Sew... what is the oldest garment in YOUR wardrobe?
Not exactly the same top – but made at the same time, from the same fabric – I KNOW the Striped T-Shirt I’m wearing in the photo below – has been worn every season since 1979!
My hubby won’t let me forget how old it is - actually commenting every time I wear it!
Below is this favorite, yet OLD knit T-shirt, snapped June 2009 with my #1 Grandson- now 17! Please put Cole on your prayer list - God knows the reasons.
Photo: July 1979 with my newborn son. This wrap v-neck top is no longer in my wardrobe, but the scoop neck T in the top photo sure is!
Construction Techniques
At the time I made these 2 knit tops (1979) it was a beginning adventure into sewing with knits – quite a different experience from the silky long sleeve, cuffed, bow-tied collar blouses and lined wool jackets and skirts I was making clients in my dressmaking business. I also KNOW the knit is a nice cotton/poly interlock from Leiter’s Designer Fabrics. Leiter’s was top-quality fabric that was sold by independent dealers like myself in ‘showings’ from samples of the fabric that traveled around between us reps.
The seams are constructed WAY pre-serger! (Didn’t acquire a serger until 1987 or so!) A very narrow (.5) width zig-zag of about 2.0 long stitched the seams, and then I zig-zagged the seam allowances together with a zig-zag of about 3.5 wide and 2.0 long. 100% Metrosene polyester thread – I remember that as well. Not one of the seams has popped either!
The neckline was finished by cutting a cross-grain strip of the stripe about 2″ wide and stitching it onto the right side of the top – binding the edge towards the inside, then stitching in the ditch – and OH MY GOSH – leaving the raw edge on the inside! THAT was monumental to me at the time – a RAW edge!
It doesn’t really appear – nor do I remember, cutting the ribbing any smaller than the neckline – but then the neckline was a pretty deep scoop anyway. Learning those techniques came later.
Hems are not stabilized in any way – and just turned up and stitched with straight stitching. Today, I would stabilize, 'beef up' the hem allowance with 1" wide Fusible Knit Interfacing as found HERE.
Continuing to stitch on/experiment/learn about sewing with knits, I put everything I know into my DVD: Stretching Your Knit Sewing Know-How. Originally sold many for $32.95, but now at 70 years old myself, and it being time to close out my product line, it is available as a 3-Disc set in DVD format for just $18 HERE.
I also have managed to get it in digital format: See HERE.
Do YOU Have an OLD OLD garment you made that you STILL WEAR?
As I update and Re-Post this blog post, I've decided I'll run this contest AGAIN!
Doing so will be a fun sharing/contest topic! If YOU made something long ago – that is at least 25 years old (mine is 43 years old!) – that still resides in your wardrobe and that you occasionally wear, please share about that as an entry!
Enter with your Comment on this Blog Post.
Here is how the contest will work…
1. Comment on this post below with YOUR story! Include what you made, and why it is still in your wardrobe. Include techniques you used to stitch it, and what you’d change technique-wise if you made it again today of the same type of fabric. Be sure to sign your post with your first name. Please know that I have this Blog set up for me to approve all posts before they show up – so don’t expect your comment/entry to show immediately.
2. Send me YOUR photo – to my email at londa@londas-sewing.com. I will copy your comment and add your photo to the CONTEST Blog Post so that all can see/enjoy/learn from your post. I don’t expect you to have a photo of when you first made it – but for sure take a photo now – even if it is only of the garment – ON your, or NOT - you choose.
3. I need a minimum of 10 entries in order for this ‘contest’ to be operative, so tell your friends!
4. Winner will be decided by vote of my ‘Customer Advisory Board’ – of 5 people (which includes me!)
WINNER PRIZE is a 25 Gift Certificate good here at my website.
DEADLINE to enter: July 15, 2022.
Here is a pic of myself and my boy at his wedding to a wonderful gal, Katy - who SEWS! She is a treasure and we are SO proud of our son!
