Ooh look, another Maria Denmark kimono tee

I'll keep this short as you've seen a thousand of these on me lately - it's another Maria Denmark "Kristen Kimono Tee".

The fabric is an 85cm remnant picked up from Tessuti for the bargain price of $9.35. The fabric is the same as that used for this Mandy Boat Tee - just a different colourway with narrower stripes. It feels nice to wear and was pretty easy to sew with.

Even though I thought my last kimono tee was a bit...small, I decided not to go up a size and this one fits okay. Not sure what that's about...but I'll take it. I shortened the length by about 1" as I've felt my others were a big long. I could probably go a bit shorter. Again, much pooling on the back but, whatever, I can't see it!

...and I also sewed this one with a neckband and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out (though next time I'll make it a tad wider). I thought I'd try top-stitching the neckband with a triple stitch rather than a small zigzag and I HATE the way it looks - so heavy and messy. Won't be doing that again. I have seen someone on Instagram just use a long straight stitch for neckband top-stitching so I'll give that a go next time. I did zigzag the arm hems and my machine decided to skip a few stitches so this top is not as "neat" as I'd like, but it's very wearable so wear it I shall. Once the weather warms up!

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Pattern: "Kristen Kimono Tee" by Maria Denmark
Size: size 3XL (no seam allowance added); with size 4XL at the shoulders
Modifications: none
Fabric: Remnant from Tessuti (Viscose + Elastaine)
Changes for next time: none

Another Maria Denmark Kimono Tee

I really love the print on this fabric that I first saw at Fabric Muse a few months ago. After weeks of fabric stalking I finally purchased 90cms of it  and decided to make myself another Maria Denmark Kimono Tee. The fabric is $35/pm so it was hard to justify buying anything more than this...sadly!

I'm getting a bit tired of getting properly dressed for blog photos, so here are two photos of the new top...what you're not seeing are my PJ bottoms and ugg boots!

Since my first kimono tees I've put on a bit of weight (insulation for winter) so this doesn't fit as well as my others did when I made them. I also think I've cut the fabric off grain as it not sitting as nicely as it should. Moving forward I'm going to stop being lazy and actually make a neckband for my kimono tees...my method of turning the neck under and stitching before joining the shoulders works OK but doesn't look very good.

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Pattern: "Kristen Kimono Tee" by Maria Denmark
Size: size 3XL (no seam allowance added); with size 4XL at the shoulders
Modifications: none, other than not using a neckband
Fabric: Botanical Digital Print Jersey from Fabric Muse (97% Viscose + 3% Elastaine). 
Changes for next time: maybe I'll forgo the use of Wondertape; and maybe try sewing it with a neckband. I might go up a size also.

Just one more (for now) Kimono Tee

I know, I know, another Kimono Tee! To be fair I did have THREE failed (and one "meh, I'm not sure") makes between Kimono Tees.

I bought this fabric from Tessuti after a solid hour of browsing (they are at the end of their sale so there's not a lot of jersey left in store). I was almost going to walk out empty handed but that would just be silly,wouldn't it! I wasn't sure about this fabric at the time, but now that it's made up into a top I really love it!

I've felt that the size for my last three tee's (here and here) has been a bit big so I end up sewing REALLY big seam allowances to counteract this.  Looking at the pattern I know that if I went down one whole size it'd end up being too small, so I decided to cut off 5mm off each pattern piece at the fold (making the front and back 1cm smaller respectively). I think this has worked really well; and it's also made the neck smaller so you see less of my bra strap when wearing the top.  I'm sure this is not a kosher way of doing things, but it worked.

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Although I've complained about my method of finishing my necks on these tops I just couldn't be bothered finding another/better way to do it - so it's overlocked, stuck done with wondertape and then zigzagged. This is an "okay" method but a neckband would be better - but I think quite a pain in such slinky fabric.

The sleeves are finished in the same way as my neckline...simple simple.

I'm not quite done with this pattern. I've spotted some VERY nice fabric at a store that's near my office so I'll be procuring that fabric this week for another Kimono Tee.

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Pattern: "Kristen Kimono Tee" by Maria Denmark
Size: size 3XL (no seam allowance added); with size 4XL at the shoulders
Modifications: 1cm removed for the CB and CF
Fabric: Ondula Fresh from Tessuti (97% Viscose + 83 Spandex Jersey Knit).
Changes for next time: maybe I'll forgo the use of Wondertape; and maybe try sewing it with a neckband.

Two more Kimono Tees - it's LOVE

As soon as I finished my (very) wearable toile of my new Maria Denmark Kimono Tee I raced over to Tessuti in Chatswood to procure myself some nice t-shirt fabric. I was really REALLY wanting a nice black t-shirt to go with my Lady Skater Skirts; but as is always the way when fabric shopping something else also caught my eye...so now I have two brand new tees.

The black tee is pretty much what I was hoping for; though the neckline does not look as good (nor is it finished as well as) my wearable toile. D'oh. I think the use of my beloved Wondertape to turn the neckline under (rather than pinning) makes the zigzag stitch lose it's stretch (and thus makes the neckline prone to stretching out) and one side of the neckline isn't stitched down quite right. I'm going to go the extra step given in the Mandy Boat Tee and sew the little dart thingy at the shoulder seam to tidy things up and bring the neckline in a bit as it's a smidge to big (on both tops).

As threatened with my first try at this pattern I sewed the sides up at the hips with a larger seam allowance to make it more snug in that area. As I intend to wear this top with floaty skirts a floaty/loose top will not do and I don't like tucking tops into pants/skirts as it doesn't suit me.

The fabric is called Hashtag Black from Tessuti and it is a very nice 92% Viscose +  8% Spandex Jersey Knit. It was really nice to sew with and irons up easily. So all in all I'd call this tee a win, though I only 90% love it does to aforementioned neckline issues.

As I was looking around the store this LOVELY fabric (Italian printed 97% Viscose + 3% Spandex jersey knit - swoon) caught my eye and it would've been rude to leave it behind (plus it's Tessuti sale time so spend spend spend)! This type of print is right up my alley and I adore it. I have enough left of this fabric to make another tee when this one dies (planning ahead).

The same comments apply to this as for the black shirt - not 100% happy with the neckline and will do the little dart thing to bring the neckline in a bit (though it's sewn better than the black one...) and will make my next Kimono Tee sans Wondertape and see how we go. I also sewed this with a wider seam allowance on the side seams and like the way it fits (though had to go and BUY a denim skirt to wear with it as I don't have one).

I think this top would work well extended into a dress so I'm going to give that a go. We're going on a short cruise holiday in March and I think that sort of dress would be perfect for sipping cocktails besides the pool. I'd also like to figure out how to extend the sleeves to make it something I can wear in cooler weather.
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Pattern: "Kristen Kimono Tee" by Maria Denmark
Size: size 3XL (no seam allowance added); with size 4XL at the shoulders
Modifications: sewn a larger seam allowance at the hips - about 1.5cm.
Fabric: Black: Hashtag Black from Tessuti (92% Viscose + 8% Spandex Jersey Knit). Patterned:
Fantasia (Italian printed - 97% Viscose + 3% Spandex jersey knit)
Changes for next time: forgo the use of Wondertape; and maybe try sewing it with a neckband.

Maria Denmark's "Kristen Kimono Tee"

After making sooooo many skirts (both of the pencil and a-line variety) it seemed about time to try my hand at making a t-shirt to go with all those skirts. I had downloaded the free (if you subscribe to her newsletter) Maria Denmark "Kristen Kimono Tee" about 18 months ago so thought it was possibly time to whip one up.

Sadly my first attempt was too snug as I didn't read the instructions prior to cutting out my fabric. If I had I would have realized that the pattern does not come with seam allowances included...ugh. If I had added the 1cm seam allowance as suggested I think the top would've been ok, but now it resides in the bin. For some reason I didn't have the PDF pattern on my computer at home, so I unsubscribed to the newsletter, re-subscribed and got myself a new copy of the PDF pattern. It would appear that since my first download of the pattern Maria Denmark has added more sizes to the larger end of the size specturm which suits me. After laying the old pattern over the new pattern I decided to cut a 3XL (leaving it at 4XL at the shoulders to give me more room in the sleeves). I decided that the 3XL would be big enough without me adding seam allowances as it is quite a bit bigger than her previous biggest sizes.

I am pleased to report...WE HAVE A WINNER!

This pattern was only intended to be a toile, but I decided to sew it up "properly" to make sure I could do all the steps without faffing it up. I decided not to add a neckband as frustratingly the pattern does not include a pattern piece for the neckband, you have to draft one yourself - life's too short for that!  I decided to treat the neckline the same as the Mandy Boat Tee - simply by overlocking the back and front neckpiece, turn under (with the help of Wondertape), zigzag stitch and then stitch up the shoulder seams. This has worked really well, but in the past these type of neckbands have stretched out and I'm not sure why. My inner OCD wants to give the neck a good tug to see if it'll stretch, but I'm trying to hardest not to do that!

The seams on the sleeves were also treated in the same way - finished before sewing up the side seams. I'm pretty happy with how they look and they feel very comfortable.

The top is also sitting very well at the back neckline -- though I think the neck is a smidge wide as my bra strap does show at the shoulders.  I don't think it's such a big deal though...not enough to think about how to fix it.

I like the back view of the tee - though next time I'll make it marginally tighter at the hips so it doesn't just "hang" - I think that's a better look to go with my A-line skirts.  There is a bit of pooling at the curve of my back - but I don't mind that at all...I like that the tee is loose at the back as I don't care for fitted tops.

I decided that I liked this toile so much that it was worth hemming it and sewing in the overlocking threads so I can actually wear it. Next up I hope to make a version in black.

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Pattern: "Kristen Kimono Tee" by Maria Denmark
Size: size 3XL (no seam allowance added); with size 4XL at the shoulders
Modifications: none
Fabric: some sort of knit from Addicted to Fabric (Canberra)