the camp shirt

Yeowzah! Poke my eye out with the colour!

If anything, it is brighter in real life. But the fabric is lovely and soft and drapes wonderfully. And if I wear in on my bike, they will surely see me coming. And most importantly, the whole piece (therefore the shirt) only cost me $3.

Today's tutorial is on the tiny loop at the neck of the shirt. Of course, when would you ever do up a short sleeved shirt right to the neck but I like it as a detail in the design so sometimes I add the loop. The pattern instructions call for making a tiny tube and turning it right-side out. Are they nuts?

The tiny piece of fabric is cut on the bias and so it stretches. Instead of making a tube, I first iron the piece in half lengthwise.

Since it is so small and maneuvering the piece under the iron would cause third degree burns to my fingers, I use pins to help me out. I fold up the one half into half and pin it down. Then I fold over the other half. As this fabric is rayon and creases easily, it won't take but a touch with the iron to set it in place.

Then I fold both halves onto each other, folding in the raw edges, and press, removing the pins as I go.

Once I get it under the needle, it slithers around worse than Alan Rickman in Harry Potter. In retrospect, I probably would have been better off with a straight foot instead of the zipper foot.

As you can see, the stitching line is a little crooked but since it is a tiny piece anyway and will be folded in half when done, I don't really mind.