Tessuti Fabric Lola tee from stash jersey

Remember when I won a sewing competition?! I chose Tessuti Fabric's Lola t-shirt thinking it would be a nice easy introduction to sewing with jersey or knit fabric and using my overlocker...and I was not wrong!



Described by the designers as follows:

The summer Lola Tee Top flares slightly at the hips and features a scoop neckline and cap sleeves. Stylish and contemporary in design, the Lola is a wardrobe winner and is best made up in light to medium weight cotton knits as well as viscose and t-shirt weight jerseys.

It was a lovely easy pattern to use, only 10 steps from start to finish and super easy instructions, complete with photograph pictures to illustrate the descriptions.  What slightly threw me to begin with was the hand-drawn nature of the pattern, it looks literally hand drawn and hand written with the instructions on the pattern pieces, but the outcome is the same; you know what to cut where and what to do with it at each stage.  I guess in sewalongs I've seen on blogs using indie designer patterns, all the pictures have shown computer printed pattern pieces so I was expecting something of that nature.  Not an issue with the final pattern or item of clothing produced at all, just not quite what I was expecting!



I was expecting a battle with the binding round the neckline, after reading of other blogs describing similar patterns ending up with saggy necklines.  In reality the maths worked out perfectly and my neckline was overlocked like a dream.



I altered the 'twin needle' overstitching step to 'stitching with regular straight stitch on my sewing machine because to be honest, I haven't got to the twin needle part of my overlocker instruction manual yet and between the 'sewing from a pattern, 'sewing with jersey' and 'sewing with my overlocker' mental steps to overcome, I wasn't going to add 'working out what the fuck a twin needle is' to the list.  I made sure to catch the underlying overlocker seam into my straight stitch, since that was the ultimate outcome to that particular step in the pattern.



I left the bottom hem and sleeves unfinished, as this was one of the ways to finish the pattern.  Next time I'll hem them, just to compare and see what difference it makes to the t-shirt.

I'm currently wearing said tee, after a cinema/dog walk/pub date with Andrew on my day off.  I can attest to it being comfortable and easy to throw on over a vestie (and under a handknit, hello Owls!). I cut a size S based on my measurements but to be honest, it's too big all over, meaning I have to wear it with a vestie underneath or risk flashing mah baps every time I bend over.  Next time I'll cut an XS and see how that compares.







Super proud of the neckline though, as flat as linoleum. Boo yah!  I talk about the choice of fabric over here if you're interested.



Overall, a definite make again!  I could see this is in a range of colour combinations and weights of jersey.  Other than one minor error (seen here on Instagram) where I cut a hole in an armpit with my overlocker, I had no issues with the serger and would definitely use it again, so quick and easy!  This is also my first item of clothing photographed myself using a tripod, I'm hoping to upgrade to outdoor pictures once I master the art of self-imaging but for the moment wanted to confine my embarrassing running-to-and-fro to my bedroom.  Hope you enjoyed my working fireplace and vintage mirror though!