Before Christmas, with my sewing resolutions in mind, I bought a load of grey jersey and set aside some time to get my head around jersey. I used Tilly’s Agnes sewing course, which took me step by step through how to make this t-shirt. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me as long as I thought it would and apart from the neckline it was pretty straight forward.
The fabric in question I got from ebay for £4 a metre and although it seemed fairly good quality, it didn’t have quite as much stretch as the pattern asked for. To counteract this, I chose the larger pattern size, as I was in the middle of two, and ended up letting out most of the seam allowance at the bust. The only trouble I had was with the neckline, as the fabric didn’t have enough stretch it didn’t pull in enough, so I ended up re-doing it a couple of times. That being said, I’m glad I didn’t have too much negative ease on the top because I like my tops to be quite loose fitting. With the sleeves, I made the shorter sleeves, but when I tried them on they still came down to my elbows, so I cut them a bit shorter.
I definitely want to make some more Agnes tops, in future I will adjust the pattern a little at the shoulders, but that’s not a surprise since I have really small shoulders and should probably just adjust all patterns automatically. I’m thinking for my next one either a solid colour with the ruched shoulders, or a plain version with stripes.
So how did I find my first foray into sewing jersey? Pretty good, actually. I don’t have a serger (although I might buy one if I think I’ll get a lot of use out of it), so I was doing everything on my machine in zig zag, but that was pretty easy to get used to. I was surprised by how nice the zig zag stitch looked at the neckline and hems. For my next couple of projects I want to make a Moneta dress and a plantain top, I was planning on making the Moneta dress this weekend, but the fabric I ordered hasn’t arrived.
Wren and Co. 