Pensamientos: Machine Embroidering Tee Shirt Creations

My machine embroidery setup is not totally modern and up to date. I bought my Viking Iris new maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I had to buy the embroidery designs on cards, not as digital downloads. When I bought the machine I only had the bucks to buy one extra card. There was also one that came with the machine. A couple of years ago I thought I would break down and buy another card and, guess what? I found that Viking no longer sells the cards, because this machine is now considered to be out dated.

I managed to find a few cards on EBAY. The good thing is that I have enough cards now (5 I think) to provide me with enough designs to keep me happy for several years. It's still sad that a sewing machine goes out of style with the manufacturer so quickly. Maybe in 5 or 6 years I will buy a used machine for embroidery that uses digital downloads, probably a machine that is just coming out now. I wonder what technology will replace that and make it impossible to get designs?

I like having the machine embroidery capability and enjoy stitching out the designs and choosing colors, but I don't spend a ton of time doing it. Sewing time is part of my recreation time and most of my sewing recreation time goes into sewing the actual garments. But I've been doing machine embroidery on tee shirts lately. I love making tees because

a) My time is well invested. I get a lot of regular, every day use out of them.

b) I can fool around altering patterns and re-cut inexpensive boxy tees for fabric to test out pattern alterations. I buy two of the same color (which I often find on sale for $2.50 each) and turn those two into one. That allows for darts, gathers, and any other goodies I come up with. These budget fabric test garments are highly wearable, they aren't just toilles. They help build my confidence for sewing tees when I buy a pricier knit, at Fabric.com or that great fabric store in Berkley Stone Mountain & Daughter.

When I machine embroider my tees, they really look like something special.

Technique: What works for me is to use two kinds of stabilizer. I put a regular stabalizing layer for knits underneath the hoop. Then I put the wash-away kind that looks like saran wrap on TOP of the hoop. That seems to work pretty durn well.

Pensamientos: Starting with a Commercial Tee Shirt Pattern

I stopped in to check out a buddies newest project, at my favorite sewing and crafting web site, Crafster. Once there I considered posting a question about my current challenge with the neckband on my current scoop-necked tee pattern. The challenge comes about because I'm working on creating my own personal tee patterns. This has been an ongoing challenge over the past year-plus. Though I started out with a commercial tee shirt pattern, I've moved well beyond it.

I created this tee from one of my commercial pattern alteration, some machine embroidery and some darling little lizard beads my daughter brought me back from a trip to Flagstaff Arizona.

Here are just a few variations I've created... producing three different styles that suit my ideas of the way this every-day-practical garment should fit.  I've:


- Altered shaped sides from another pattern. One variation is still straight up and down - this just works better with certain knits. The other two curve in with a kind of hourglass look. I'm an 'H' shape, but my tee shirts don't always make that clear. It seems like the hourglass look works better when I sew a knit with some lycra in it. If it's called 'jersey', I think shape it.

- Decreased the width of the shirt (by folding lengthwise down the middle of both front and back pieces)

- Added darts. I never make a tee without darts anymore.

- Worked up a couple of different neckline variations. A kind of higher circle that's more like a typical commercial, rib-knit height and a kind of boat neck look. My new scoop neck lays just right until I go to bind the edge. Then I start fighting with my binding. I've always had to lightly stretch my bindings to keep them from rolling, but now I'm needing to stretch more as I move into the scoop and less as I come into it. I finally decided that I better run a hand-basting stitch along the neckline in the version I worked on last night. That's kind of working, though there's are slight gather lines showing once the binding is pinned on. I'm currently pretending that's a design feature! Once I finish it, I'll ask around for advice on other ideas to try. I may just go back to a facing for my scoop neck design.

I spend a lot more time now, making test garments (a.k.a. muslin or toille). For tee shirt practice I buy the largest inexpensive tees I can find, in sets of two. Then I cut across the shoulder lines until I end up with flat pieces to work with. In most cases I can wear the result. And when I buy something splendid in the knit line from an online fabric store, I feel much more confident that it's going to look like I want it to. I've learned that I just can't overdo on the amount of time spent considering the pattern. And the more time I put in, the higher my success rate.

Learning to alter commercial patterns for myself, beyond just a change in hem, or sleeve length or width is helping me to learn to be patient. It gives me a feeling of design control. The payoff in practical prettiness is really worth it.

A few of my tees hanging to dry.