Colour Blocked Kimono Tee

The real reason that I made the blue kimono tee is to test the pattern out as a candidate pattern for this shirt.

This shirt all started when I was preparing to cut out my pink merino plantain. I laid out the pattern pieces and saw just how much left over fabric there would be if I just cut the one shirt out of the fabric. I tried seeing if I could get a shirt and a singlet out of the fabric, but failing piecing one of the pieces of the singlet it wouldn't fit. I had thought of adding a horizontal seam across the back of the singlet to make the pieces fit, and asked other's opinion on instagram, at which point the suggestion of colour blocking came up.

I did some searching, and with some moral support from Jen I decided to have a go at making a shirt like this one I found on a google image search:

I selected some grey merino jersey from my stash that didn't have any immediate plans as the other colour for the colour blocking.

I considered a few patterns for this, but settled on the kimono tee as the most promising prospect, but decided to first make a wearable muslin.

As mentioned in this post I extended the sleeves to just above the elbow, to similar to the inspiration pic. Following the wearable muslin I also took a wedge out of the centre front and centre back, about 1" wide at the top tapering to nothing at the hem. I also adjusted the angle of the hem on the sleeves slightly.

Then I altered my base pattern to cater for the colour blocking, splitting the front and back pattern pieces in two, by drawing a line starting about 1.5" to the edge of the neckline on the shoulder seam and ending at the centre front at the hem. I then added the seam allowance to these new pieces.

If I were to do this again I would start closer to the neckline and make the seamline continue across past the centre front.

This time around I finished the neckline with a narrow strip of the grey merino and it's a much nicer finish than the clear elastic I used on the blue one. (I used the 85% rule for the length of the strip)

Overall, it's not as similar to the inspiration pic as it could have been, I probably could have added more ease through the bust. However, it's very comfy to wear as pictured here with jeans, and also works tucked into a skirt, so overall I'm pretty happy with this experiment.

Pattern: Modified Maria Denmark Kimono Tee
Fabric: Merino Jersey from the Fabric Store
Notions: Thread

Kimono Tee

While trying to sew clothes that I know I will wear, it's easy to fall into a 'safe' zone and repeatedly make very similar items. I've been trying to keep at the back of my mind a push to mix in some experiments where I try things that aren't necessarily part of my safe zone.

This project is one of those that's very slightly outside my safe zone. The pattern is the Maria Denmark Kimono Tee, a free pattern that you can get by signing up to her newsletter. I know it really probably does still seem very safe, but I sometimes find it tricky with clothes that have positive ease but are still flattering.

I made the BL size, lengthening the sleeves by about 11cm (as described here). I may yet cut them down to the drafted length to see how that feels. We'll see.

The top is quite long, but I quite like the 'bunched' look that it gets as it comes to a rest at my hips.

I also tried finishing the neckline with clear elastic, which I probably wouldn't do again as it isn't sitting all that well, with fabric of this weight at lest.

I showed this top to Darren mid-construction and asked him what he thought of the fit, and he said it looked good except asked if I would be taking it in at the waist. Uh-oh! Despite his comment, I didn't take it in at all, as I wanted to try the loose style, as I hoped it would also make a good blousey fit when tucked into skirts. I think I've achieved this, and think it looks alright both un-tucked and tucked in.

I haven't actually worn this yet, but look forward to it. Hopefully the merino will make for a nice cosy but adaptable work top.

Pattern: Maria Denmark, Kirsten Kimono Tee
Fabric: Merino Jersey from The Fabric Store
Notions: Thread, clear elastic

See Also: SewSquirrel, Crafting A Rainbow, La Sartora

What about you, do you try and sew outside of your safe zone? What proportion of your projects are 'safe' vs 'experiments'?