Wednesday 31 August 2011

Jalie Sweetheart t-shirt 2795, variations in white

It is very pleasing to me that my daughters now wear the same size in tops, with a few fitting tweaks. This makes it very easy to cut out two at once, but means I need to introduce variation.
The pattern is the tried and true Jalie Sweetheart top, and the fabric is cotton/lycra knit. Gee, how exciting, white t shirts!
Version 1.

SAM_0828

No changes other than the addition of a little bow to the centre front neckline, and a slightly wider neckband to fill in the neck a little. (I also make the cap sleeves 1cm longer, make a square shoulder adjustment and raise the neckline 1.5cm) The bow idea is directly lifted from Mary Nanna, who posted about a top similar to this pattern, with the bow added, which I thought looked pretty. I had a lovely time searching through her Burda makings on her blog last night, but did not come across the post I thought I remembered, so maybe it is some other pattern company. - I did not look far enough, it is Burda 7760, and I must have been thinking about it since May 2010. Wow, I am slow. Now I have 50 or so more things of Mary Nanna's that I want to copy....

SAM_0827

This version of the t shirt adds item #3 to the Spring 6piece capsule for my daughter, by providing another option to wear with the Burda 08-11-2011 adventurous shorts. (By the way, when I took my daughter to meet the bus for camp, all her girlfriends said "I love those shorts, where did you get them?" (4 in a row) except her best friend, who said "Did your Mum make them? I am so jealous"
I found this interlude disproportionately gratifying. Mothers of 14 year old girls need all the peer pleasing moments they can get. Of course we both ignored the next comment from another girl, which was " You had better not let Mr. X see those (the teacher known for his sartorial eccentricity), because he has a pair just like them". Some people!)


Version 2
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I had thought, for about 20 seconds, that a trim using the shorts fabric might be suitable with the shorts. I then reminded myself that matchy-matchy is currently only OK on babies and toddlers (this was tricky for me, as it is my natural tendency) and decided that this idea could be applied to another person's t-shirt.

I think this has worked quite well. This was a little surprizing as the check fabric is a stretch woven, not a knit, but maybe this just shows the ridiculousness of the stretch factor.

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The t shirt looks good with jeans, and there are also some black shorts in the wardrobe that might work.

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I don't think they look toooooo similar next to each other (meaning the t shirts, althought I see that the girls look equally pleased to be posing for photographs to keep their mother happy) but I suppose my daughters will decide if they want to wear these t shirts at the same time as each other.

In parting, I would like to show you one of the birthday dresses on a birthday girl, as my sister in law has sent me some photos, and permission to put them up here (I told you she was lovely). I think the pocket was a hit.

dress3
Chloedress2


17 comments:

katherine h said...

The shirts are lovely and the birthday girl looks adorable. @ for 1 in the pattern tracing sounds good to me.

shams said...

Omigosh, that dress and your niece are both SO cute!

Those two white tops look great on your kids. It was a great thought to put the houndstooth fabric on the *other* daughter's top because matchy matchy is definitely O.U.T. Really nice! And your daughters are *very* lucky. :)

Anonymous said...

You know, I don't really think the shirts look enough alike for people to know that they are the same unless they know, know what I mean? But then, I remember being an unreasonable teenager with an overactive imagination not all that long ago...

The dress for your niece is so cute! And she's already put the pocket to use holding some sort of treasure. Precious! :-)

Mary Nanna said...

Pa ha ha! I am so honoured you would like to copy anything I make as I consider myself an *experimental* sewer with a mixed strike rate.

However, this is nothing 'mixed strike' about that Jalie sweetheart top - it is definitely better than the Burda one. Will have to add it to my every growing list of things to make ... eventually!

Sharon said...

Great T-shirts for your daughters and they do look different. Your niece looks gorgeous in her new dress and yes the pocket is a winner.

Allison said...

Great tops and I really like the way you have used the trim to great effect. I think it really is wonderful that your daughters not only wear things you make for them but also ask for you to do so and then are envied by their friends. Pretty cool to be able to sew for teenagers. Any gratification you feel is definitely not out of proportion!

Your neice is adorable and such a great, willing model. Ahem...hint hint to the daughters.

Sue said...

Great to see variations on the Jalie sweetheart top - lovely. All the girls and clothes in this post are gorgeous!

Carolyn said...

White tops are definitely not boring in my book, but are the bomb! I love the black-and-white check trim, a cute and interesting detail.
Your niece is totally adorable. That smile!

liza jane said...

I agree, white tops are not boring at all! I just ordered some white interlock because I need a couple of white tees. So useful. They look great. And your niece is sooo adorable!

sewing spots said...

All of the girls are very lucky to have you sew for them! You have made some wonderful garments!

BetsyV said...

Karen all the girls are just lovely in their outfits!

Your niece is so adorable, posing in her new dress!

Win-Win-Win!

Carol said...

Supermum again! Very impressive, mostly because you have teenage girls who LIKE what you sew. Your niece looks really lovely in that dress. I long for the time when I have the energy to actually unpack my sewing stuff ...

Gay McDonell said...

I love this: "disproportionately gratifying. Mothers of 14 year old girls need all the peer pleasing moments they can get." I totally agree!! And good for you! Those white tops are very very cute -great pattern and fit. And the photos of your neice - how wonderful!!

Big in Japan said...

The t-shirts look very pro, I really like the addition of the black and white binding. Everyone wears t-shirts, some people even have an entire wardrobe of the same t-shirt in different colors, so it should be fine. Then again, I'm not a teenage girl with a sister, nor a mom of teenaged girls, so I my "reasoning" may be flawed.

Kyle said...

How adorable is all of this? SO ADORABLE!!!!
LOVE the shorts, love the shirt with the bow, LOVE the shirt with the gingham trim, and your niece looks adorable in her dress! win win win win win!

Joy said...

I love those checked shorts and the tops are quite nice. I think they're perfect in white, not to mention versatile.

I was amused to read of the alterations you made for your daughters' t-shirts since I just realized the other night as I was fitting a dress for my 7 year old, that she owns a small replica of my shoulders. Ack! I told her she had strong shoulders and she glowered me. "You did NOT just say that!" At least I already have THOSE alterations figured out!

Gail said...

Great tshirts for your girls and the little one is ADORABLE in her gorgeous dress.