Basics

I have been meaning to replace a favourite black t-shirt for a while now, I made a three quarter length, thick t-shirt a while ago but it was no replacement for my go to short sleeved version.  The trouble with that is it was looking very worn and faded having had it for many years.  However I did like the fit and the sleeve length so I have used it as a pattern for not one but two t-shirts.  The first is a grey one and here I have tried to copy the neckline as best I could, I made the grey one as I needed something to go with my swan skirt from a few days ago.

I found that where I had gone around the neck with bias tape at the bottom was not lying exactly as I liked so I have added a little tab, if you look closely you can see it.  I think it makes it look a little more finished.  A trusty zig zag hem and a band on the sleeve turned and topstitched to the reverse.  it was quite a quick make with the only faffing being the neckline.

When stitching the black one I find a useful little video on youtube here about how to turn your bias binding so that a v neck lays nice and flat. I found this helpful and much neater than how I have done it before.  I have had to quickly take a photo on a hanger as it has now been worn and I just realised I had no image of it.  The fabric on this black one was more springy so I had to unpick one side of that v twice as I had pulled it a little, it is super comfy to wear though even if it was not such a great fabric to stitch.

A bright room with the sun shining through the window does not make for the best images.

Anyway that is two more basics done, and I did say that this year I was going to sew more of those items to balance my pattern heavy wardrobe.  Using the old t shirt as a guide worked a treat, I always favour actual clothes to patterns as a template.

Cutting two t-shirts  out together to speed up the process, and here is the original faded favourite...

As you can see no longer a great shade, it was from Matalan years ago, about three pound and I really have had my money out of it ;) Do you have any old favourites you can't let go of?