Craft Studio Tee Workshop

Striped camouflage!

To say that this was an uneventful workshop would be entirely untrue. We had at least 2 iron-related dramas including tripping a fuse and - even more dramatic - melting an electrical cable and destroying it in with a large bang and flash of light! Yet somehow, incredibly, everyone made it in one piece over the finish line to produce 4 fabulous Matchy Matchy Craft Studio Tees. A really brilliant (and entirely free) pattern.

We made the whole thing in a day, including measuring ourselves, cutting out the paper pattern, fabric and then constructing the garment.

We covered stay-stitching: a very simple technique to keep the neckline's shape; understitching: a technique used to hold the facing in place and keep it from peeping round to the front; and finally attaching the pesky facing itself, which looks deceptively simple, but is actually quite fiddly.

We enjoyed playing with the orientation of the stripes, which is really easy to do with woven fabric and turning pattern pieces at 90 degrees. The challenging thing with fabrics which are yarn-dyed and not printed is working out which is the right-side and the wrong-side. Our top-tip for you is to mark the wrong side of your fabric with white chalk at the start to avoid confusion. Another playful option is to patchwork different colour panels for a really sustainable make.

The beauty of this pattern is that it is so versatile and really needs no fitting adjustments or fastenings. Karen didn't want hers to be so short, so she simply extended the hem by a few inches. You could also consider shortening the sleeves, or leaving them out entirely.

Lots of fun was had by all and everyone managed to finish a fabulous top in just one day. Well done everyone!