The Tee Shirt Failure...And A Second Try

Well, I attempted my first tee shirt for Boo. It went together quick and easy and looked great...until I got to the neckline. Somehow I botched it BIG TIME.

See the wonky neckline?

I serged the binding before I sewed it on...and then I serged it after I stitched it to the neckline. I thought I was being smart and securing it well. What I really did was turn it into a stiff, wonky mess. I put the shirt on Boo and the collar was practically 3-D, standing up off of his chest. It was bad. Luckily my little boy is the sweetest toddler ever. He told me it was beautiful and he insisted on wearing it to bed.

Fail!

After seeing my epic failure and doing a few hours of internet research while eating a comforting bowl of chocolate ice cream, I came up with a new plan to tackle necklines on tee shirts. I tried again. This time I took a bright blue tee shirt from the thrifted pile to use as the fabric.

The tee shirt came along nicely. I'm still not thrilled with the neckline but it's 100 times better. I followed a great online tutorial and it came out neat, smooth, stretchy, and attractive. Then I made the mistake of "stitching in the ditch" rather than just plain top-stitching. It looks fine but the perfectionist in me thinks it's too messy looking. I know that no one else but me will ever notice the difference but I still plan to change it for all future shirts.

Since the end result of tee shirt attempt #2 was a plain, boring, but well crafted blue shirt, I decided it needed some embellishment. I stenciled a dark green alligator near the hem in the front and embroidered the outline and some details in a brighter shade of green.

Win!

I'm about to tackle my third tee shirt attempt. Look at this fabric!!! I can't wait to show off my plan for this. Third time is the charm, right?

Dragons and castles!!!

How many tries did it take you to master sewing knit shirts?