Jennifer Lauren Handmade Emmie Tee

I always like to find interesting ways to use leftover fabric, so it didn't take me long to click 'Add to cart' when Jennifer Lauren Handmade released the Emmie Tee pattern recently. Luckily, I had the perfect combination of leftovers sitting in my stash to make myself a fun new t-shirt.

The Emmie tee is a relaxed fit t-shirt with grown-on short or long sleeves. The thing that really caught my eye about the pattern is the slashed and pieced bodice front of view 1 - it's perfect for using up leftover pieces of fabric. If that's not your bag though, view 2 is a regular, single-fabric top. The tee also has regular and full lengths.

Between the original and curve size ranges, the pattern covers A/B, C/D and E/F bust sizes and bust measurements from 29.5" to 61.5".

The instructions for the Emmie tee are really good, with very clear illustrations. It has to be said that I've made a fair few t-shirts by this point so I was familiar with all of the steps other than piecing together the front. The way the front pieces are sewn together is very straightforward and I found it easy. 

I deviated from the instructions slightly by sewing the side seams and then sewing the sleeve cuffs in the round, rather than sewing the cuffs flat and then sewing the side seams. There's nothing wrong with what the instructions tell you to do, but personally I prefer the finish you get when you sew the cuffs after the side seams.

I used the C/D cup pattern pieces and made a 14 at the bust blending to a 16 at the hips. The difference between my upper/full bust measurements falls just below the C cup range but definitely above the B cup and I decided it would be better to have too much space than not enough. The 14/16 blend is what's recommended for my current measurements. I think the fit is fairly good and I didn't make any adjustments. 

I used the long-line hem length and that's good for me. I'm about 5'9" and I think the regular length might not have been quite long enough for my liking.

The fabrics that I used were all left over from other projects. They're all cotton jerseys of roughly the same weight so happily they played nicely together while I was sewing up the tee!

I really enjoyed sewing my Emmie tee, I love the fact that the fabric was kind of free (and that it's taken fabric out of my stash), and I think I'll wear it a lot. It probably won't surprise you that I've dug through my leftovers again and come up with a little collection for a second version of the tee!