The Historical Sew Fortnightly Stripes challenge has really gotten me in the mood for stripes, whether they are historical or not.
I was even motivated to rummage around in my PhD (project half done – clearly a much more awesome name than UFO, because having multiple UFOs just makes you sound like a conspiracy theorist, while having multiple PhDs just makes you sound…awesome) pile and fish out a striped T shirt that I’d originally dubbed the ‘Unimpressed T’, because that’s how I felt about it.
Doing my ‘Unimpressed’ face in the original version
I was so unimpressed that I couldn’t even be bothered to blog about the original version here, though I did post it on the Sew Weekly (said post has now disappeared – very annoying). I didn’t like the original because the stripes seemed overwhelming, and the neckline a bit unresolved, though I’d loved the same cut in my Gay Red Shirt.
Even Fiss was unimpressed by the shirt as it was:
“I bite things I don’t like”
Still, with all this striped happiness happening, and with my Sewing with Knits class coming up, I felt bad having a knit PhD, so I pulled it out of the box it was in, cut 3 inches off the bottom, lowered the neckline, and hey presto:
Yay! Impressed!
Neckline resolved, stripes toned down just enough so they aren’t overwhelming, and I am now very happy with the shirt. It’s going to become another indispensible top – just as soon as it comes off display at Made on Marion
Happy stripe matching on sides and sleeves
I can’t believe it took me that long to fix it. Re-doing it took less than an hour!
Stripes from the back
Just the facts, Ma’am:
Fabric: 90cm of mid-weight cotton jersey with added spandex, thrifted
Pattern: 3HoursPast’s Blank Canvas Tee, with some teeny-tiny alterations to the neck, and custom fitted at the sides.
Year: 2012-13
Notions: Thread
And the insides? Not finished, because I wanted to show that you could leave this fabric un-overlocked.
Hours: 2 + 1 to fix
First worn?: Sun 17 March, just as a hang around in it top, and to a Wellington sewing bloggers meet up (my first).
Wear again?: Yes!
Make again?: Yep, I’ve just offered my sister one.
Total cost: $2
PhD is so much better than UFO! I may have to start using this, and not just in order to sound smarter 😉
Cute top, glad you could save it from its undignified beginning. I’m sure Felicity approves now!
Isn’t it just! One of my sewing students told me about PhDs instead of UFOs, and I was just delighted and am definitely adopting it!
And thank you!
Very nice, I am going to have to keep my eyes open for a stripe like that! And the BCT has had a facelift, she’s going to be re-released soon…
If UFO sounds like a conspiracy theorist, then maybe PhD sounds pretentious. 🙂
Oh, that’s exciting! It’s a great little pattern – I often recommend it to people (and the Cake patterns).
PhD does sound pretentious, but I say it with a bit of a wink 😉
I get that. 🙂 It’s cute.
And thank you!
Wow, it looks great! And yes, PhD sounds so much better than UFO!
Thanks Melissa!
Miss Fissy is so en vogue 🙂
A very modern item for you to make. Looks good.
Yeah, the biting look is totally the new pout 😉
I like modern sewing sometimes – that’s the benefit of living now. I can move between ’30s frocks and ’50s pencil skirts and modern T-shirts as I please 😀
Ha-at first I thought that you were actually undertaking a new degree!
It’ll happen! I’m still stuck on picking a topic that I want to be stuck with for 3 years. I guess I have a PhD PhD?
HA–I understand that feeling. At least in the UK and many of the commonwealth, a PhD lasts only 3 years. Here, it is 4 at least. But I think the US may have a mixture of research assistant/teaching assistant/funding that extends it out that other places don’t have. But I’m not sure…
The PhD PhD Ennui is the hallmark of a true life-long learner!
I think it’s great top. Love the stripe matching. I reckon it’ll get a fair bit of wear too.
Thank you! It will definitely get a lot of wear – I do enough walking and tramping and gardening to need a few T shirts, and not just pretty vintage frocks 😉
It’s definitely impressive now! I managed to see the previous version on Sew Weekly, and rather liked it as was, but it’s so much better now, without a doubt.
I must say I like UFO more than PhD. Maybe because I have so many projects that are not even half done! 😀
Thank you! I’m glad someone saw the other post. I’m bummed they are disappearing. It just feels so much better now, before it sat oddly and wanted to twist.
I tend to get 80% done with a project and then abandon it when I don’t like the way it looks on me. So PhD is nicely modest in that respect 😉