Seamwork Eugene

Matt doesn’t always get a look in between sewing for me and for the babies, so I decided that it must be his turn again, and time to tick another make off my make 9 list. I’ve made loads of Metro tee’s for him in the last couple of years, so I decided it was time to try a different t-shirt pattern. I’ve had a Seamwork subscription on and off for a while so had loads of credits to use on this Eugene Henley. Its quite a different look- a bit more going on in terms of construction, and a slightly looser fit.

Though Matt’s measurements put him between the M and S we went for the size S, especially when comparing his measurements with the finished garment ones. I didn’t want it to end up too oversized and I think that was the right choice. It still looks a loose fit, but not too huge.

As mentioned by other bloggers, the instructions around constructing the collar and placket are pretty poor. I did deviate from the instructions a bit, constructing the collar and placket before adding the sleeves and side seams. I also ended up hand sewing the inside of the placket down so that I didn’t have to top stitch a section twice. Next time I would do the edge stitching for the placket at the same time as sewing down the inside edge.

The placket is definitely not perfect. Its a bit wonky at the bottom, but I decided that I was unlikely to make it any better by trying to redo it! I’m happy enough with it, and Matt doesn’t seem to mind! I finished the placket off with plain silver snaps because I didn’t fancy trying to get neat buttonholes, and I didn’t really have any suitable buttons anyway.

There are a couple of other options included in the pattern instructions, including giving the t-shirt a split hem. I used some grey twill ribbon to finish the split, and I really like the effect. Its nice to sometimes make a project more complex than it needs to be. I’ve done a lot of really simple sewing lately, and it was great to have a bit more of a challenge in terms of skills and techniques.

The fabric from this t-shirt might look a bit familiar, because I used it not too long ago to make a Honeydew Hoodie. The t-shirt was actually the original intended purpose of the fabric which was bought ages ago from Fabworks, but amazingly it can still be bought in a couple of different colourways. This one is a medium weight interlock, and has a slightly brushed texture so is really soft. For the contrast I used some solid cotton spandex from Girl Charlee in burgundy, and a scrap of cotton in a very close colour match for the contrast inside the yoke.

This definitely was more time consuming than the t-shirts that I have made previously, especially as quite a few steps need to be done on the sewing machine instead of an overlocker. I think I would consider using it again, but the instructions and finishing of the placket would definitely need a bit of consideration and would be done my own way in future. Matt seems to like it though, and I like it on him as a change from a more basic tee.

Advertisement