The main sewing that I did in the past few weeks was alterations-related.
1. I shortened a green summer dress that I had bought in the summer.
2. Did the same with a pair of dark gray dress pants.
3. I took in at the side seams from a salmon colored T-shirt. I love the color, but the width of the T-shirt was very much out of proportion. I simply serged it to be narrower. In the process, I figured out that because the shoulder seam was also a little bit hanging onto my arm, I should have just taken a nice T-shirt I like and used that to re-draft this one, but I didn't have the energy to do that. Still, it's better now.
4. The most interesting project has been a long-sleeve
RTW T-shirt. The T-shirt had a
boatneck, which I normally love, but this one was gaping especially in the front. Not a great look...
I am not sure whether the gaping was caused by a poor pattern or the stretchy fabric with little recovery. Apart from the gaping, there was also the problem of the neck edge turning outwards, exposing the inside of the seam.
In addition, the top's boatneck was opening too wide at the shoulders.
I tried zig-zag stitching see-through elastic to the neckline. It helped the outward turning neckline, but not the gaping. So I ripped out the elastic.
I decided to add some interest to the neckline using a hand-stitched scallop hem. This gave it a nice look and stopped the neckline from rolling out. But it didn't stop the gaping.
I added buttons (no buttonhole, just buttons) at the shoulders to hold the front and back more together. This helped the shoulders, but the gaping was still there in the front...
Then I decided to use the excess fabric from the gaping neckline as a design element, and I added a few more buttons.
In the pictures, you can see the final outcome. Much better!
Edited:Today, I changed the direction of the pleat, and it makes the fabric lie smoother on the body. Took another picture.
(I am not sure why the image insists on showing sideways...)
