I like a well cut tee, and one with little details that separate it a little from the stock standard tee. Mind you, I quite like a stock standard tee as well, but it didn’t take long to for the Liesl & Co Bento tee pattern to exert its pull on me. Check out the little pockets!

I know, I’m never going to actually USE those pockets. But I just like that they are there. And this design is perfect for stripes. They play so well along the sleeve bands, the lower front and back and even around the neckline.

The fabric is from Darn Cheap Fabrics, and yes it was from the infamous $2 table. Often you have to sort through it rather vigorously, but it almost always yields some gems like this. It’s lovely quality, quite stable yet has good stretch and recovery. The Bento tee pattern is also everything that you would expect from Liesl & Co. Impecably drafted, everything coming together exactly as it should, with subtle curve to the arm bands that make them sit perfectly and good fit overall. I sewed a straight size Medium without alteration.

And on this one the side seam stripes do match up as perfectly as the shoulder seam ones, but you’ll have to take my word for it! There is only one thing wrong with this tee. After wearing, I have confirmed that I prefer a lower neckline. A bit more of a scoop or a Vee than this standard crew neckline. But that can be easily fixed, and isn’t the fault of the pattern, it’s just my preference. (I recently gave away my Marilla Walker Sailor Dress purely because of its high neckline – I just don’t like clothing lying across my throat. Funny, because I do like to wear scarves).

I made the skirt at November Sewjourn last year. It is Lekala 5063, and it turned out way too big for me. I have found it difficult to get Lekala skirts to fit me properly, as I find it difficult to know where the waist has been designed to sit and therefore which part of my torso I should measure. I solved the too big problem by taking two massive darts in the back, one either side of the centre back. The front seemed fine with the side seams at the sides; the extra width was at the back. Which probably tells me what I really already knew – most of my fat distribution is at the front of my body.  I have found that I am wearing the skirt a bit, despite it being too large, but I won’t use the pattern with these measurements again.  The fabric is a fairly heavy weight black denim from stash; I think it came from GJs originally.

And guess what – I made two of the tees! The second one is a gift. Matchy matchy!