Sunflowers and Coffee

For my middle sister's birthday in March, I made her a shirt from Jalie 2805. (Of course!) And I added some heat-transfer vinyl. (Of course!) =) Buuuuut I also made some design changes! I used this sunflower knit -from Girl Charlee, but no longer available- for the back, sleeves and neckband:

  I used it as a hem band as well:

  The front and sleeve bands (I used the 3/4 length sleeves) were made using yellow ponte, from Girl Charlee some time ago... the same fabric I used in this outfit!

  I moved the shoulder seam to the front, inspired by this cute dress, added width to the front so I could gather it, then put some faux leather (also from Girl Charlee) in the seam:

  Since the sunflower fabric was thinner than I expected and somewhat see-through, I underlined the back only with some white knit. I used the underlining to enclose the shoulder seam, since it was going to be sewn there anyway! That seam was pretty bulky, what with the gathered ponte, two back layers, and folded faux leather... it was pretty difficult to sew! But it looks nice anyway:

  I 'designed' two of the lettering styles for the vinyl myself, and used a quote I've seen in a few places. I wasn't sure how well the vinyl would stick to the ponte, or if the ponte would melt, so I tested it out on a scrap first, and it seemed to work fine... I didn't try washing it though. I didn't have quite enough brown vinyl to make the quote as big as I wanted to, but I think it worked anyway.

  And here's the whole thing! I really love this shirt! Especially the gathered piped forward shoulder seam- I definitely want to use that again sometime. =)

 I'm rather enjoying making all of these birthday gifts... I'm trying all kinds of things I wouldn't normally try. =)

Thanks for stopping by,