Easy Tee Sew-A-Long: Part 2, cutting out

After preparing the pattern yesterday, tonight I cut out the various pieces of the Easy Tee and pinned the front and back pieces together ready to sew tomorrow.

To do this step I used my rotary cutter, cutting mat and pattern weights.

I use some pebbles I collected last year, they are all slightly heart shaped as I had thought about using them as place names for my wedding, but in the end finding 80 suitable ones was too hard.

I laid out the fabric, folding the shelvedge over just far enough to allow me to fit the pattern piece on, then cut iron the fold.  As my fabric is quite thick, this was a struggle.  I think in sewing more than anywhere, you get what you pay for with tools.  My rotary cutter was very cheap, and I struggle to cut more than a thin layer of cotton.  It's definitely one to replace as soon as possible before I ruin fabric by having to keep going back and forward.  Do you have a rotary cutter, what brand will be a good one?

I did the same layout to cut the back piece and then pinned the two parts together.  The instructions also say to cut a strip of fabric 28" by 1.5"; as I had lowered the neckline, I increased this to 30".  I actually made a pattern piece for this as I wasn't convinced the fabric would stay flat if I tried to mark the strip straight on it.  I also cut out my collar pieces from my darker fabric, you cut 4 pieces, I did them double thickness so I only had to use the cutter twice, and turned the piece over for the second batch.

So, that's me ready to start sewing tomorrow.  How are you getting on? If you've not started yet, there is plenty of time to catch up, these two steps have hardly taken any time.

You can see some finished tops at the sew-a-long event page here

I really like how this is looking, what do you think?

I'd also like to thank Autumn for her great pattern, check out all her great ideas here.