Sailing, I am sailing - Scout Tee

I don't know about you but every time I hear that Rod Stewart song it brings a wee tear to my eye!  I am all about the Grainline patterns at the moment - this is my second Scout Tee and I have a Tiny Pocket Tank maxi-dress I need to blog about too.

So this is another Scout for the Scout sewalong over at Kollabora.  This is one of those items of clothing that the first time I wore it out I just felt so me, do you know what I mean? It's really comfy and easy to wear and teamed with grey trousers, my favourite summer jacket (£5 from Primark about 6 years ago and still going strong!), and my blue clogs this was a really simple but smart outfit for work.  This time I used a lovely Japanese double gauze I bought from M is for Make.  It was £16 a metre but I had a 15% discount so it was £13.60.  It was my first time using double gauze and it's lovely and soft  though it does fray easily as well. I already had the fabric but I had to buy thread, say £2, so all in this only cost me about £16 and I know I'll get lots of wear out of it. I'd be hard pushed to say which version I prefer out of the 2 I've made so far as I love them both!

Not much to say about the construction of this except I made the same adjustment under the arm and lowered it a cm or so.  I used Jen's tutorial for the French seams again - though stupidly forgot to use it for attaching the arms so ended up using the overlock stitch on my machine afterwards. This really is such a satisfying make, and I love the shape of the top.  Next time I'm going to try Jen's full back tutorial to give me a bit more leeway as my pregnancy progresses (thanks to Amanda for the tutorial link)

Sherbet Scout Woven Tee

My first Grainline Scout tee and, like the Grainline Tiny Pocket Tank, definitely the first of many! I love this pattern and it's perfect for my expanding pregnancy tum.  I'm now five months pregnant and all of a sudden most of my skirts, jeans and dresses (eh that'll be most of my clothes then) are just that wee bit too tight.  So why I'm sewing tops when most of my tops still fit ok?  Well I just couldn't resist another Grainline pattern, and the chance of a sew-along with Nettie!  The Scout sew-along is on the Kollabora website - an online sewing community.  I remember reading about it a while ago but I hadn't signed up until this sew-along.  It looks like a great website though, with some really useful video tutorials, and lots of inspiration from fellow sewers.

Nettie's instructions for checking the fit using another top that fits well was such a good idea and really helped.  From using a really old and comfy shop-bought short sleeved shirt I was quickly able to see that the arm scythe was going to be too tight.  I'm not sure if there's a 'proper' way to fix this but I just drew a new lower line under the arm and cut it.  This has resulted in the sleeve fitting perfectly without any gathering which is a bonus as I do find easing the sleeves in quite difficult (luckily I quite like puffed sleeves haha!). I had to put a seam down the middle of the back and managed to line the pattern up really well - yay! I used french seams throughout and really love this method now.  Check out Jen's tutorial for this as it's so clear.  This fits perfectly now but still has plenty of room in the front for my growing bump!

 

The fabric I used for this one came from a very flouncy dress I bought at a market stall in Brighton because I just couldn't resist the colours and pattern.    The colours remind me of sherbet, you know like those flying saucers you used to get for a penny from the local shop?  It's difficult to see but in the photo below you can just make out the vertical lines of cut-out dots which give the fabric a really light and airy feel. This is a perfect summer top and I know it'll get so much wear - in fact I'm almost finished my second one as I write this (I'm just off to finish the sleeves and do the hem now).

If you need any more convincing on how great this pattern is then just check out the gallery of completed Scouts - how could you not be inspired by these!?!

Following a sew-along is just such a nice feeling - knowing that all over the world there are other sewers making the same pattern or alterations on the same pattern, and knowing there's a whole community of people you can compare notes with, ask questions too, and share tips. If you've never taken part in a sew-along, or are new to sewing, I'd really recommend it! So thanks Nettie, and thanks Kollabora!

This also counts as part of Indie Pattern Month