KCWC days six and seven: helloooo Spoonflower organic cotton knit!

Whaddayareckon? I reckon this is right up there as one of my all-time favourite-things-I've-sewed.

The details:
Pattern - Figgy's Tee For Two, except sewn on the overlocker (no exposed seams).
Print fabric - organic cotton knit from Spoonflower, "countryside architecture linen" by Holli Zollinger.
Plain fabric - organic cotton jersey from Kelani Fabric.
Neckband - cut from the unprinted edge from the Spoonflower fabric.

 Design feature! You know, to cover up where I accidentally ended up with the join on the neckband at the front? Sweet little piece of Japanese cotton trim from here, which happened to match the colour scheme perfectly.

Gasp! The twin needle worked. I had a feeling that the special magic needed was my good old 'Blue Magic' Singer 348, whose story I must tell one day. I had lent it to a friend, she brought it back, I tried the twin needle. My devotion to Singers is reaffirmed. Yay.

I bought two yards of this print from Spoonflower, which was my first ever order from them. I also got one of their swatch books of all their different base fabrics, which will be great for future reference. One of the reasons I went to Spoonflower was for boy-friendly prints, particularly ones suitable for tween-age and up. I like the way you can gather a whole collection of 'favourites', and I have a few more good ones I'd be keen to order now.

I love the fact this is organic cotton. And the price, at least with the current AUD/USD exchange rate, was reasonable given that it's organic, and printed to order. It took about a month to arrive but that probably only served to make it more exciting.

Here's a tip: if you want two or more continuous yards of a print, make sure you order it as one quantity of the required length, not multiple quantities of one yard. I had a number of things in my online shopping cart and was umming and ahhing, changing my mind, and in the end just opted for the two yards of this. So I must have changed my order to '2' of this in the cart. Therefore it turned up as two separate cut yards. Not a terrible problem but not quite as versatile as two continuous yards.

The knit is beautifully soft, light-ish but not too flimsy. I will definitely be back for more.

Well, I think that's it for my KCWC, but certainly not the end of my summer-sewing-for-boys. I went out and made appreciative noises at Andy doing an awesome job of fixing the side fence, to make up for my recent sewing binge. "Fwoaarrr" and "that looks soooo much better!" should assure me a bit more sewing time over the next week :)

- Jane x

and it shall be a pyjama top

I should be lighting the fire. Or sorting the five loads of washing I've done today. Or checking what that odd scratching noise is coming from the chooks' nesting box. Or cooking tea for my small people, who I will have to drag off to our community childcare centre's AGM tonight. (I am Chair. Can you see the neon 'sucker' sign on my forehead?)
Instead, I will blog about a raglan-sleeve top I sewed for Jasper.

It's fine, but it's not great. I think a lot has to do with my fabric choices.
I used this pattern, which seems to be very well-spoken of around blogland.

yay, they do a size 8 - 14 version!

My cyber-friend Inder has whipped up a bunch of  lovely versions for her little boy.
I really like the fit - not too boxy, and I do like a raglan sleeve.

However I think I should have made the neck band a bit smaller, to pull the neckline in a bit more.

Also, the red (very bright!) is a lovely soft double knit, while the sleeves and neckband are a rib knit. They're both really beautiful quality Hilco fabrics and a delight to sew with. But they have different textures and I think the rib is a bit too stiff for the parts I chose to use it for.
On the eternal thread question, I used a polyester thread and a zigzag stitch. The construction calls for stitching wrong sides together then topstitching the seam allowance down on the outside for a raw edge look that I think should be fairly sturdy. Fingers crossed that these seams hold.
The hems at sleeves and bottom are completely unfinished which is a bonus since that's where my stitching tends to do most of its stretching and snapping.
(Am now simultaneously cooking, lighting fire, blogging and patting self on back for multitasking, which will go pear shaped any minute.)
I will try this pattern again, and I might even just pull out the overlocker and sew it the 'regular' way I would knits. And I'll match the fabric types better. And tighten up that neckline. Then I think I'll be onto a good thing that might see wear beyond the house.
Jasper was excited about the prospect of a new pyjama top though. Trouble is I might have to make some matching pants now.

- Jane x