New and Old, All in One

A car must be twenty years old in order to qualify for "historic" license plates; I have only a few more years to go to get my Social Security benefits; our 12 year old MacBook was called "vintage" by the Apple employee....so what do I call this aging Sewing Workshop Teagarden Tee pattern besides Out of Print?  Yes, I've owned this pattern for enough years to decide to either use it or lose it, a common theme in our household these days.  I bought the pattern itself fifteen years ago after a great local Sewing Workshop trunk show put on by Nancy Schreiber.  Didn't touch it until seven or eight years later when  friend stitched it up at a summer sewing retreat and let me try it on. I liked the lines of it so it moved from my file cabinet to my "must try" pile.  A few years ago I decided to cut it out in cheap junky surplus knit then stuffed it into a 2 gallon plastic bag to age.  I took it to at least two sewing retreats and back and forth to Florida.  (Recipes would usually call this step "mix thoroughly.")  Finally I have taken it out of my mental filing cabinet (the section marked Unfinished Things You have Halfway Started and Wish Would Go Away), pulled it from a plastic tub and focused my attention long enough to give it a whirl. 

One big pattern piece, plus gusset, that gets sewn up the back and center front then folded into place.....just like the Vogue Issey Miyake #2094, a version from before my garment sewing time

I used Sharon's hint to label all the match points  Communing with Fabric Teagarden Tee

quickie mock up for fitting purpose

Hey, not bad after all.  Now, my dressform has lovely straight and square shoulders so I will need light shoulder pads when I wear it.  But because of the wrap around origami design there are some pulls in the back on me.....and on the dressform, who has a younger, perkier figure.  

For once it wasn't my fluff making those ripples

So I'm not going to fret but will go ahead and make a "real" one.  I think 1 or 2" longer and then I'll cut it out in a soft, cozy brown rayon knit and sew it up.....sooner than the next few years, I promise.  It will be new to me, but an old design in "pattern years."
There's a little background to this project All those years ago I was already discovering this wonderful community of sewing aficionados on the web.  Long before pictures on blogs and Pinterest, even before Patternreview, there was an early sewing bulletin board. Two kind members of that community posted helpful tips for sewing the gusset on this pattern...and I am here to thank them for those encouraging remarks and explanations Cat Fur Studio blog  Mamafitz blog  After all those years and miles, I had saved their posts which made me smile and helped me make this top work.  Sew grateful, Barbara and Linda.

Yes, notes from 14 years ago.