Sewing with Knits: Keyhole T-Shirt

I recently came to the realization that 90% of the clothes that my children wear are knits. That's what they are most comfortable in; that's what they always want to wear. Can you blame them? I'd wear pajama bottoms and a t-shirt all day if I could. Oh, wait a minute... I do. Just kidding... or am I?

I've been bookmarking (and now pinning) all kinds of tutorials for knit shirts and dresses for the girls for quite some time, but I was too intimidated to try any of them. When I saw that Anna from noodlehead and Shannon from luvinthemommyhood were collaborating on a series called Sewing with Knits Mondays, it was just the motivation I needed to try one of the tutorials I've had bookmarked. I decided to start with the Keyhole Tee Shirt tutorial from Jess at Craftiness is not Optional (a lot of the clothing tutorials that I have bookmarked for the girls come from Jess). This t-shirt was a pretty quick sew. I was able to complete it in one day of constantly interrupted sewing, which is always nice :) I didn't finish until after my oldest went to bed last night, so we had a little photo shoot when she got up this morning...

I really like how this turned out (and bonus, so does my daughter). For the main fabric I used a t-shirt that my husband wore only once before it ended up with a hole in it. It was nice to use a shirt for this project because I got to use the hem of the old shirt as the hem of the new shirt. The pink ribbed trim was left over from the turtleneck to zipped pullover refashion that I sewed back in March. My daughter is more inclined to wear something if there is some bit of pink or purple on it. She was disappointed when I told her that the main fabric was gray, but she perked right up when I showed her the pink trim I was going to use.

I still struggle with knits. I forget that backstitching is nearly impossible. And picking out stitches... ugh. Don't look under the arms (I said don't look!)... they're a little bunchy. I'm hit or miss with sleeves on anything. They either turn out perfect or they're a complete mess. I do feel like I'm getting more comfortable each time I attempt to sew with knits, though. I'm not giving up; I'll keep working at it.

Make sure you check out Anna and Shannon's Sewing with Knits Mondays posts. There are some tutorials and great tips that you won't want to miss.


Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great weekend!




I'm linking up...