy Tilton Patterns - Knit T-shirt & Vest

Marcy Tilton is one of my favorite clothing designers who designs for Vogue Patterns. I have purchased several of Marcy's patterns as her designs are very creative and speak to the artist in me. The neck detail of this t-shirt pattern has a wonderfully stylish twist. The band should actually be wider but I had to make adjustments in order to make it lie flat, just as Marcy's instructions indicated might be the case depending on the fabric used. I had purchased cream-colored cotton knit (for the t-shirt) and mesh fabric (for the vest), both in the same color, for a very cheap price at the garment district in Los Angeles. The cotton t-shirt fabric worked up fine though not as stretchy and soft to the touch as I might have liked, but the mesh? Whew!! I generally pre-shrink all my fabrics before sewing. I noticed the material had "seized up" a bit after going through the wash, and the pretty mesh was definitely not as sheer and not so pretty anymore. I had to add tucks to the vest at the shoulders, front and back and make adjustments to the overall length (cut, cut, cut) to size this garment for a proper fit since it had stretched quite a bit during construction. All is said and done now and I have two great garments. I'll make these again but will splurge on the right kind of knit fabric next time.