A trio of tops - my love affair with Jalie continues ...

The arrival of my new cover stitch machine coincided with the discovery that my wardrobe is seriously lacking some basic long-sleeve t-shirts – an essential for the British winter. Because I was so pleased with my Jalie scarf collar top (blogged about here), I thought I would turn to Jalie for a simple t-shirt pattern. I picked out Jalie 2806 and thought it was so quick and easy that I whipped up three!

Here’s the first one – ‘the flower print one’ made in a rayon/lycra knit.

The pattern gives you a choice of necklines and sleeves that you can mix and match. Here’s the pattern envelope.


I made the gathered neck with three-quarter length sleeves. It’s very straight forward to make – the most difficult part is attaching the neckline band. You need to take a little care to make sure the gathers are distributed evenly and that you sew the band on so that the width is exactly right all the way round.

So, here’s the second one – ‘the Liberty print one’. (I’m not modelling this one – I mean, how many pictures of me in a t-shirt do you need to look at?!)

Because Liberty of London is so famous for its cotton lawn, you might not be aware that they also make knit fabrics, but they do. As it is a cotton knit, it isn’t drapey like the rayon knit and doesn’t have the same kind of stretch or recovery. But it makes a nice, beefy t-shirt that is good to wear with jeans and the prints and colours they use are interesting. I extended the sleeves to make them full length for this version.

Lastly, as I had got my confidence up by now, is ‘the luxury one’ made from a 100% silk jersey purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics.

This picture doesn’t really do it justice. The fabric has a wonderful lustrous sheen and drapes perfectly. The top works worn casually but also looks very nice and dressy with a skirt.

I am quite enchanted with my cover stitch machine. Of course it is perfectly possible to make hems on knits without one but I do like how the machine can so easily make a knit garment look professional. Here’s a close-up of the hem (both the outside and inside) on the flower print top

The triple row of stitching is on the outside and inside the looper thread ‘covers’ the raw edge. It looks super-neat and you can stretch it as far as the fabric will go without the stitches breaking. You can also do a double row of stitching, rather than a triple row if you want to (which is what I did for the other two tops).

So, now that I have some tops, my winter wardrobe building is going to continue with a classic black pencil skirt but more on that soon ….

Let's talk coverstitching and style advice .....

Look what has just arrived in my home

Yay, lucky me, it’s a Janome Coverpro 1000CPX! I’ve been getting into sewing knits recently and, although using my sewing machine and serger produces pretty good results I was, wistfully, telling my husband that to get really professional looking hems I need a coverstitch machine. Clearly not wanting to get into the whys and wherefores and technical details of exactly what a coverstitch machine is, let alone the comparative benefits of various models, he generously told me that if I could locate what I wanted, then it would be mine! (I think that my DKNY double knit dress, from my last post, that he likes so much helped my case here).

I found my machine at an excellent UK store called Sewing Machines Direct, it cost £369 plus they threw in a large kit of threads and several pairs of scissors and they do next day delivery (and tell you the hour it’s going to arrive!). So, I’m just getting the hang of using it (it’s actually pretty straightforward) - here are my attempts at a triple coverstitch and a wide double coverstitch

A bit wobbly but not bad for a first attempt - I love that you can stretch the fabric as far it will possibly go and none of the stitches pop! I am very happy with this machine, although I do realise that I’m going to have to make an awful lot of t-shirts to offset such extravagant expenditure! So, my friends, what I want to know is – have you got a coverstitch machine on your wish list or do you already own one? What model do you have and do you think you get good value from it? Do you have any great coverstitching tips for me?

By the way, I am very proud and flattered to be able to tell you that style advice from me is now being taken up by New York’s sewing elite. I just casually threw a sartorial suggestion over to Peter, author of the world's most popular men’s sewing blog, and did you see what he made of it? Check it out here. Fabulous! Stick with me and you, too, could achieve such casually sophisticated glamour.

In the meantime, I have finished my Butterick dress and will be posting about that as soon as I have got some pictures. Then, I guess, I see some t-shirts in my very near future.