Friday 11 October 2013

A bird-watching Kimono t-shirt



I'm happy to say I've had my sewing machine back in use after over two months without any sewing.  The move has been a lot more involved than we initially thought so the sewing round these parts has been non-existent since.  However I am now into my second week of maternity leave and I couldn't wait any longer - I set up the sewing machine on the dining table in the living room. My sewing space in the hall is even further from completion than it was when we moved in - electrical work, plastering, floor-sanding, you name it, it still has to be done! In the meantime though at least I can use the dining table and just tidy everything away after each use.

It was like returning to an old friend, the process of threading up like an important ritual.  I wanted to start back with an easy project so chose a repeat pattern - Maria Denmark's Kirsten Kimono t-shirt.  I get so much wear out of my pink and white striped version and, due to the generous length, it is still covering my bump even at this late stage of pregnancy (38 weeks tomorrow!). 

I just couldn't resist this bird fabric on the Truro website!  Not much to say about this make really as it is such a straightforward pattern to follow.  The only deviation was to make the neckline binding between 25%-30% shorter than the neck hole measurement.  This seems to have stopped the slight gaping which happened with my other version.  The jersey was £19.99 a metre so I suppose it is quite expensive for a t-shirt really but I know I'll get so much wear out of it and the viscose jersey seems very good quality so I thought it was worth it.  As the pattern is free and I already had white thread there were no other costs involved.  Thank you Maria, I love this pattern!

I've already got a Megan Nielson perfect maternity top toile cut out & ready to sew up next! I also bought some gorgeous fabric from M is for Make for curtains for the nursery so once I buy lining that will be the next project - which I'm very excited about! 

I've just noticed that the birds down the bottom look pretty well-fed due to the size of my bump!