Sunday 2 August 2015

Colour blocked winter Lunch Box Tee

The Lunch Box Tee is the cute little boxy cropped T-shirt that comes with the culottes in the Oliver + S pattern. This is my fourth version and the first I can call a complete success!


Previously I'd made the short sleeve pocket less version, along with the culottes (seen here). That one was way too short for everyday wear. Everyday wear meaning pulling the front waistband of your skirt or trousers down to well below belly level and then having half your belly hanging out the front. It's actually a nice, cropped length t-shirt, but only if you'll wear your pants/skirt pulled up properly. It's now had a band added to the bottom. Salvaged.

 
The other two were the long (?!) sleeved versions with pockets. A's was a straight size 4 and while the body length was reasonable the sleeves were about an inch too short. The pink sweater knit didn't have much stretch and using it for the neckband meant that it's a nightmare to get over her noggin. Worn a few times, but essentially... Fail.


P's was a size 5 with size 7 length but is about 2-3 inches too short in the body and about 5" too short in the arms! Fail. (sadly, cause he loved the fabric.)

this is before hemming!

So, what were the modifications to the successful Lunch Box Tee.....


 I stuck with size 4 as the pink one did have the right body size. I've added a total of 3&1/4 inches to the sleeve length and 3" length at the side seam.

Then I created a high/low hem by raising the centre front hem by 1/2" above the side seam, and lowering the centre back by 1&1/4" I was so happy with how the hem looked I even bothered to change thread colour for the front and back hems!


The colour blocking was both by design and to use up some bits of gorgeous, soft merino fleece that were too small to use on their own. The black is from my Metro T-shirt, the cream from A's Deer jumper and the red from her Issey Miyake Peplum.

This fleece is from The Fabric Store and is truly the loveliest stuff, both to sew and wear. I confess to just throwing it in the wash with everything else, but I understand that felting wool is a bit like playing Russian Roulette. Now that there are a sufficient number of wool fleece clothes in  the household I will endeavour to wash them separately. It will still be in the machine, but on the gentle wool cycle, and that's as big a laundry concession as I'm prepared to make.


The colour that I had the least of was the red and I was nervous that the sleeves wouldn't be long enough. Of the 371/4" length added there is 2&1/2" extra length at the sleeve hem. That was the extent of my red fabric, so I added the extra 3/4" by extending the cut line of the front and back body pieces at the sleeve junction. that means my drop sleeve is dropped by 3/4" more than the pattern design intended. Works well for me and I'm happy the sleeves are long enough for this winter, and possibly the next.


The merino fleece doesn't have a lot of stretch so I used some ribbing for the neckband. For some insane reason I cut that about 1/2" longer than the pattern piece. Maybe I was on a roll adding length to everything, or maybe I was worried about the fit over her head. Whatever it was I shouldn't have done it. The ribbing has heaps of stretch and good recovery but it's just that tiny bit long to make it not sit as flat as it could.


 I 'm happy to say this one has got me very much back in love with the pattern after our rocky start together. I have some great textured cream knit and I want to make one with some gold zippers at the side seams! - I've taken to writing down ideas like that in an art journal as I find I buy fabric and patterns and stash them and then completely forget what I had thought to do with them. Now I just have to find the perfect open ended gold zippers.....

Meanwhile I need to sew more colour blocked use up the leftovers kind of clothes to justify more fabric purchasing!
 
 



12 comments:

  1. Super cute!! And thanks for your detailed descriptions of your mods, it will help me when I get to this pattern. It's perfect for a sweater/jumper or sweatshirt!!

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    1. Thanks Inder, and you're welcome. I tend to forget what I've done so quickly that I need this blog to record sizes and changes for my own sake. happy if it helps others!

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  2. Lovely tee... Love the green neck band. Seems only the girl is getting lots of sewing attention what about the boy :-)

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    1. :) Oh he's got some things cut out and next in line. Although I did just find some new patterns and fabric for me, perhaps he'll get bumped...

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  3. Love the color-blocking and that last picture is so cute! And good to know about the shirt. Maybe I'll actually do a muslin first before I make this one. I've always wondered if my daughter has a longer-than-normal torso because so many tops have ended up a bit short on her.

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    1. Thanks Emi. If you trace your patterns then just holding up the tracing will let you see how short it is. I don't need much extra torso length but boy has my son got long arms! :)

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  4. hmmm I just commented and now I don't see it. :/ I had said I am so glad you salvaged that first top. It's so cute it would be a real shame if it couldn't be worn. I really like the band, in fact I might even prefer it. I'm glad you were able to make some mods to make the top work. I have had so many fails when sewing for Indigo, with both sleeves being too short and the overall length being too short. So now I am kind of a freak about adding a lot of length to both and then adjusting it to fit. Love these photos of A - she always looks so sweet!

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    1. Sorry about the pesty comment thing Rachel. I've opened up comments to anyone without ID but added moderation requirements. I'm getting low levels of spam but I thought it might make the real comments go through more easily. Perhaps not.
      I'm about to sew a knit dress for myself and I can't get my head around the idea of muslins with knits. Surely that just means making the thing in a cheaper knit fabric, in which case, if it works, you end up with two of the same style dress?!
      My daughter is a pretty predictably normal size in Oliver + S I just need to look more closely at the style of the garment and predict how she will "wear" it.

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  5. Great idea and great result! Looks fantastic.

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  6. My 3 year old wears her pants and skirts the same way -- pulled down as low as possible in front to allow the adorable belly to protrude freely. I'm glad to know she's not the only one :)
    This top is too cute!

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    1. Our daughters and elderly beer drinking men! Perhaps it is more comfortable and we should all be doing it?!
      Thanks for the top compliment!

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