In the Navy

Winter has come a’ knocking and I could do with some comfy layers pronto; time to get my stretch on! After the relative successes of my summer stretch-capades (see what I did there?), I was ready to get back in the ring.

First up is a navy long sleeved T-shirt with gathered sleeve heads. The pattern was an adaption of my striped version, but made longer to prevent unpleasant midriff drafts, and the sides shaped to skim over my hips without being too clingy. I created a ruffle inspired by the Coffee Date dress, which worked out really well. I finished the neck hole in the same way as the striped one, zigzag stitching thin elastic to the raw edge to provide both the ability to stretch and easily recover its initial shape.

For the record, I frikkin love this t-shirt. I have worn it heaps since its creation last week. The win spurred me on to immediately attack this next navy blue project.

I bought 3m of this thick knit fabric in the sale for €3 a metre, but it’s ridiculously narrow width (60cms! Why?) prevented it from being any good for my initial dress making scheme. Adapting the pattern further against an existing nice fitting jumper, it has set in sleeves and (another) ruffle detail idea that I stole from a beautiful jumper my mate Anna recently bought. For this neck hole, I zigzagged sewing tape to the raw edge to keep the shape. I have to say that this top looked nice before I washed it, it’s gone a bit fuzzy, but I need to fabric condition the itchiness out of it before its debut.

It’s a pretty plain style, which was proven by the fact that I wore it a whole day without my boy noticing it as something new. BUT that’s a GOOD thing! It means I’ve made something normal!
There is a further significance. With my whole ‘not buying new clothes’ thing, and my present inability to knit, making these cut and sew knitted garments means I am no longer solely reliant on existing items in my wardrobe (which are frankly getting pretty tatty) or what the charity shop gods provide to keep me toasty from here on out! Halleluiah!