Long Sleeved Ts Part IV: Collared Van Ikke Tee

When I was wondering what to put on the front of the t-shirt that eventually gained an embroidered butterfly, I remembered some gorgeous Van Ikke transfers that the lovely Nicole (Five and Counting) had sent me. In my memory the background was lilac, but it wasn't...

It was exactly the shade of blue that I had for some sleeves and t-shirt back. A lighter shade of blue for the front and I was sorted for a fourth long sleeved tee. Or so I thought.

With only these two fabrics I wondered if the t-shirt might look a bit un-girly for my daughter's approval (she's a tough critic) and so I thought to add some shoulder ruffles (like these) in a tan fabric that matches the edging colour of the Van Ikke transfer perfectly.

That was my plan, but then I got carried away and sewed (with the overlocker) one sleeve in and forgot the ruffle. Plan B? I wondered if I could make a faux peter pan collar...

Worked kinda well, really.

I traced the neckline of both the front and back t-shirt pieces onto some baking paper. Then drew a line about 1/4" from that which would be my neckband seam allowance. From that reference line I freehand drew the collar shape, then added another 1cm seam allowance around the outside.

I cut two back collar pieces on the fold, and four front collar pieces. Stitched the front and back collars together at the shoulder seams, then stitched the whole thing around the outside. Clipped the corners and turned and pressed the collar.

It's not easy to sew and turn smooth peter pan collar curves in cotton lycra, but it will do. It's a t-shirt after all.

I basted the collar to the neckline with a zig zag stitch, then attached the neckband as usual with the overlocker. The big question at this point was whether it would possibly lay flat. I'm happy to say that, with a good steam-y ironing the seam allowances have turned under and the collar is laying down nicely. If it misbehaves after a wash then I could just tack the under collar to the t-shirt front on each side.

The pattern is the same Oliver + S School Bus that I'd used for the red skivvy. Size 5 width, size 6 length plus 1" extra sleeve length beyond that.

This t-shirt used up some last bits, and in a way I'm glad I didn't have enough of any one fabric, as the colour blocking by necessity look really appeals to me!

I still have an absurd amount of printed knit fabrics, but the stash of solid cotton lycra knits has certainly been eaten into with these Ts.

And thanks to Nicole I have another one of these Van Ikke transfers. After receiving a bag of outgrown clothes and mother-in-law-made knitwear she posted me this deer stamp and a little red robin stamp. I think P might want the red robin for himself. The transfers are beautiful (follow that link above if you dare!), come with good (multilingual) instructions and are of such high quality compared to what you can do at home with transfer paper.

So there's my favourite of the long sleeved T's. I think Peter Pan t-shirt collars might be a "thing" for me now. It's really kind of cute.
Thanks again Nicole! xx