Sewing room redo

Out of need I had to purchase a new desk for my sewing machine (the old table was too small for my new machine, as you can see in the before picture)

After researching different types of sewing table, I thought about building one myself.

I even drew out some plans however time was not on my side so I went the next best route and went to Ikea.

I purchased a set of Alex drawers, an Alex storage unit and a table top.

Here are some before and after pictures.

this is the before

this is my new and improved sewing table

I will do a follow on blog post for anyone interested in seeing my sewing room in more detail.

Plaintain T-shirt

Hi everyone

After looking back through my blog posts and the items I have made, I realised how bad I am at actually blogging about my items (which is the whole point of this blog haha)
I last blogged in Oct 2015 - how bad am I, just as well I am better at sewing than I am blogging.
From now on I am aiming to blog all my handmade items (hopefully within a couple of weeks of making them)

I am going to start with my latest make - the plantain t-shirt by deer and doe.
This is a free to download pattern. The pattern has options for short, long and 3/4 sleeves plus elbow patches.

I had seen a lot of versions made by various people I follow on social media and liked the look of it.
I purchased some cheap jersey to try it out for myself but as I have always had problems with my overlocker it had been pushed to the back of my to make list.
After buying a new overlocker (the Brother 104D - more of which in another post another time)
I decided to take the plunge.

I made the size 44 based on the measurements and was pleasantly surprised to find it fit first time with no adjustments required.
I made the short sleeved version using this jersey from Calico laine - my version used about 1m of fabric.
I used my overlocker to sew all the internal seams, including attaching the neckband. Me and my overlocker had a bit of a power struggle at this point so the neckband is not the same width all the way around.
I used my sewing machine and a twin needle to do the top stitching around the neckband and for the arm bands and hem.
All together the t-shirt took me about 2 hours to make with all the faffing with the overlocker.

Next time I will take more care when applying the neckband.
Making this t-shirt also made me aware how much I need to buy some jersey tools - ballpoint needles, ballpoint pins and spray starch (to control the edges of the jersey curling)

All in all I am please with the finished item and even though it was a trial run I am planning on wearing the finished t-shirt (even if only to bed )
I am also planning on making many more versions - the fabric for the next one has already been put on the cutting table ready.

Here's a couple of photo's of the finished t-shirt. I will try to get some better ones of me wearing it when the light is better.