Prada-inspired banana t-shirt

Many millions of years ago, Prada started putting bananas and fruit on the runway. And last summer, I made this inspired t-shirt from this free pattern The Stellan Tee with jersey from Stoff&Stil.

One year later, I still love it. It’s one of the simplest things I’ve made, but is really popular and gets a lot of compliments. The fabric has held up excellently, and still looks good as new! This is a big sustainability concern for me and passes with flying colours.

Banana boobs – the pattern placement of the bananas took a lot of thought!

It would have been very easy to accidentally cut this t-shirt with a suggestive banana chest placement. Because of the size and gaps between the bananas, my options were to arrange it so no bananas were on my chest at all (which seemed weirdly conspicuous) or to find the least explicit central position. I went for an offset approach to keep the print front and centre so and have the neckline cut in a plain area to create a smooth line.

Sewing knits without an overlocker

I do have an overlocker now (swoon – black Friday deal, bide your time) but I didn't for years. This t-shirt was made on my old Janome sewing machine D3050 which I sewed knits with for years.

The stitch that was most reliable for me, and I used almost exclusively is labelled here as 24, the slanted faux overlocker stitch. It’s so stretchy and works for seams and hems. Perfection.

The others are pretty good too, including the ones with more ‘encasing’ triangle shapes, but that’s not necessary for a knit which won’t fray. What I found was that those were more sensitive to thread tension and tunnelling. I think the step in the stitch supports that 22-24 from doing that. Plus, the straight edge on these (as opposed to using a zigzag stitch) means you get a very clean seam line.

Secondly, get a walking foot if you don’t have one, and failing that look into adjusting the presser foot pressure of your machine.

I don’t remember making any pattern adjustments to this, but I think I may have shortened the hem to hit closer to my waistband. I like the boxy style and close fit of the sleeves.

One fitting issue I wish I knew how to address is that I get pronounced diagonal drag lines from neck to armpit. I have a feeling this is down to my desk-job-shoulders rolling forward, but since that’s not going anywhere I want to find a solution, or would try a different pattern instead. I’ve made this pattern in a few different weights of jersey now, and think the best solution might be to move the armsyce in further to remove the excess fabric, and potentially lower it too.

Here it is in the wild:

Like I said, I get a lot of wear out of this. Above is a shot on a girls holiday to Greece, 2019. Below was taken in month one of lockdown 2020, when I made a loom to try weaving, another story altogether!