The least favorite Renfrew.

So, as you might conclude from the title, this is my least favorite of my five Renfrews.

 

I think it mostly comes down to fabric choice. It's this rayon/spandex blend knit from Girl Charlee. The only reason I chose the blend instead of good old cotton is because the colors were prettier...more jewel tones, which is what I like. {Lesson learned: Don't choose a fabric merely for the color!}

 

I had ordered four fabrics from Girl Charlee, and this was the only one I wasn't completely pleased with when I opened the package. As you can see, it's a lot lighter that it looks on the site...more burgundyish-pink, and less purple than I expected.  

 

Then when I started sewing with it, I realized it was a lot different. It's super soft and drapey (rayon, huh?), and very comfortable, even by knit standards! It feels like I'm wearing a pajama shirt or something.

But it's less stable than a cotton. I feel like it clings in places I don't want it to cling. I feel like the neckline stretched out while I was sewing it, though it didn't with any of the others. And the sleeve and waist band seams look weird...sort of puckered and sloppy (see below).

Apparently I have long arms, because store bought long-sleeved shirts are nearly always too short on me. I went ahead and added an extra inch to the length of these sleeves, but I quickly realized they were plenty long enough to begin with, so I took the inch off. So it's nice to know when I make more long-sleeved versions I won't have to worry about the sleeve length!

Even though it's my least favorite, of course I'll still wear it. There's nothing really wrong with it- just little nitpicky things. {I would probably overlook those if I liked the color better.} Next time I'll know to just stick with the cotton jersey, though! Unfortunately, I have more of this blend in teal so I'll have to work with it again once more (that will be a short-sleeved Renfrew).

P.S. I think this was supposed to be hand washed. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to have a t-shirt that can't be thrown into the washing machine...it's not very practical! I washed this fabric in the machine on delicate in cold (and dried it on a very low setting) and it was fine. Same thing with this fabric, which is a rayon/poly/spandex blend (I think?).

Until next time,