I have big dreams of being a crazy cat lady, but having only one cat, who herself is not a fan of other cats, I have to settle for cat fabric. This is not a bad thing!
I waited too long and missed out on an earlier cat print at Cali and was so disappointed! But patience is a virtue, when I saw this beautiful cat print double-brushed poly spandex come in stock I ordered it right away and I could not love it more. Photorealistic cats and kittens and hearts on my favorite wardrobe color black, what is not to love?I decided to let the print speak for itself on a basic (self drafted) t-shirt silhouette. Cutting a large scale print can sometimes be a challenge – I didn’t want to end up with any headless cats disappearing into the neckline! By cutting my full pattern pieces (rather than using ‘cut on fold’) pieces, placed on the right side of the fabric, I was able to see exactly how the print would fall on my finished shirt and centered a sweet little kitten on the front. I was even able to be sure there was a cat on each sleeve.
This DBP spandex is super soft and has ample 4-way stretch and good recovery. It’s nicely opaque. It was perfect for this semi-fitted tee. The fabric is printed on white, which sometimes means you need to worry about the print expanding and the white showing through when the fabric is stretched. I’m pleased to say that even when this fabric is stretched to the extreme, there is almost no white showing through.
The fabric serged and sewed with ease. My coverstitch, however, was slower to warm up to this soft, stretchy fabric. It took a bit of tinkering with tension and pressure settings to get a nice hem without tunneling. My sewing friend Gina tells me wooly nylon in the looper will help next time. I know that a strip of knit interfacing in the hem would have taken care of the problem as well, but was too lazy to unclip, unfold, apply interfacing and rehem. Yep, so I spent twice as long messing with my machine settings!
There’s also a similar DBP spandex dog print for those of you on #teamdog. T-shirts from this fabric would make great gifts for any cat or dog person you know, large or small. It’s wonderfully drapey and I’m seriously contemplating a kitten skater skirt or maybe a future cat lady dress.
