Alterations, Part One

I currently have about three different blog posts "cooking," all of them having to do with altering patterns.

I finally made myself sit down and FINISH one of them

I have been spending far too much time trying to find a PERFECT pattern for a non-knit t-shirt and have hated them ALL because they just make me look boxy, so I decided that I wanted to try one that was cut on the bias.

Fortunately, I had Simplicity 2594 already in the stash.

This pattern has a number of options, including a tunic length with a belt, and also some incredibly odd sleeves.  It has a back yoke, and pleats at the shoulder on the front.  As I was reading the instructions before getting started (something I NEVER do) I found that the cowl at the front had one of my pet peeves...and that was a hem along the top of the cowl:

There is never a situation that I can think of that I have worn a cowl neck and the INSIDE of the shirt has been invisible.  So with a small hem, it is inevitable that the inside of the fabric, and that hem is going to show.  I prefer a cowl with a large interior facing, I thought that was just HOW a cowl was made, but am finding more and more examples of the tiny hem the more I sew.

I decided that what this really needed was a big facing.  So, I drafted one.  I started by folding the pattern in half, because why bother trying to draw symmetrically?  Just draw half and then transfer that to the other side.  I added some pattern paper (which is really paper left over from the last move.  I bought a huge pile of newsprint from a packaging company before I left for grad school....in 1999.  I think I may have just used the last piece.  Here is a funny story...I bought it from a place that, at the time, I knew of because it was in my Grandmother's neighborhood.  On a visit home, I swung by, bought a carload of used boxes and a pile of newsprint, in preparation for my move to Columbia, MO.  I went from there, to Washington DC, to Champaign, IL...and was still using that pile of newsprint to wrap my glasses when I moved back to St. Louis in 2004....and now I live AROUND THE CORNER from the place where I originally bought it.  I guess it is safe to say I could easily acquire some more).

But I digress...I added the pattern paper, created an angle that was the mirror image of the slope of the shoulder, and drew on the facing:

To make it easier to see, I traced over the pencil with black marker:

Then I attached it to the pattern, and cut it out:

Here is a little trick when you have patterns with multiple length options....number and mark the piece you cut off (and save it, of course).  Then using it is simple, you just line up your marks and pin it down when you need to make one that length:

This did, of course, change the order in which I assembled it, and how I treated the front cowl.  I would recommend that if you do this, find a pattern that has the fold-over facing on the cowl and follow those.  I just kind of winged it because I had sewn these many times before.  

Here is the final product, with the fold-over facing in the cowl (and my wavy hemline, which happens every time I sew on the bias.  I'll do better on the non-muslin, I promise!):

And the pleats at the front shoulder:

And the back yoke with gathers in the back of the shirt.  This is the only part I actually dislike...it seems like a rather skimpy yoke, and ends very high up on the back.  Also, the gathers are skimpy, too.  Enough so that to me they just look like bad sewing rather than deliberate gathers.  Next time I may just turn it into a pleat at the center instead.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with this muslin.  I will probably make some slight alterations to it, perhaps beefing up that cowl and making the gathers more concentrated towards the center of the back so they look more deliberate.

The fabric was a bargain table find, so at a couple of dollars a yard, I was happy to sacrifice it even if this pattern didn't work.  It's a slippery poly, so I did the usual and starched the heck out of it before cutting, and washed the garment after sewing to remove the starch.