#sewing Trying my best to get a neckline sewn on my t-shirt. Having a hell of a time. I’ve looked at videos etc. but it doesn’t seem to come together. I have too much material —I’ve measured , done the math but it seems the neckband is still too short. I’m using a jersey knit but it also only stretches so far. What do I do???
As others have said, you want to cut it so that it stretches more horizontally than vertically. Offset the neckband so the join is not at centre back, then mark quarters and pin. Stretch only the neckband as you sew; make sure not to stretch the shirt. #sewing
Home sewers often do this probably because it’s easier to use the seam & centre back as reference points when dividing in quarters, but it doesn’t look nice there.
RTW and factory-made shirts offset this seam 1” away (towards the back) from the left shoulder seam which looks much nicer since it hides it better. (Not right at the shoulder seam to reduce bulk.)
@Lpm1@beverly_gardner@sewing#sewing I’ve also noticed many t-shirt patterns omit the crucial step of finishing the collar seam after it’s been serged. To me, it’s as ugly as looking at unfinished raw edges on wovens.
But it’s not just that the exposed serged collar seam looks ugly when the shirt is hung on a rack or folded; binding the rear portion of the collar seam also serves the practical purpose of reducing stretch there, and even stabilizing the shoulders when it extends that far.
@beverly_gardner@Lpm1@sewing It really is not as much #sewing work as it looks. Once you do it a couple times, you quickly get the hang of it.
What helped me get nicer looking results without needing to be fussy/perfect about it can be seen in this blog post: http://sansmedia.it/blog/2017/11/16/t-shirt-back-neck-binding-tutorial Basically, rather than trying to be a machine (since most of us don’t make 100 t-shirts a day), this method allows you lots of wiggle room while still getting clean results.
@valhalla@beverly_gardner@Lpm1 I think offsetting it makes it less noticeable because our eyes are naturally drawn to the centre of things? I don’t know for sure, I just know that when it’s offset, the seam is much harder to see, almost hidden.
The first couple t-shirts I made, I too made a huge effort to have it exactly at centre back until the correct way was pointed out to me. And now that I’ve gotten used to offsetting the collar seam, it sticks out to me a lot when it isn’t.
@valhalla@beverly_gardner@Lpm1@sewing#sewing Here’s a comparison of a RTW shirt next to one of the first t-shirts I made years ago so you can appreciate the effect of offsetting the seam.
I also included another shirt that does a good job of illustrating how ugly the serged seam can look when the collar is unfinished.
Last year I had posted a blind challenge to see if people could correctly identify my shirt vs RTW, here’s the photo from the final reveal.
@DanielMenjivar@valhalla@Lpm1 Yes, I see what you mean. I will have to change the way I finish the necklines on my shirts. I don’t dare show you what I have made!
I share things I’ve learned with the hopes that others can benefit from it too. I worry that with the character count limitations and me trying to fit everything into a single post, my good intentions are lost sometimes? Or that my tone comes across the wrong way? I hope not.
@DanielMenjivar@valhalla@Lpm1@sewing No worries. I appreciate that you share your expertise with us. I have learned a lot from you and other sewists on Mastodon.
@DanielMenjivar@Lpm1@sewing bless you for this! i've never found a source explaining that AND the use of twill tape to keep it all in place and reinforced.
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