Raglan T-Shirt

It's certainly been a while since I last posted.  I took a pattern making for knits class at FIT in NYC this past Spring 2015 semester and it took every minute of my spare time.  It truly was a wonderful class.  The teacher was fantastic (Prof. Luz Pascal) and all of my fellow students were just wonderful.  It was fun to see them every week and share the previous week's sewing and design adventures and snafus.

One of the tops I drafted (and re-made below) from Prof. Pascal's lesson on "fun tops" was this raglan sleeve T-shirt.  I purchased the striped fabric from Metro Textiles.  I went there with Kyle, from Vacuuming the Lawn, prior to the Pattern Review birthday celebration last year.  I was very lucky to find a solid purple, purchased at NY Elegant Fabrics, that was very close in color to the stripes - yay!

The fussiest part about sewing this T-shirt (and most other T-shirts) is the neck band.  It really is not difficult at all.  You just have to be accurate.

It was applied with a technique similar to Sarah Veblen's post on the Threads blog.  The major difference is that Sarah used a flat surface and I used my dress form, as taught in class.

I cut a strip 2 inch wide by 24" (way longer than what I needed).  I folded and pinned it in half lengthwise:

I then pinned it on my form, aligning the raw edges of the strip to the raw edges of the neckline, gently stretching it as I went all around:

You don't want to stretch it too much because then you will end up with a puckering neckline.  However, you do need to stretch enough so that it hugs you and does not gape.  I used a 3/8 inch seam allowance.

The rest of the sewing was just like Sarah Veblen's post except we were advised not to press knit fabric to avoid damaging the fibers.  What I did when I felt I wanted a press was hover the hot steam iron over the seam for a few seconds and then pat it down with my hand.  Some have told me they have pressed knits with no damage to the fabric.  The best thing to do is to test a swatch. 

Knits are wonderful to work with.  They do not ravel.  Fit issues are fewer because the fabric is so forgiving.  The fabric does not wrinkle.  And the garments are oh so comfortable.  

Happy sewing!