Ta da! -- My blue knit t-shirt with contrasting neckband.
I am so done with knit jersey, friends. At least for now. I'm perfectly satisfied with my new t-shirts and I intend to wear them. But the end result doesn't really merit the effort.
Here's my finished striped t-shirt.
I added a strip of knit to finish the bottom hem. I folded the band in half, serged the edge, and then stitched it to the hem with my sewing machine (I used my Kenmore 158.141 for this project).
Before I did that, however, I tried adding a strip of knit with the stripes going vertical, just to see. Hated it.
To finish the sleeves, I folded the hem up an inch or so, added a little fusible web to hold it in place, and then stitched all the way around.
All done!
With the remaining striped fabric I made myself a tank top. I trimmed all the edges with knit strips which I folded over and stitched down by stitching in the ditch.
Not liking the result, I decided to turn the trimmed edges under and topstitch.
The shirt came out OK, but I don't think I'll wear it much. I don't like snug tank tops. Unfortunately I didn't have enough fabric to cut it fuller.
Finally, I approached my blue knit jersey -- even thinner and harder to deal with than the stripe. I reinforced the shoulder seams with rayon seam binding this time (I'd used cotton twill on the striped shirt).
I interfaced the entire neckline with a weft-weight knit fusible cut on the bias (I think it's a knit).
I added the neckband the same way I had to the striped shirt, with one front edge overlapping the other. I had run out of my blue knit so I used a solid gray strip from my multicolored knit. I serged the raw edge of the neckband but stitched the band on my shirt with my regular sewing machine.
It came out well but it's a lot of work to get that V perfect, even with the neckline edge interfaced.
Instead of adding a band along the bottom, I folded the hem up an inch, pressed, topstitched, and then folded back the edge and serged -- it's sort of like a tuck on the wrong side of the fabric made with a serger. It looks like a separate band, but I didn't have to worry about matching lengths.
I did the sleeves the same way: folded up roughly one inch, topstitched, and then folded the hem back and serged along the stitching from the wrong side.
BTW, on the blue shirt, I used my regular sewing machine on the side and shoulder seams and got perfectly fine results. Even adjusting my serger's differential feed, it didn't do a great job with this taffy-like jersey and since these knits don't ravel, why bother?
Readers, that's it -- three knit jersey shirts, two of which I should get a lot of use out of.
In closing, many thanks for your excellent suggestions about dealing with knit jersey, sergers, etc. As many have said, every knit is a little different, so there's bound to be a lot of trial and error involved. As for me, I've had it with these thin knits. It is time to move on.
Happy Saturday, everybody!
Sunday UPDATE:
After laundering the shirts, I noticed the neckline seam allowances don't dry flat, so I decided to topstitch around the neckline 1/4" from the edge to anchor the seam allowance in place. Otherwise I'd have to iron these shirts every time I wash them!
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