Ellie & Mac Discoverer Tees

I've been on a bit of a mission recently to try to reduce the amount of fabric I have sitting around. That's been fairly successful in terms of using up the bigger cuts, but I've still got a fair amount of fabric left over from other projects that needs to be used. I struggle more with using up knit fabric than wovens, so when I came across the Ellie & Mac Discoverer Tee recently I thought it might be a good way to use up some of my jersey.

The Discoverer Tee is a basic t-shirt shape, but with the added interest of a colour block yoke and three sleeve options. I like the fact that the join between the yoke and main section is curved rather than just a straight line. You do need reasonably sized pieces of fabric for the main front and back sections, but the yoke and short sleeves that I used don't take up too much at all.

The first version I made was this one for my mum. Like many people, she had a bit of a wardrobe clearout during lockdown and gave me a couple of dresses that she was no longer wearing for me to refashion. Thankfully the skirt of one of them was just big enough for the main front and back bodice sections, and I had a piece of jersey left from another project that perfectly complemented the darker blue in the print.

The version for my mum turned out so nicely that obviously I decided that I needed one for myself so raided my stash and came up with two monochrome prints that I thought would work well together. The white with the arrows was left over from a Freya top that I made last year, and the black spotty is the remnants from a pair of pyjama trousers I made for my sister-in-law.

Sewing the tees was no problem at all. The instructions seemed good, although I have to say that I only really scanned through them because I'm fairly familiar with sewing a basic knit tee by now. I did deviate slightly from the construction order and added the neckband once I'd sewn the shoulders, instead of after adding the sleeves and sewing the side seems as instructed. I'm just more familiar with doing it that way so find it easier.

I was relieved that the t-shirts turned out well because when I was preparing to make the pattern there were a few things that made be a bit skeptical about it.

Firstly, the sizes are given in ranges rather than as one measurement. Nothing wrong with that at all, but the ranges vary quite a lot in size (e.g. the MED size is quite a small range of bust sizes 35.5-36.25", whereas others have anything up to a 3.5" range - the XXS for example is for bust sizes 29-32.5"), which seems a bit odd to me.

There's also just one piece for the main front and back pieces, and the sleeve is cut on the fold so is a symmetrical piece rather than having slightly more space in the back. I'm no pattern drafting expert by any means, but as far as I know (and having looked at a couple of my other t-shirt patterns) it is more usual for sleeves to allow for more room the back.

There are also no notches at all on the pattern pieces. I thought that was odd to start with, but then it seemed even odder because most of the steps in the instructions start by telling you to mark the centre of the pieces you're going to be joining with a pin, so to my mind it would be better to include notches at those points so you already had them marked.

Going back to the positives - the fit is pretty good for me. My measurements (bust 38", waist 32", hips 42") put me in the middle (at the bust) or just over (waist)/at the top of (hips) the LG size range so that's the size I made. The tee is nicely fitted across the shoulders but looser over the waist and hips so that worked out fine.

The pattern says to add half an inch to the length for every inch you are taller than 5'5", but I'm 5'9" and didn't lengthen the pattern at all and it's still a perfectly good length on me.

Thankfully in spite of my initial reservations about the pattern, the tees both sewed up nicely and turned out well. I'd definitely think about making more of these if I have the right fabric combinations. My mum has also said that she thinks that hers is one of the comfiest t-shirts that she's ever owned (I think she might like another of her own!), which is a fairly good review, don't you think?