After this week, I decided to do some sewing therapy - for someone else! My younger son has been home from college since mid March, when University of Delaware shut all the facilities and sent students home. He has an off-campus apartment, so he could have stayed there, but I'm glad he decided to come home. Plus, he gets to see local friends (socially distant, of course), have access to the piano, my cooking, and Mooshie. He finished all his courses and finals two weeks ago, and last week found out that he got a 3.93 GPA for the semester! He has one more year, and hopefully he'll be able to go back and finish classes and student teaching in person. Here's hoping!
He needs some new clothes, so I thought I would start with a shirt. I like raglan tees in general, and I'd heard good things about the Jalie Nico.
I purchased the PDF and downloaded it. At first, I printed out the version with all sizes included, since I wasn't sure of which size would work best for him or if I would need to grade between sizes. Warning - Jalie puts 27 sizes in the file, so when you print it there are a gajillion lines. It was headache inducing trying to cut the size I needed. Based on his chest measurement, he's a size V. After my first attempt I saw that you can print one size, so I printed that out, which made life much better.
I used a (sold out, sorry) rayon jersey from Splendid. This is a really soft, lightweight fabric. It has stretch on the crosswise grain. I don't know why Jalie insists that you have to use knits with stretch in both width and length. While that is necessary for leotards and singlets, you don't need it for this shirt. Jersey fabric with good crosswise stretch and recovery will work fine.
This pattern goes together very easily and is well drafted. It's quite simple. The instructions are good, though if you have advanced beginner or more experience, you really don't need them. I serged all the seams on my Juki and used my coverstitch for the hems and topstitching around the collar. There really isn't much to show from a construction standpoint. It took me about an hour to make, all told.
I mentioned that I used a size V, based on his chest measurement. I think I would go down two sizes in future versions. It fits fine, but it is a little looser than he would like. Ah, to be 22 again! Here's a picture of it on him. He really likes it, and he's out playing volleyball in the back yard right now. Here's a picture on him:
And here's a picture of him with Mooshie. Because, Mooshie!
I like this pattern. It goes together easily, and it is a great basic in any wardrobe. Definitely a keeper!
Happy sewing!
