Tee Madness

I have to admit it. I am the gazillionth seamstress in blogland who has completely fallen in love with Made by Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee-pattern. It is by far the clearest, easiest pattern I have ever encountered. The pictures and instructions leave you with none of those annoying head-scratching whaddaya mean exactly-moments. And, even better, the pattern is so simple you can at least one – without hurrying – during the timespan of one 21 month old boy’s naptime. YES.

There is only one thing I changed when following the instructions. I didn’t pin every freaking inch of fabric. For most seamstresses out there pinning seems some kind of gateway to heaven. For me, it makes life harder. I must be the worst pinner on this planet. It takes me forever to pin. And then it takes me forever more to sew the pinned part. I don’t have forever. I have two hours max. Naptime, remember?

So I adjust the fabric as I sew. Quick and easy. I kid you not. The only part of this particular pattern where I use a total of 4 pins, is the collar. That to me is the only step where pinning actually helps you be quicker and more accurate. Yes, you read this correctly, I do not even pin sleeves. Tried it. Cursed. A lot. And then tossed all the pins.

So far I have sewn three skinny tees.

Try #1:

I used an old shirt from my husband. The only problem I encountered was that the knit fabric was not very stretchy. Easy sewing, but even a 3T on my 21 month old turned out pretty tight. Giant kid and all.

Oh, I also didn’t bother to see if there were any instructions for short sleeves. Thus, I am still puzzling out the length for the sleeves and the cuffs. Sometimes my mind works in mysterious ways.

Try #2:

As you can see, still working on the sleeve and cuff length. Seriously, I’m sure Rae figured it out for me and put it in the pattern. Oh well. This is a pj top. Jason loves the fire truck fabric. I don’t. But since it’s cheap (Joanns) and only for pj’s, I humor the kid. He calls them his “tuuta-t-shirt” and “tuuta pants”. I sewed the pants months ago and they still fit. But I had to make a new top, since he outgrew the first one.

(And yes, I took this photo in the garage. This is the place where Jason spends most of his time, being obsessed about dad’s bike and all.)

Try #3:

I am in love with this tee. I got the idea from Kristin at skirtastop. She has a handy tutorial too of how to transform the pattern to a sleeveless t-shirt. I know I will be making a ton more of these.

And the good news? No sleeves! So you can make them even faster since you are skipping a step. I was so giddy yesterday after making this tee, my husband had to roll his eyes. And Jason liked it too. That’s always the most important thing.

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