Stripy Emmeline Tee

This is the second Emmeline Tee I have made. The first one I made as a secret Santa gift for a friend, which I wrote about here. But this one I have made for myself :-)

The Emmeline Tee pattern includes 3 versions all of which can be made in woven or knit fabrics, detailed instructions for which are included. I made version 3 for my first attempt at the Emmeline, but this time I decided to make version 1 with the kimono sleeves and turned up cuffs. As with version 3 of the pattern, version 1 only has 3 pattern pieces (front, back, and neckband) so it is pretty quick to cut out the fabric. I cut out a size S, but lengthened it by a good 2 inches. When I made my first Emmeline Tee I found that it only just sat on the top of my jeans waistband. It drives me mad when I have to keep tugging tops down all the time, so for me I wanted to make sure it had enough length in the body that I wouldn't have to do that.

© 2016 Jennifer Richardson

The fabric I used was a black and white striped jersey with a metallic silver thread running through it. I bought it from Stuarts Fabrics on Leicester market for something like £4 per metre. I didn't really pay any attention to what the composition of the fabric was. I tend to buy fabric by how it looks and feels as opposed to paying much attention to what it says on the label (besides the price) and when buying off the market there aren't really any labels attached to the fabrics so I never really know exactly what I'm buying! But with Stuarts Fabrics a lot of the fabrics have been used by retailers and therefore tend to be reasonable quality. The fabric I bought is lightweight jersey and feels nice and soft so works well for a t-shirt.

© 2016 Jennifer Richardson

I started by overlocking all the raw edges of my pattern pieces apart from the neckline. Then it was just a case of sewing the front and back together at the shoulder seams and then up the side seams, attaching the neckband and finishing the hems using a twin needle. For the sleeve cuffs the instructions tell you to hand-stitch these in place. However, I'm not terribly patient when it comes to hand stitching so I finished those by top stitching with a twin needle too! As a finishing touch I added 2 buttons to the cuffs. I found these buttons in John Lewis and thought they were pretty and would finish my t-shirt off nicely. I like them, but my husband thinks they stick up too much!

© 2016 Jennifer Richardson

I was really pleased with the finished result and once again I found the pattern straightforward to follow so I managed to make this t-shirt up in an evening after work! I tried to match the stripes up at the side seams…something you’d think wouldn't be too tricky to do with stripes. In some places I was successful, in other places not so! But the main thing is that the stripes run horizontal and I was very pleased with the stripes around the neckline and neckband.