spotty dotty kimono scrubs

I fell for some fabric the other day in the shop. The killer blow was finding out that it was the remains of last years stock and “when it’s gone it’s gone”. The fabric is woven cotton with large turquoise dots on it. I’m not sure how it was dyed, but the dots have a crease around them, similar to when you tie pennies in fabric to do tie dying. In fact the whole fabric is slightly creased in a way that’s hard to describe but reminds me ever so slightly of seersucker. It pleases me that it clearly shouldn’t be ironed (because it won’t be). And the circles aren’t solid colour, they’re reminiscent of when you draw on filter paper with felt tip pens and then drop water on to seperate out the dyes. Oh and the dots are slightly irregularly spaced. So all in all, a slightly different fabric. They had another colour way with pinkey red dots but I didn’t like it anywhere near as much.

the fabric

I had in my head that I’d make a Scout Tee from Grainline studios and the assistant and I guestimated I needed 1.5m as it was an impulse buy and I didn’t have any details with me. I’ve been a bit on the fence about the scout tee, I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing I’d wear or not, and I’m not sure it’s quite right for my body shape. Then Jen did a tutorial for a Madewell variation that I really want to try, so I decided I’d use the spotty fabric to make a standard scout as a practice.

Of course it’s not that straight forward. I got distracted by Miss P’s tutorial on drafting a kimono t. It wasn’t that I was too stingy to buy a pattern (I may well still buy it to make the madewell variant), it was partly that I wanted to try drafting my own (the tutorial is so clear I was feeling confident) and partly that it meant I didn’t have to print out and stick pattern pieces together, yay.

Cutting out from my self drafted pattern

The instructions for self drafting a t shirt were easy to follow. My only problem was that I’d started my neckline right at the edge of the paper and when I added my seam allowance I had to stick an extra piece of paper on, whoops. I also added a curved hem like in the photo with the tutorial. Then I discovered when cutting out that my 1.5m weren’t quite enough to fit my pieces on so the front got cut slightly shorter and I ended up with a trendy hight low hem.

design restrictions

The top came together really quickly, there are only 4 seams. I french seamed mine, clipping the curves under the arms before enclosing them.

fitting with french seams half done i.e. not enclosed yet)

I finished my neckline with bias binding following this tutorial and did a double folded hem on the sleeves and bottom. My neckline is a little wide, I obviously could’ve done better on that measurement.

new look hospital scrubs anyone?

Overall I’m a feel a bit “Meh” about the fit, it’s a bit tent like. I think partly maybe this style is not that great a look for me and also I choose the wrong fabric, the cotton isn’t drapey enough and sticks out a bit. I’m considering nipping it in a little at the waist for a bit more shape. But then again a baggy cotton top might be just the thing if we have a really hot day so I might leave it for now and see how I feel,

baggy back

I’m also not sure what to do about the excess fabric at the back.

cool look

However, with my leather jacket over the top I think it looks really good. So the jury is out.