Visiting us today from our Advisors Circle is Emily who has stopped by with her Changing a Zipper Hoodie to a Pullover post. She’s joining us to share a few Men’s Metro T-shirts that she made for her husband. She used the pattern to make him cycling jerseys for his daily bike commute.
Name: Emily Stone
Where can we find you on the internet? Instagram, Blog
Project Details
Pattern Used: Liesl + Co. Men’s Metro T-shirt
Fabrics used: Hi Vis Under Armour Heat Gear Poly/Lycra and Safety Orange Under Armour Heat Gear Poly/Lycra
Did the fabrics work well?
Yes! I sewed these as a late birthday present for my husband. He bikes to work 95% of the time in all sorts of weather (snow, heat, rain, etc) but there aren’t many bike lanes (or sidewalks) in the town we live in. I was hoping really bright colors would be easier for drivers to see him!
The fabrics are wicking, which is great for all kinds of weather. The fabrics are more medium weight than I was expecting from the other Under Armour fabric I’ve used in the past. They are fairly stable and have great stretch and recovery.
My serger broke a few weeks ago so I sewed these up on my sewing machine (a Bernina 801 I inherited from my grandmother). The yellow sewed up beautifully with a stretch needle. The orange gave me serious fits! I don’t know what the deal was with the orange because I used the same sewing machine with the same needle and the same tension. The only thing that was really different was the thread. The orange thread is at least a few years old (I think it was from Ansley’s BB-8 dress) and the yellow was new. A few Advisor’s Circle friends also recommended using a microtex needle and I tried it and it didn’t work, so I’m not really sure what’s going on. I later sewed some bands with the yellow and orange scraps for myself and used the yellow thread without crying or yelling so I’m blaming it on the orange thread for now.
How did the sewing go?
Excellent apart from the orange thread woes above! The yellow short sleeved has a slightly higher neckline (I believe it’s the L cut line for the neckband and the S neckband) with a curved hem for more coverage when biking. All of these tees are a size L in the shoulders/chest graded to a M through the lower torso and hips, as requested by my husband. The long sleeved ones are the medium neckline and neck band. After he tried the short sleeved one on he decided he didn’t need the curved hem for the long sleeved one. I sewed the orange long sleeved one next and cheated the sleeve hem a little, as requested. For the yellow long sleeved tee I added .75 inches in length and kept the original sleeve hem amount.
What was the best part?
There are a few! The first is actually sewing something for my husband because I hardly ever do. The second is being able to sew the shirts according to his requests and being able to achieve a custom fit!
The Metro Tee is such a great basic block! These are actually tees number four, five, and six all from the same pattern. (The first ones aren’t blogged but they are grey and kind of boring but get worn for yard work and lounging around the house). They are also a pretty quick sew!