Free sewing is my favourite kind of sewing. When the pattern is already in your stash and the fabric is a leftover from another project.

It totally feels like you are getting something for nothing.

And when it’s a quick and easy project like this one, it only adds to the feeling that you’re getting a great return for very little investment.

That’s pretty much the back story of this Inari Tee, pattern, of course, from Named.

When it’s ALL about the fabric

I recently ordered this gorgeous Liberty silk twill from The Fabric Store as lining for my Rumana Coat. When it arrived, it was so irresistibly lovely that I almost baulked at fating it to become ‘mere’ lining. I contemplated putting it aside to become something special in the future.

But we know how that would have turned out – cue two years languishing in the stash waiting for the ‘perfect project’  to arrive. So, ahead I forged with the Rumana Coat plan and I do love it as a totally indulgent lining!

Turns out, however, that I got the best of both worlds because I had enough leftover to squeeze out this Inari tee.

It doesn’t get much better than that!!

Everything is better the second time around

I had previously sewn the Inari Tee in its dress form in knit fabric. I had a few fitting issues with that one – more about that in this post.

But this was my first time making the Inari pattern as a t-shirt and in a woven. For this Inari Tee, I sized up a whole two sizes from my first attempt, to a 42. With sizing properly sorted, all went well. The Inari Tee and I are now firm friends!

Separates are actually a bit of a gap in my wardrobe, so I can foresee some more versions in the future.

That’s the problem when your gut instinct is to Sew.All.The.Dresses.

On those days when you actually want to wear pants, it can be tough finding a top to go with them!

Props to no crops

The Inari Tee, as designed, is a cropped t-shirt. And when I say cropped, boy do I mean it.

It isn’t even cropped in the could-wear-with-high-waisted-pants sense but cropped in the offers-slightly-less-coverage-than-a-sports-bra sense.

To extend my version of the Inari Tee to a more me-appropriate length, I cut to the hip line marked on the pattern, and then added 2cm extra for the hem. At the side seams, I added about 1cm each side to the width of the top at the hip, joining up with the regular side seam a couple of inches up. This ensured that the overall shape of my lengthened version of the Inari Tee didn’t look weird.

 

Specs of my Inari Tee

I set out to sew my Inari Tee with all French seams. Because if liberty silk doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment, I don’t know what does. I had been planning on trying to French seam the sleeve, for the first time ever, because the internet tells me that’s possible.

But then I did something silly.

I was overlocking my raw neckline since it was fraying like crazy. At least I thought I was overlocking my neckline. Turns out I accidently overlocked the edge of my armhole instead. At which point I couldn’t be faffed playing around with French seamed sleeves and just did the sleeves normally.

Now this was my first sewing project after two back-to-back coats and instant gratification was the order of the day! So, in the interests of a speedy sew, I decided to finish the neckband with store-bought satin bias binding, rather than the facing pieces that come with the Inari Tee pattern. It worked out ok, but the bound neckline doesn’t sit totally flat. So, next time I make an Inari Tee in a woven, I will just stick with the instructions and use the facing pieces!

All in all, I think I will get a lot of wear out of this Inari Tee. And I definitely enjoyed sewing this pattern much more as a t-shirt than as a dress – it just suits me better that way.

And, ahhh, those cuffs. Have I mentioned before how much I love anything with cuffs…

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