NL6735: The loversandhaters Tee

The idea for this little t-shirt has been slow-cooking in my imagination for quite some time… so I’m glad to finally see it come to fruition! These pictures were taken on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia on an incredibly amazing 4 day 4WD trip across the desert and over into Chile. Can I just say – San Pedro de Atacama (a little city in the desert at the top of Chile) has completely stolen my heart!

I‘ve been searching for a TNT knit tee pattern to call my own, and I think New Look 6735 is it. I love the Renfrew for its simple construction techniques (those banded sleeve and hems – which I totally stole for this tee – as if you wouldn’t!) but this pattern has a seam at the back as well as at the sides – this appears to allow the top to be better fitted, especially across the waist. I often find stretch tops to be too tight across the bust and then loose and floppy around my mid-section – this back seam allowed me to get around this in a quick and easy way!

The stunning backdrop – a volcanic lagoon with Flamingoes

A long while ago on Burdastyle I favourited this lace and knit tee-shirt by fellow Burdastyler loversandhaters. I loved the idea of mixing the two differently textured fabrics together, and went about trying to find something to replicate it – ending up with a black broderie anglaise and a dark grey (wool and polyamide) jersey knit.

Yup, it‘s wool from Tessuti again. Another very travel friendly top! Taking the well celebrated basic tee from New Look pattern 6735 (a great co-ordinates pattern which I originally bought for the cardigan – still to be made as I’ve yet to find the right fabric), I went about changing it to suit my purposes.

The main Plaza in Sucre, Bolivia – a gorgeous colonial style town.

I kept it simple by adding in an inverted triangle of the broderie anglaise to both the front and back of this tee. Just before I started to cut up this fabric, I did a bit of a house tidy-up and came across some black silk habotai scraps. On impulse I thought they’d be great to do a bit of a border linking the two (just included in the seam, ironed then topstitched down). 

I finished the neckline with a self-made bias binding with some black cotton voile to match the broderie anglaise. My one little boo-boo was trying to make the sleeve cuffs a bit smaller than on the Renfrew – not such a great idea. They have the habit of rolling up because of the bulk of the seam. In future I’ll stick to the Renfrew width!

Feeling a tad guilty that I may be standing on somebodies table salt…

The result is a super comfy tee (I love the freedom of movement you get with a stretch top) with a bit of visual interest that takes it beyond your standard block colour knit top. I‘ m definitely going to try this modification again but with a different shaped panel of woven fabric. 

Lets make it official shall we? Im a maneater!

Perfect to go with spending the weekend in denim. On the Bolivian Salt Flats of course. Love!