It is no secret that I love Sinclair Patterns. They are one of the few pattern companies that makes a petite, regular, and tall version of every pattern. At 5' tall I am under the height range for the petite size, but it still fits me way better than other designers patterns - most of which are drafted for a 5' 5" - 5' 7" height. When I saw the tester call for the updated Bondi (Now Bondi 22) I was all in! Since I have been working from home, I find myself wear t-shirts frequently and store bought never fit my short curvy frame.
When the pandemic started in 2020 I actually tested a t-shirt pattern for another designer. At the time I thought I'd be back to work in a few months and wouldn't get much wear of the t-shirt. I used some knit fabric that was kind of ugly - because why would I waste my "good" fabric on something I won't ever wear? Well, I have worn the crap out of that ugly tee. This time, I was not making that mistake. I grabbed for my favorite 1 yard cuts of cotton spandex knits immediately.
I love plants and love Coleus. When I found this print at Jumping June Textiles - I had to have it! It makes me so happy to have a t-shirt now made with it. This was the first version made in testing and even though the fit isn't perfect - I'll still wear this - a lot. It still fits way better than store bought. For this one I made a size 8 bust graded to 14 hips based on my measurements.
I then quickly made another Bondi, but this time I used a size 10 for my bust. I hoped that this would help with the fit between the armscye and the neck. Sizing up did help a bit, but still not perfect. What was perfect was my v-neck.
This print gave me all the Spring vibes and I will be wearing it so much as we enter Spring. I got this from EBS fabrics many years ago. The shop is no longer in business.
Then version 2 came out and I tried the size 8 again graded to 14 hips. Fit did not improve as the sleeves and armscye were made smaller.
Not a perfect fit, but I still have a perfect v-neck. I might fix this one to the final version, but I might just leave it. I've worn it and it was comfortable and didn't bother me.
Then the Sleeve Pack was released to testers. I decided to size up to the size 10 bust and hope to get a better fit in the armscye. It was better than the size 8, but it was still tight. I chose the 3/4 length bishop sleeves and made the scoop neck Bondi.
The sleeves were a little too long and needed to be revised. I love this butterfly print. It makes me think of my grandmother and spring. Can you tell I have Spring fever?
I then decided to go rouge. I printed the size 14 armscye and traced it onto my size 10 Bondi and printed out the new 3/4 length bishop sleeve. *Disclaimer - there was one other version I made with 3/4 length bishop sleeves, but the sleeves were too long and I didn't photograph it.
This time I got a Great fit! For this final version I used athletic brushed poly from Zenith and Quasar. I love reading and have been enjoying audiobooks non-stop during the pandemic and now have my husband hooked. We now enjoy chatting about books after we have both listened to them.
I absolutely love the 3/4 length bishop sleeve. I find that this is a sleeve length that I wear often from September through May. It is truly trans-seasonal where I live. From June - August I wear tanks almost non-stop. Well at least as long as I am working from home, that is how I dress.
The Bondi 22 had a few revisions to the fit after I made my final version and I have not tried the final version that is available for purchase. From the sound of the changes, I think my fit issues have been addressed. I will make a point to try to make another Bondi tee within the next few weeks and will update my blog post - but I'll probably post on IG before I get around to posting an update here,. The Sleeve add-on pack has several other fun options and I hope to try them later. A few are short sleeve and I might try one this season, but the longer sleeve versions are the ones that appeal to me most and will definitely be on my sewing list for fall. Both patterns are on sale for a limited time.
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