A Lark Tee and A Linden Sweatshirt

Usually I buy rtw long-sleeve t-shirts, but there wasn't any in-person shopping this year so I was motivated to make a few of my own. Both the Lark Tee and the Linden Sweatshirt patterns by Grainline Studio are in my collection and I decided to try making one of each.

I had used the Lark Tee by Grainline Studio before, but I knew that the shoulder and bicep fit needed tweaking for me. The Lark Tee is a bit too narrow across the shoulders for me and I have two shirts where the fabric is tight on the upper arm. That may just be the fabric choice, but I wanted to look into the fitting there too. I had already lengthened the sleeves 1 1/2" and adjusted the side seam a bit to curve in at my waist. This time I lengthened the shoulder seam by 3/4" and lowered the bottom of the armscye about 3/4". I chose to make the long-sleeve size 10 with the crew neck. 

This very soft polka-dot fabric came from Joann Fabrics. I used my Babylock 1034D serger for most of the construction and my Bernina 1230 for the neck binding, hem, and sleeve hems.

The fit is improved. I don't know yet if it is a question of fabric choice for the bicep fit, but I didn't make any pattern changes for the biceps and this fabric works great.

For the second shirt I used the Linden Sweatshirt pattern. I traced a size 10 top graded out to a 12 at the hips. The shirt is lengthened 3" and the sleeves are lengthened 2".  There is a 1 1/2" hem band and the sleeve hems are turned under 3/4".  The fabric is a red knit with white stripes.

                                               

Look at how high the snow is stacked on the bird bath behind me. There was so much snow and so much time spent shoveling last month. Now there are crocuses and daffodils blooming. Soon it will be gardening season and I'm ready for it.