Scout Woven T in black cotton gauze

Guys! Where is summer going???

I did manage to squeeze in some canning. Saskatoons again. Also strawberries from our old garden.

don't know why I decided to date stamp things for a while there...

We moved to our new place finally! Pidgin thought he was going to be left behind and tried to pack himself...

We got away last week for a camping/canoe trip over the fourth of July, which was an amazing time.

And somehow is July 10th now and I have one month and one week to make a wedding dress.... Eek!

Anyway, getting to the point of this post, I do have some finished projects back-logged. One is my belated birthday dress (it got finished, but not in time for the big 3-0). The other is my Scout Woven T:

I made it with the black cotton gauze I bought from Fabric.com several months back.

The pattern, of course, is from Grainline Studio. I have the feeling this T is the beginning of an unhealthy obsession with Grainline patterns.

I slashed a spread the pattern to make room for the pleats, which was an easy feat since the pattern lines are so simple. I didn't bother cutting a spreading for each individual pleat - instead I just cut marked one horizontal line where I wanted the top pleat to start, marked another horizontal line where I wanted the pleats to end, and cut across that second line. Then I shifted everything down about 12". My pleats are 3/4" wide, meaning for each pleat I need 1 1/2" extra (cuz the pleat doubles back on itself), and there's 8 pleats total, so 8 * 1 1/2 = 12". Make sense? In retrospect, I should have done a little extra to account for turn of the cloth (all tiny amounts of fabric taken up by curving around a fold). But it all ended up okay. I just used a narrow hem at the bottom instead of a wider one.

Here you can see the sheerness of the fabric better:

I like how simple and wearable Grainline's patterns are. I'm also glad I chose this fabric, because it's so soft and drapey. You wouldn't want to make this up in anything stiff. The loose weave was a little difficult to work with, but it feels great on. I just hope I don't snag it on anything.

I used French seams throughout, including for setting in the sleeves, thanks to Jen's tutorial. Fancy right? Look how neat it is on the inside...

Here's a tip for French seams... plan which way you're going to press them so that you don't end up trying to sew through two of them at another seam. For example... armhole:

You can kinda see in the photo above that the french seam on the sleeve is pressed to the right, while the one below it is pressed to the left. That way, when I sewed the two together I didn't have to sew through 8 layers of fabric. That have been cause of serious frustration.

I also added a back neckline slit with a button, using the method I worked out on a (failed) blouse earlier this year.

The gauze didn't hold up so well to this manipulation though. Maybe I should have used something else for the binding or interfaced it. Next time.

I love this shirt, and I definitely want to make more. Maybe some in rayon challis? Maybe that silk I bought which has been languishing in my stash for years? But first... I gotta go make that wedding dress!