A couple of weeks ago, in a search for inspiration for things to make, I stumbled across The Monthly Stitch. They put up a sewing challenge each month – whoever takes part in the challenge posts their creation on the site. It’s an awesome idea for a sewing community! Plus, as a beginner, I feel like it’s just the push I need to challenge myself with new projects.

Hence… my first contribution! April’s challenge is to revisit a pattern you’ve already made and create another (or, however else you interpret the “sewing double/seeing double” idea). Well, I’ve been planning to make my sister a maternity shirt to go in her second trimester box (see her first trimester box here)…. and shhh… I’m still pretty sure she doesn’t read this blog, so hopefully she doesn’t see it (I’m going to be in trouble if my family ever starts reading my blog… I won’t be able to post things before I gift them…). So anyway, I’ve been looking at a few different patterns. I especially love the Megan Nielsen patterns. But then again I didn’t want to spend that much on a t-shirt pattern. SO, I took this challenge as a starting point to create my own. I revisited the Contrast Shoulder Slouch Tee pattern I used last month. For the fabric, I used a stretchy blue cotton sheet that I picked up from goodwill and a few leftover pieces of a t-shirt that I used  to make Bashful’s dwarf hat last Halloween. The only things I did different from the pattern were:

(1) For the front panel, I cut a rounded edge:

(2) When sewing, I brought it in slightly and made the sleeve more defined (see red line); note: my sis is tiny… so even with the belly, I’m assuming this’ll fit her a little better:

(3) I used this idea and added a piece of elastic on each side to get the ruching (and yes, I wasn’t paying attention to my right side/wrong side… lol… but it’s okay, I’ll just say I meant to add a little extra visual interest to the ruching):

(4) Before finishing, I realized the neckline was going to be way too big for my sis… so I added a few pleats before sewing:

Note: for the sleeves, I used the already hemmed edge of the sheet:

There you have it! That’s my version of Sewing Double! As it turned out, you could easily wear this as a maternity OR non-maternity top. I’m not super excited about the pleats… maybe next time I would adjust the neckline another way, but it worked well enough for this time around. Here’s the finished product (SP30):

And the two side by side (same pattern – two completely different tops):