I Can't Resist A Bargain

 I mention all the time in this blog how much things cost me.  I am a bargain hunter, so when a true bargain comes along I get excited.

Joann's had Simplicity patterns for 99 cents, so I bought several.  One of them I bought was a pattern for a Henley shirt and pants.

Simplicity 11085

Then a week later when I was in Wal-Mart, I found a precut  2 yards of a beautiful stretch knit In lovely red for $2, perfect for the shirt.  The matching thread cost me more than the material.

Of course I had to sew it on a vintage machine.  This time I picked my Singer Diana.  It has some stretch stitches, so it was perfect for this shirt. It is an electronic machine from the 1970s.  I bought it two years ago from the thrift store for $3.25. The plastic gears that were crumbled cost $10.

Once I traced the pattern onto tissue paper, I started to sew.  I had not worked with knit fabric in a long time.   I found sewing with a ballpoint needle and using the straight-stitch plate and foot kept from having skipped stitches or the fabric being sucked down the plate opening.

The Diana has a two-step button hole program that made it easy to get the buttons on.

It is a comfortable shirt.  I am glad I made it.

Thanks for stopping.

Butterick 2124

 After watching some educational sewing videos put out by mainelymenswear.com on YouTube, I decided to try Duane's "go to" shirt pattern.  This is Butterick 2124 from the 1960s.

I bought my pattern on Etsy .  A couple of the pieces were pretty fragile, so I copied them onto Swedish Tracing Paper.   This was also recommended by Duane.  The paper is tough but opaque so copying is really easy.  I purchased a 16 neck pattern because this equals size 42, which should fit Joe.  When holding the pattern up to a recent shirt, I realized the only difference was the Butterick was two inches longer.  I decided to move ahead with the shirt without modifying the pattern.

I used my Bernina 1120 to sew this shirt.

This pattern is a little more difficult than modern patterns.  The left and right fronts are different because the right has a sew-on placket and the left simply folds over.  The instructions call for sew-in facing, but I used Pellon 881 fusible.

It also has a small yoke.  When doing the burrito method to sew on the inner yoke, a person really has to roll everything tight.

The hem is a rolled-hem, so I used my Bernina's rolled-hem foot to make quick work of it.  

Joe likes the shirt and the matching mask.

Thanks for stopping.