Friday, June 16, 2017

The Concord Tees - Hacked Edition

Honestly I've been meaning to get around to making more Concord Tees after I made my first one last spring. As with all good sewing intentions, it took awhile for me to get back to this.


I ended up making four hacked t-shirts. I pulled knits from the collection and started sewing. Well actually cutting first, the first ones were cut using the pattern I traced last spring. I really should have checked the fit before I cut them out...that's why I stopped at four.

Because of that these fit a little closer than I originally wanted. Probably because I've gained back 10 pounds. I will wear them, however it caused me to rethink what size to use for the next batch.

Let's start with these four... 
As usual I don't sew anything straight out of the pattern envelope. I mean I have a basic one and I know what the pattern can do so I decided to take it for a "hack" ride. I kinda feel like I could buy some standard loose-fitting tees but it's harder to purchase interesting tees in different fabrics that fit me.

Hacked Version #1 ~


This one is made from one of the organic cotton fabrics I bought from Organic Plus in late 2015. Instead of using the band for the neckline, I used a piece of 5/8" ruffled elastic from the collection. It was applied directly to the neckline to give it a frilly look. The sleeve band was also omitted. Instead I used a twin needle to hem the sleeve. I already own several white tees and wanted something a little different from the others.


Those are the only construction changes for this tee. However, by adding the ruffle elastic, it really drew the neckline in and gave it an elasticized look. At first I wasn't sure about this but the tee grew on me. It's worn with a new TNT rayon crepe skirt, exactly like these. I love this silhouette. It's going to be my go to outfit for summer!

A few pics...





Hacked Version #2 ~
I used a cotton/lycra blend from fabric.com for this version pulled from deep within the fabric collection. 


It came about because I saw a similar one on the street in NYC. A young lady was walking into Starbucks wearing a gray t-shirt with those bell sleeves. It reminded me of the sleeves from McCalls 7542. So I combined the Cashmerette Tee and the sleeves from View D to get this rendition.


Seriously it was as easy as that and I was thrilled with the final result. My only suggestion is that you make sure that you measure your sleeve opening and the opening of the ruffle to insure that they are the same diameter.


We photographed this with a flare denim skirt that I made last spring. I'm not quite sure I like these two pieces together. However, after taking pictures of six outfits that day, I was done with photographs. Of course, later on I found my grey sweatshirt looking TNT straight elastic waisted skirt (see the black one below). That's how I will most likely wear this tee!



Hacked Version #3 ~


This fabric is a 2 layer embroidered knit that was gifted to me about eight years ago by Karen Heenan, who blogs at By the Seat of my Pants. Y'all know I watch a little too much QVC and I saw a tee by Isaac Mizrahi that inspired this one. His version had a peplum on it but I wanted something a little looser, longer, and straighter. 

To get this look, I cut the top of the tee off at the waist curve. Then I added 17" of 54" wide fabric, gathered at the top and with a side seam. I matched the side seam and stitched down. It was only after it was hemmed that I realized it looked like a slimmer version of a Turner Dress hack.

Oh and the sleeves aren't hemmed...just serged. I haven't decided if I want them hemmed or not. Since they look okay in these pictures, I'll probably just leave them as is.

One more thing ~ because this is a gifted top, I thought I would wear a gifted piece of jewelry with it...so thanks Marcy for the bracelet! 

Pictures of the Top ~




Color Blocked Version ~
My last one is not a hack at all. I just color blocked it using a black 'n white herringbone knit & a black ponte. This is the only scoop neck version I made from this series of tees. Otherwise there is nothing special about it except for using two different fabrics.


I'm wearing this with my TNT black ponte straight skirt with an elastic waist. I've made quite a few of these skirts in several colors and fabrications. I really want a couple of made by me Tees to wear over them. Because believe it or not, I do have days when I don't want to wear a maxidress or maxi skirt.


This is the simpliest hack. It involves just pulling some fabric from your collection or scrap bin and having a go at it. I have a couple more fabric combinations in my head that I will eventually get to! Cause I had a ball sewing these up. 



Finally ~
I was really thrilled with how these turned out...so much so that I immediately traced off more pattern pieces and made dresses from the tee pattern which you saw in my previous post. I know there's been alot of interest in how I made the flutter/ruffled sleeve on the dress and the tee. So that's what's up next on the blog.

...as always more later!



    

38 comments:

  1. The mid-length skirt is really good on you and the 3rd version blouse is beautiful too. I like them.

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  2. Four very different tees from the one pattern. I love the colour blocked one...it looks very smart with the black skirt, and I also love the one with the bell sleeves. They are all lovely.

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  3. Wow! You really hit it out of the park with this post, Carolyn. All four tees are just super. My favorite (since you asked! LOL) is #3 . . . everything about it is perfect.

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  4. You are a continuous source of inspiration. Love this post and I really like the peplum hack.

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  5. Love all your versions. Nice assortment of tops. Great job. I really like your black ponte knit skirt on you. I am thinking of sewing a peplum top, but worried about my shape, any suggestions? P.S. I love QVC too!

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    1. Bonnie - honestly I don't know cause I'm hesitant to put a peplum on my shape...but lately I've been proving myself wrong sewing a lot of things I wouldn't have worn before!

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    2. Thanks, I'm similar in shape and hoped you had an idea. I may just go for it one day and see. I just don't want to look like I have a swim ring around my waist!!!! (LOL!)

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  6. You are such a creative sewist - thanks for sharing!

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  7. You definitely win the Hack My Concord contest. =)

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  8. You convinced me I should get this pattern. I especially love the gray paint splatter print Tee. I wonder if they still have some of it.

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    1. Connie - I bought that fabric at least 7-8 years ago. I'm sure that they don't have anymore now! That was deep stash fabric.

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  9. Love all the tees. The length of the bell sleeve on the gray one is just perfect. If it was longer or shorter it just wouldn't look as fantastic. Also on the third one I am so amazed that you have gathers at your waist but it does not add bulk. You still have a very defined waist and the whole look is wonderful. Lengthened out, it would make a very nice dress on you. Thanks for the wonderful post!

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  10. They​ all look wonderful! My favorite is the bell sleeve one! Funny, for tge longest time, I didn't like to make a pattern more than once but lately I'm proving myself wrong.

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  11. These are all so great. I can imagine you smiling as you sewed them! I especially like the 2nd one (gray with bell sleeves) and the last one (color-blocked)! will have to get sewing myself! thanks for posting!

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  12. OMG to the mash up with M7542! SO perfect. It really looks amazing on you. The length is perfect, the fabric is perfect, the sleeves are perfect.

    The gathered one is ADORABLE. Do you want to look adorable? Idk if you do but you DO! haha! I love it.

    The other 2 are equally awesome and that scoop neck is truly beautifully face-framing. But the middle two make me squeal!

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    1. I will take adorable! *LOL* M7542 is the perfect match-up to my tee or probably any other tee. You should try it. Yeah I really like the scoop neck too. I'm going to use it for the next four.

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  13. great tees, my fav is the houndstooth with solid black sleeves, SO sharp looking.

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  14. They're all wonderful. Hard to pick my favourite, but I must say, I'm absolutely smitten by those flutter sleeves.

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    1. They are amazing aren't they?! I want to use them on another tee because this one turned out so well.

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  15. The third version is my favorite, but they all look great.

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  16. I love #2 and #3 and I think they are the most flattering. I'll tuck their images into my inspiration file.

    There are lots of tees to purchase but so often they are in bright, even garish, colors. If you want an interesting style, you'll probably be paying lots of $.

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  17. Thank you for this series! You look fantastic in all of these shirts/dresses! As I mentioned on IG, I'm starting to sew more for my mom who is borderline plus and misses size (mostly depending on how things are cut and how much ease my mom likes in her clothes). I have had good luck with a couple of P4P patterns for her, but I think she'd like some basic tees in pretty prints and I bet she'd be more comfortable with a pattern that is designed specifically for size 12 and up. Do you have an affiliate link that I can use for you before I purchase it? Would love for you to get a bit of a kickback if possible since I wouldn't have known about it without your blog/IG posts. :)

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    1. Amber - that's so sweet of you but I don't do affiliate links! My last post has a direct link to the Concord Tee on Cashmerette's site. While there you should check out some of the other patterns that Jenny has...your Mom would probably like some of them too. The patterns are sized 12-28, cups sizes C-H.

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  18. I also love to sew t-shirts. They are quick and the results are simple but amazing. This is an example of getting something no one else has. I wore me-made tees to work all this week and got a ton of compliments-where do you get that? Now I have inspiration to make more. I like them all but 2 and 4 are my favs. And isn't it great that it is finally warm here in the northeast? We can finally wear our summer clothes.

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  19. What great t-shirts! All unique.

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  20. Wait, now you're cracking out an entire mini-wardrobe each week? Your rate of production is awesome. And these T's are spectacular. I love that you play with the pattern and fabrics to get such a lovely array of different looks. Cindy (Creative Hormone Rush)

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    1. Cindy - LOL! No this is two weeks worth of work! And you know that once you have a pattern fitted, it's easy to cut & sew it up! Also my company is on Summer Fridays now so I'm sewing Friday afternoons, as well as, Saturday and Sunday.

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  21. #3 is the absolute ONE. I love it.

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  22. I can't decide which I like best - the while one reminds me so much of the sunshine tee with the gathered neckline - it's great. But I love all of them, they are so different, and yet so easy to hack. I love how productive you are. As always - I'm inspired by your makes to get to my fabric and get busy!! g

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  23. Love them all Carolyn, but especially the grey and the gold one. They just look really good on you!

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  24. I like the embroidered one on you, it has something special

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  25. I can't BELIEVE how many looks you got out of this! And though I looove seeing you wearing your bracelet, I think the ice cream is my favorite accessory. (LOL!)

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  26. Wow, I love all of these tops! You're such an inspiration, especially with pattern variations. I really love when you share these.

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  27. I love that grey fabric. It's very pretty! I pulled a "you" the other day and pulled out all of my ITY knits to make dresses. I'm going to see how many different styles I can get out them.

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  28. Great T's-I really like all of them but the lace version is my fave. You made one pattern look complete different with each version.

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