Making T-shirts (almost)

I've never attempted to make clothes before. I think the reason for this is a mixture between not having any fashion sense whatsoever combined with the fear of garments not actually fitting properly. When you're sewing things like bunting or a stuffed toy it doesn't really matter how big or small it ends up, however when you're faced with making things that you can potentially wear in public places it matters quite a lot.

Saying this, I have always wanted to experiment with home made garments and that longing gets worse round about the time when The Great British Sewing Bee is on my tellybox. Whilst I was mooching around Abakhan one weekend I found some amazing dinosaur print t-shirt material in the stretch fabric section of the shop and I instantly fell in love. So I bought a load and then was faced with the daunting prospect of transforming it into a wearable item of clothing.

I watched many online tutorials of how to make your own t-shirts by cutting up an existing t-shirt and using that as a pattern. The only trouble is the t-shirt I decided to use as a template seemed to be larger on one side than the other and I had to keep trimming bits off to make it work so by the end of it I was too scared to make sleeves for it that I left it as a vest top...who needs sleeves anyway right?

Regardless of the fact that it has no sleeves I was so impressed (or relieved) by how my top turned out that I actually wore it to work the following day and I got many compliments about it, even before I told my colleagues that I had made it myself.

Now that I've made one item of clothing and conquered the initial fear of looking like a complete idiot wearing it, I may just make some more. Watch this space!