Breton-striped Scout Tee pattern review

Continuing on my current mission to make casual wardrobe basics, I’ve been on the lookout for a woven t-shirt pattern.

The idea of making woven tees appeals because they don’t require metres of fabric to make.  Also I don’t have unlimited sewing time, so to maximise the little that I do have, I prefer simple patterns that can be sewn up in machine-washable fabrics and be churned out as quickly and easily as possible without too much fuss.

And let’s face it, with only a back, front and possibly arm pieces to play with, and maybe neck binding or facing, how complicated can a woven tee get right?  With all of this in mind, I came across the Scout Tee pattern by Grainline Studio which seemed to fit the bill and for only four euros, was a relatively cheap buy.

The pattern is available from the Grainline Studio website as a downloadable pdf and because it is only for a short-sleeved t-shirt, there weren’t that many pages in the pdf files, so it was a relatively hassle-free experience to print out and piece together.

I cut the size 0 because I thought the pattern would be big and I also added a few extra centimetres to the length.  But now that it’s been made, I don’t think that those adjustments were necessary and next time I’ll probably make it a tad bigger under the arms because it’s just a bit too tight, especially in the stiffer white cotton of the longer sleeve version.

I made my hacked version of the pattern out of white cotton poplin.  I extended the sleeves to elbow length and added a patch pocket to the front for a bit of detail.

For the striped top, I used a Japanese double gauze cotton (two layers of fine cotton fabric joined together at intervals to form a gauzy yet stable and breathable woven cloth) by designer Nani Iro and kept the pattern in its original form.  I didn’t even try to match up the stripes at the side seams because I only had one metre of fabric anyway and I like the irregular stripe pattern.

I finished both tops with French seams on the body sides and shoulders but I finished off the sleeves-joining seams with the overlocker machine because my night-sewing tired brain just couldn’t cope with all the fiddling involved in French seaming those!   I did enjoy understitching the neck binding as suggested in the easy-to-follow pattern instructions, as this was a new technique for me.  It was easy to do and it finished off the neckline nicely so I’ll be using this along with French seams on future projects.

As for the design of the pattern itself, I think it’s quite good.  It doesn’t have any darts or any other shaping features so it is a bit boxy but for my casual, mother-on-the-go and dog-walking lifestyle that suits quite well.

In summary, the Scout Tee is a no-frills, easy to make pattern with customising potential and it won’t break the bank.

NEXT POST SPOILER ALERT – Traditional French fabric insider info to be spilled in next post.

I recently visited a local French fabric producer.  A small family run business that still weaves linen cloth in the traditional way.   I’ll share all the details in my next post.