Sunday, August 2, 2015

the good, bad and ugly scout tee

Cheap, synthetic, silky fabrics are yucky. They are yucky to work with and often yucky to wear... so why are they so irresistible in the fabric store?!?! I bought this blue "simply silky print" at Joann Fabrics, because "look how pretty it is!". I knew it should be another Grainline Scout Tee.

GOOD:
It came out looking pretty good overall! Fits nicely, sleeves set well. And actually, this particular silky synthetic feels nice to wear.


BAD:
I made a mistake. After spending quite a bit of time laying out the wiggly, wobbly fabric so my lines would lie straight across the body and the little waves/fishy scales lay in the correct directions... I cut the back piece upside down. I really wanted the print to lay like fish scales all around the top (I know, who actually WANTS to look like a fish? Me, it turns out.). It doesn't look that bad, but does kinda spoil the effect I was super excited for.


UGLY:
Remember how silky synthetics are not fun to sew with? Well, this fabric certainly had it's challenges. As I mentioned, it wiggled and wobbled, taking a lot of time and concentration to cut out the pieces accurately. It also wiggled and wobbled as it went under the machine, so the sides seams have a little puckering. They all really falls more under "bad"... the ugly is the neck binding:


Yuck! It slipped under my machine, it puckered the neckline, and just wouldn't lay flat! Thankfully, I was able to hand stitch down the areas that slipped out from the machine's needle without it showing too badly, and could iron most of the puckering out, getting it to lay flat(ter). Also, the sheen on the fabric is actually working with me by hiding some of these less-than-perfect bits when I wear it. 

BUT GOOD AGAIN:
My narrow hems on both the bottom of the shirt and sleeves came out really, really well! It was nice to end this sewing with a real high note, otherwise this top may have ended up in the trash. I could say the fabric behaved well for the narrow hem.... but I'm going to go ahead and think that is was just the seamstress demonstrating some especially nice sewing skills. :) 







4 comments:

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    1. Thanks! I was able to hide most of the bad/ugly parts! Now I'm thinking about a khaki skirt to go with.

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  2. Oh man I can only imagine how you felt doing the neckline binding. The last time I tried to sew with a synthetic (polyester chiffon) I ended up throwing it out halfway through, I couldn't handle it!

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    Replies
    1. I know! Why do we put ourselves through it? Buy you know this inexpensive pretty synthetic fabrics will suck us in again...

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