I kicked off my May nojourn (since I couldn’t actually go away to Sewjourn) sewing a tee for Clare.  I chose the True Bias Rio Ringer tee, as Clare likes retro styled garments. I had some soft knit scraps that were large enough for a teen sized tee, so sewed up a muslin in size 0, graded up to size 4 through the hips.

It looked to fit great through the shoulders and the body, but Clare said that it gave her a major underarm wedgie. Size 0 armhole depth was definitely not enough! So I ferreted through the stash again and found some more soft knit scraps, then reprinted and retaped the pattern. This time I sewed 4 length/armhole depth and hip width, with a size 0 shoulder width and bust/waist.

It fits well, with no armpit wedgie! Hooray!

I really like the sleeve and neck band technique on this tee. It does require rib knit – I used chocolate brown for the first tee that I made, and green rib knit for this one. As with many things, having quality rib knit really helps! I suspect that these are both from Crafty Mamas Fabrics (they’ve both been in stash for a little while). You need rib with excellent recovery for this to sit as it should.

From the True Bias website: The Rio pattern is a ringer style T-shirt and casual dress. View A is a fitted top that hits around the hip. View B is a semi-fitted dress ending just above the knee. Both views have contrasting ribbing around the crew neckline and short sleeves for a slightly vintage look. Suggested Main Fabrics: Light to medium weight knit fabrics with 40% or more stretch such as cotton interlock, T-shirt jersey, and merino wool jersey. Suggested Binding Fabrics: Light to medium weight knit fabrics with 75% or more stretch such as rib knit.

Fortunately for me, the first attempt at this tee was not a wasted garment – there is a slightly smaller teenager in the house!

The mostly size 0 is just fine for Stella, who is a fraction shorter and smaller overall than her older sister, but with a very similar shape. She’s actually worn this quite a lot, as she particularly likes the soft fabric.

You might recognise the fabric for both of the tees – it’s from Darn Cheap Fabrics, and I used it for these Jalie tees.

These are quick to sew (unsurprisingly – they’re a basic tee!) and now that I’ve got the fit right for each daughter and have practiced sewing the rib trim, I will be able to sew up plenty more in fabric that is more to their choosing.  They don’t necessarily want to be matchy-matchy with their dad!