Embellished Cap Sleeve T-shirt

Some of my favorite articles of clothing are my cap sleeve under shirts.  I have a white one, a black one, and a cream one.  They get quite a bit of wear and really need to be replaced.  Since I still had quite the stash of white knit fabric, I decided that I could try to make my own version.  I mean how hard could it be?  Well as it turns out, not hard at all. 

I laid out one of my existing T's (folded in half hot dog style), and traced a pattern for both the front and back pieces of the shirt.  I used newspaper for my patten pieces-just because I had plenty on hand, and it's free.  I added 5/8" to my seam allowances (along the shoulder, and down the side).  Then I cut out my pieces of fabric.  I actually doubled up on my fabric due to the weight and transparency of the fabric. So I had 4 pieces of fabric to work with, but normally you'd just have 2.

I used some ribbing for both the neckline and the trim around the arms.  My trim on the arms ended up being about 3/8" once it was sewn on, and the neckline is 1" thick.  

After my ribbing was applied and my seams were sewn, I decided that my shirt needed a little something something.  I cut out several different sized leaf shapes and, using some heat n' bond, arranged them in an interesting grouping.  I then used my triple stretch stitch and sewed down the center of the leaf shapes.  I didn't finish off the edges because I kind of like the raw edge look (I also left the edges raw on my trim around the neck and arms).   Now because I had doubled up on my fabric I actually did all of my applique stitching between the two layers of fabric.  I'm not sure if this was the best idea, but it seemed to work and hopefully it will wear well.  I like that all of the stitching is encased in the two layers.

 I didn't lay out my leaves with any image in mind, but I had a couple of people ask me if it was supposed to be a fish. It isn't, but if you want it to be a fish it can be a fish.  I sewed two small buttons at the base of my grouping and that's it.

I actually haven't finished the bottom hem of the shirt.  I was wondering if you could help me out.  I've been debating what to do.  I could do a simple narrow zig zag stitch in contrasting thread at the bottom of the shirt, I could leave it as it is, or I could sew on a 2-3" waistband.

The actual unfinished hem to my shirt.

Thick Blue Waistband....

...Or Thick Green One?

If I do sew on a waistband I was thinking of doing it with one of these two colors of ribbing.  What do you think?  I need your input.

I was also wondering if you'd like a tutorial on how to sew the actual shirt.  It really is so simple, but I plan on making more.  If your interested I'm very willing to make one for you.  Any other suggestions for my next attempt?

Need help sewing with Knits?  Check out my earlier posts on selecting and sewing with knits.



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