Revisiting the Scout Tee

I love that the quilt store where I teach is willing to bring in garment fabrics. That can be a risk for a store when inventory doesn’t sell. The store recently began stocking a few colors of the Robert Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen, which is a linen/rayon blend. I had a request for a class on making a top using that fabric. I’ve sewn with it previously—I made the Emerald Dress pattern by Made by Rae out of some turquoise blue BWL—so I am not unfamiliar with it. I brought home a couple of yards.

The trick for garment classes is finding a pattern that is stylish, but not so complicated that it can’t be made in a few hours. Boxy top patterns are easy; however, they aren’t flattering to most women. I flipped through my pattern stash yesterday morning and spotted the Scout Tee from Grainline Studios. Eh—my first experience with that pattern was not so good. The one I made ended up looking like a maternity top. However, that attempt was made before I knew that I had to lengthen patterns for myself, or knew to check the height of the fit model used by the pattern company for drafting.

I decided to re-trace the pattern, adding 2" to the length by slashing and spreading the pattern vertically just under the bust. That pattern does come with cup sizes. I had previously traced the D-cup version for my size and knew that the darts were in the correct location.

The Scout Tee is not a difficult pattern. I finished raw edges on the serger but sewed the seams on the 880. The neckline was finished with bias tape and the sleeves and bottom edge got narrow hems. I am going to tinker with the armscye a bit because it feels a bit too high and tight to me. I wonder if that is a function of grading out to a D cup in the pattern; in order to make that work and keep the armscye from gaping, the base of the armscye rotates up and back quite a bit. I think it’s easy to overdo that and make the armscye too tight. The other possibility is that the pattern needs a broad back adjustment, which I’ve had to make in other patterns. Or both.

It looks like a shapeless sack on the dress form because the dress form torso is shorter than I am and also not as well endowed. Save for the sleeves, I like the way the Scout Tee fits on me now that it has been lengthened. I’d like to try it in one of the batik rayons in my stash.

I tried a new trick for setting in the sleeves and it worked better than any other method I’ve tried thus far, although I still see room for improvement. I used the gathering foot on my 880 to gather the head of the sleeve before setting it into the armhole. That trick came courtesy of a Bernina of Naperville video. (That channel is fabulous.) And yes, I’ve tried everything including sewing with the sleeve against the feed dogs to help ease in the cap. With almost every pattern I’ve made, I’ve only truly been happy with the sleeves after I’ve shaved a bit of height off the cap. 🤷🏻‍♀️

After lunch, I knocked out another Simplicity 9385, this time in the squiggle print:

(I apologize for the dress form—the base is loose and the whole form keeps listing to one side. The husband tried to fix it for me. It’s better than it was.)

I’ve had two days of very productive sewing. The husband spent yesterday out in the shop working on the Blazer. He is like a dog with a bone; he isn’t going to let that project go until he chases down the problem and fixes it. I know he likes a challenge.

I don’t need to go to town again until Tuesday, so tomorrow will be devoted to working on that Kanoko tote.