Pattern Review – Sewing the ‘Ready to Sew’ – Jeanne T Shirt
You might have seen via my Instagram that I recently became an ambassador for Makerist. This is a very exciting opportunity for me as I am being paid to do something I love – sew. As I am being paid these posts are treated as adverts. But please know that I have full creative control over the pattern, fabrics and opinions in any of these blog posts. Each month I will choose and test some patterns from the vast selection over on Makerist. Write up about how it went and share a few of my pictures. If you’ve made it too, let me know in the comments.
Selecting a Pattern
In Oct I wrote a blog post on Makerist about the patterns I would choose for my Autumn capsule wardrobe. So, I decided I would sew some of them and make my dream wardrobe come to life. I decided to start with a classic wardrobe basic – A classic tee. I’ve previously made a Ready to Sew pattern before and enjoyed the process. I also really like the sizing and fit so chose the Jeanne T Shirt. Described as a casual, modern boyfriend fit it sounds perfect for my relaxed style.
Jeanne T Shirt Process
I only made my first T shirt in the summer, for some reason I thought it would be complicated. As I’m less experienced with jersey and sewing with knit in general. I’ve now realised what a quick satisfying project a T shirt can be.
I’ve had this beautiful leopard print organic jersey from Good Fabric Store in my stash for a while now waiting for the perfect pattern.
One thing I don’t like about the Ready to Sew patterns is that each size is printed as a different colour. I like to print the A4 pattern pieces and tape together and I only print in black and white which can make it fiddlier to work out what’s what. But the PDF is layered so you can just print the sizes you need, so it wins point back again for that!
The instructions on the Jeanne T shirt pattern are really easy to follow and you do get 4 patterns to choose from. This pattern is marked as advanced beginner.
I made a size 36 which is a Small, as I knew it had a slightly oversized slouchy fit. It’s a nice simple one, and if you’ve made a t shirt before you know the general process. If you haven’t made a tee shirt before they have handy step by step photo tutorials of the trickier bits – sewing the sleeves and sewing the neckband.
As I was working with stretch, I decided to make the whole thing using my overlocker. Although you can do the same with a zig zag stitch. If you just use straight stitch it will no longer stretch and you’ll probably end up snapping the stitches. I sewed up the tee shoulders, sleeves and side seams.
I finally added the neckband, which I find is the fiddliest bit. But as long as you take your time and use plenty of pins it goes in fine.
Adjustments
So, I ended up changing the way I added the cuffs to the sleeves. The sleeves are quite short, so I ended up adding them as you would a ribbed cuff on a sweatshirt. I’m still unsure if I should unpick and add like a turn up on the original pattern?
Would I make the Jeanne T Shirt again?
I am really pleased with the way the Jeanne T shirt turned out, I love the slouchy shape of it. The organic jersey works really well for this, and I would definitely buy it again. I can tell it’s going to be a staple wardrobe piece for me. Interested in making the Jeanne T Shirt or any other patterns on Makerist use my code for 15% off ruby-rose-15
If you enjoyed this blog post be sure to subscribe up on the right, you’ll then get not so regular updates from me. It really helps me create great content; I can’t do it without your support
Thanks For reading
Ruby x