Tropical Montlake - The fun beginner's tee!

Hi Everyone!

In the wake of this season's biggest snow storm, I decided to make a tropical-inspired tee. It's a little ironic, but I LOVE how this shirt turned out. 

I played around with screen printing to create the sleeve design. Since the Canadian dollar is tanking right now, there is a 0% chance I'll be able to order trendy fabric from the states anytime soon. So I'll have to make due with whatever I can find at Fabricland, which is sometimes totally awesome but sometimes isn't overly trendy.

I was dying for some fun banana-leaf print in my wardrobe, but there was no way I would have found it in store. 

The only solution was DIY.

And let's face it, sometimes I get so caught up with a vision for my fabric that it can only be replicated by taking matters into my own hands. Dollar crisis or no dollar crisis, I would probably be trying DIY fabric printing at some point or another. 

I used Freepik to find the art for my sleeves, and let me tell you guys, this site is amazing. They have an awesome collection of free design resources that can be used as long as you credit the site. Here's where you can find the print I chose - Thanks again Freepik!

I used Avery's Stretchable Transfer Paper to make the sleeves. While the reviews on amazon are mixed, I had awesome luck with them. I'll have a tutorial coming shortly on how to use them successfully, but the most important thing to remember is to take your time and iron it for a while! 

Another really cool part of this shirt is the pattern, it's the new Montlake tee from Kimberly over at Straight Stitch Designs! I was lucky enough to be a part of the tester group for this pattern, and can tell you first hand that Kimberly put so.much.effort into solving any and every issue that was brought up in pattern testing. I feel totally confident recommending this pattern to a friend knowing how extensively it was tested!

What sets this tee apart is the scoop. Originally, I was a little scared because of how deep it is - I try not to show too much boob in my everyday tee's. But somehow, through some ninja pattern drafting magic, the scoop ends up stopping at just the right part of your chest, showing minimal cleavage. And, the long and narrow line it creates down the body is very elongating and flattering!

This was my first Straight Stitch Design make and I have to say, I'm really impressed. Kimberly's PDF patterns are hands-down the easiest patterns to put together EVER. Assembly took me all of 15 minutes, it was glorious.

Another thing to note is she drafts for size 0-24, with the 0 set for a 32" bust. While a 00 would probably fit my shoulders best, I'm happy to see more designers drafting for busts smaller than 33". I ended up sewing a size 0, graded out to a size 2 a the hips, but for my next Straight Stitch Design make I think I'll try grading down to a 00 with a FBA.  

You also might have noticed there are some drag lines present around the sleeves, I was the only tester that seemed to have an issue with that so I'm certain it's my error. If I had to guess, I think not doing a FBA was the cause. I'm not going to loose any sleep over it though because most of my RTW favs have similar issues. 

I'm really excited to try more straight stitch designs patterns! What do you guys think of the Montlake? Let me know down below!

Until next time, 

Rachel

Hey friends, I hope you enjoyed this post! If you want to see more of my makes, click here!