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!

Kirsten Kimono Tee

This is my first make since Me Made May - a MariaDenmark Kirsten kimono t-shirt.  I often name my makes after whatever I've been listening to most when cutting it out/sewing it up, however this make came together so quickly, quite late on on a Sunday night that I don't think I even had the radio on so I'm afraid there's no fancy name.  Can I just say how great this pattern is! I was a bit worried at first as it doesn't include seam allowances but I'd read a few reviews where folk had said they didn't bother to add a seam allowance and it worked out.  This sounded good to me so I just went with it, cut out a size small and it worked out fine. Well, as you can see from my smug face below I think it worked out more than fine, I'm really happy with it! 

I should have taken a better photo from the side but you can kind of see I've made a not-bad job of matching up the stripes at the side - not perfect but almost there.  I love this stripey fabric, it feels really good quality and, unlike my jersey Banksia, the stripes aren't just painted on.  The fit under the arms is perfect, an area I'm realising I have problems with, and the length is pretty spot on.  Niggles? My neckband - I don't think I really understood the instructions properly for this stage and am not sure I attached it properly, plus I've managed to stretch it out a bit when sewing it on, as you can see below.  However I do like the effect of the stripes going in the opposite direction.

I quite like when other bloggers break down the cost of the make, any problems/issues, etc so I think I'll try and do that more regularly.
Pattern: Maria Denmark Kirsten kimono t-shirt - Free!!
Fabric: striped jersey from John Lewis, £14 a metre. Only 1 metre needed (still have a wee bit left over)
Notions: I already had white thread, a twin needle and a jersey needle so I didn't need anything extra for this, except the greaseproof paper I used to trace off the pattern.
Problems/Issues: Does anyone have any tips for keeping the neckline steady and stopping it from stretching out? I was also being very lazy to begin with and left my pins in when sewing the should seams - you can see what happened in the photo below, it's resulted in slipped stitches with the zigzag stitch.  Nothing major though and apart from that and the neckband no problems at all.  The instructions are very clear and I had no problems printing this PDF off to scale.
Total cost: £14
Will I make this again: For sure! I'd also like to try extending this and making a kimono style dress as I think it would be so comfy for work. I might try and branch out from stripes though as I have so many stripey clothes! However stripes are always so tempting, especially Lula Louise's great idea for making a striped cap sleeve dress, I think this tee shirt pattern would be the perfect base for that.

This also counts as part of Indie Pattern Month