all straight things must bend

The Grainline Scout tee.  Like the Linden opened up a world of patterns for me, the Scout taught me not to fear setting in sleeves and how to bias bind a neckline properly.

My first attempt was yet again in Cotton and Steel rayon.  While I liked how the pattern came together, it was a wee bit short for my taste and I rarely wear this version.

As you can see, I didn't perfectly set the sleeves, but since I didn't realize it was possible to do better than this, I left them as is.

My second version was another Leah Duncan Art Gallery voile.  I followed this tutorial to use French seams throughout, including at the sleeve cap, and I lenghtened it by 2 inches.  This worked well for me, and this top is often worn, though I don't think I have any pictures of it.

I then followed another Grainline tutorial to lengthen the Scout sleeves to elbow length.  My first attempt at this produced sleeves that were just slightly too narrow: not quite bad enough to notice immediately but uncomfortable after being set in.  So I scrapped them and recut the sleeves a little bit wider.  I was using a lovely Nani Iro brushed cotton and just barely had enough to get the right pattern on the front of the recut sleeve.

I decided to make a neckband for the neckline rather than finish it with a bias binding, since the brushed cotton is a little thicker.  I love this top and wear it often.  

Following that success, I made another with longer sleeves from a Japanese textured cotton found at Stonemountain and Daughter.   

I tried my darndest to pattern match along the side seams, and while I did get the pattern to line up, I cut one of the pieces backwards so the design does not match correctly.  (You can sort of see this in the second-to-the-bottom picture.). Nonetheless, this is another favorite that I wear often.

Thinking about how much I enjoy wearing three of my four Grainline Scouts has made me wonder why I haven't made more of them!