St. Tropez Tee

I had some remnants from the silk jersey I used for my maxi dress and wanted to make a top that would showcase how drapey the fabric is.
My yardage was limited though, so it had to be something streamlined. I was also inspired by the summer collection of the ultra-modern line MM6 designed by Maison Martin Margiela. Checksome of his summer stuff here: http://www.eluxury.com/estore/sales/public.jsp?catId=home&brand=900001, only I wanted something more resort-y, hence the name I chose for it - St. Tropez. Therefore, I went with a dolman short-sleeve tee/tunic, which was too fit loose but not as address, i.e. hug the hips. Did not find an exact pattern but Burda WOF has plenty dolman sleeve tops, so I got a good idea of what the pattern should look like.

Here is a sketch of the pattern and reference as to my measurements - same front and back, only the neckline on the front is deeper (pls, excuse my rookie sketch, I am not good at the illustration program.

I stabilized the shoulder seams with Fusi Knit bias strips

The hem is a single-fold one and coverstitched.

The sleeves are rolled up and tacked down.

Neckline: Let’s just start by saying that I dislike making necklines on knits, period. I know it is not a rocket science but to me it seems like a very fiddly affair (especially if RTW finish is desired)! So, I am not 100% happy with the neckline but it is as good as I’ll ever get it to be… Neckline woes aside, I think it is a fairly wearable top that can be dressed up with custom jewelry and a cool bag, as well as dressed down with yoga pants and a sports bra.

Ruched Sleeve Tee

I was inspired by this 3.1 Phillip Lim cotton T-shirt with ruched sleeves and high neck - http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/33023# . I particularly liked the bold sleeve detailing.

The material for my tee is actually sourced from three RTW t-shirts (because of the flower design on the front that I felt in love with) that I cut up - used one to cut out the front and back pieces from my pattern, and the backs of the two other tees to cut out the sleeves. I am now left with two fronts and 6 short sleeves:), I may make a beach dress for DD from them.
And here is the tee finished:

The slideshow below illustrates how I drafted/draped the tee. For the bodice I used a tee block that I made a few years ago and the sleeve was draped on a dressform.

Sleeve: SAs presses towards the bodice to control the “puff,” hem – unfinished, sleeves rolled up

Neckline: stabilized with bias tape and stitched down.

Bodice hem – coverstitched.

Conclusion: It was a first for me to drape a sleeve, I have no idea how a sleeve should be draped, so, my process was based solely on improvising. In any case, I like the result and will use my experience to drape other funky sleeves.

Two more photos of the sleeve:

Draping / Drafting CHLOÉ Tee

The wearable muslin is finished! And it is wearable indeed!
For my wearable muslin I used 3 Mossimo for Target tissue-weight t-shirts (size XXL), on sale.

Making the unwearable muslin:
At this point I made an “overall shape” mock-up by cutting and pinning (time after time) one of DH’s oversized white t-shirts. Eventually I arrived at the muslin pieces as shown in the slideshow. Next, I added a wedge to the upper front for the cowl-neck effect. Lastly, I freehanded the stitch lines to mimic as close as possible the original design. Then I transferred the muslin to paper and trued the topstitching lines so the back and front matched.
From there, I cut out the separate pattern pieces.

This slideshow illustrates the process:

Construction:
Seams are first serged, then pressed tone side, then topstitched with a coverstitch machine (the parallel lines remain on the wrong side).
The lines that are only topstitched I first interfaced with 3/8” bias fine-knit fusible.
The neckline is faced and understitched.
Hem is folded under and topstitched.

These are photos of the WS and RS of the stitching

To do for the contest entry: I do have some tweaking to do, reposition some lines and rethink construction, but really, the style is so loose that I do not foresee any major changes. With other words, the fit was the easier part with this top. Now, I am impatiently waiting for my samples and then fabric to arrive!