scout woven tee

Well, I've said before that a ray or two of sunshine is what it takes to have me reaching for the sewing machine. So the sun came out and I made a Scout Woven Tee by Grainline Studio, which turns out to be one of the easiest, peasiest sewing patterns ever, and seriously speedy to make, too. Straightforward and taking very little fabric, I had this made from start to finish in a only a matter of hours.

I hadn't downloaded a sewing pattern by PDF before but it's a simple enough process, you just need a decent amount of ink in the print cartridge because there are 16 pages of pattern that need taping together, jigsaw style. Rather than cut out my chosen size, I used bleached parchment paper to trace over my 'jigsaw' just in case I felt the need to tinker with the fitting in the future. It was a good idea as it happens, since I think the pattern runs a little small. Fortunately it has wider than usual hem allowances which meant I was able to claw back a bit of room by pulling out the stitching and doing it again. I do have a rather narrower seam allowance than I would like as a result, but at least I have a wearable garment and my precious fabric didn't go to waste. It's rather ironic to think how I dithered for ages over which fabric to use, not wanting to part with anything too precious in case it was the wrong size. It just goes to show, always trust your instincts because in hindsight I should have pumped for the next size up.

Anyway, I made my Scout with some Liberty fabric left over from this dress that I made a few years ago. The tana lawn, which is so beautiful to wear, is good and wide so just a metre does the job nicely with plenty of room for cutting the bias binding and more to spare.

Next time I shall make my top longer and also add a little length to the sleeves. I say that because I ended up serging (without using the blades) the edges of both the hem and sleeves and then turning them up a rough half centimetre before stitching down. Incidentally, the Grainline Studio website gives lots of advice and tutorials for adapting this pattern, which is immensely helpful. What a great pattern and now I know the size I'm after, I'm all set for another. Then one with longer sleeves, a dress, maybe a tunic .. ooh, the possibilities are endless so here's hoping the sun keeps shining!

Have a lovely week, everyone!