Make a Pattern from a Readymade Shirt: The Reveal!

My baby boy (not really a baby, but MY baby) received his package which contained this shirt, so now I can show it to you! According to him, this is the best fleece ever created and he's going to throw out all his other fleeces (believe me, he has lots and lots of them). We know he won't do that but it's nice to know he is happy with this one.

Remember this post in which I went through the process of tracing a readymade shirt and making a pattern? It was fun and educational and I would highly recommend you try it on a favorite garment.

Jamie had ordered some fancy schmancy fleece online. Polartec, I think it's called. That made me all the more nervous. I didn't want to mess up. The price was good, though. I think it was about $7.99/yard and it was very high quality fleece.

Because of what you see below, I would highly recommend making a practice zipper. I searched and searched online and could not find instructions on inserting a half-zip in the front of a garment. I'm sure I've done this before in a sewing project years ago and it seemed to come back to me. But I didn't want to just cut a slit in the front and slap a zipper in. 

So, fortunately, ugly zipper ended up being inserted in a scrap. Whew! I won't lie to you. This process is not for the fainthearted and you need a basic knowledge of garment construction. 

Ugly zipper above.

Pretty zipper below.

Raggedy Ann looks fetching in the fleece. She's always excited to model.

Use your sewing machine's stretch overcast stitches to finish the inside seams and hems to make a more professional looking garment. I used stitches I had never tried before. Again, practice the stitches on fabric scraps first. Do some topstitching on the outside to get away from that homemade look. Look at a readymade garment to see where to topstitch.

Use a stretch knit needle in your machine.  I used Schmetz Jersey Ballpoint.

If you'd like more details, email me. I didn't take any construction photos, but I could explain parts of the process if you would like to make your own shirt. 

Be sure to visit  Sew & Tell Fridays. Lots of fun finishes this week!

Make a Pattern from a Readymade Shirt

My son asked that I make a pattern from his favorite and best-fitting shirt. It is a bit hard to see using a black shirt, but I hope you can get the gist of it and use the technique to duplicate one of your favorite wardrobe items.

Lay the shirt out flat. Run a line of pins down the center front, measuring across the front to be sure you are centered.

Using wax paper (the traditional kitchen type), line up the edge of the wax paper with the pin line you made down the center of the shirt. Pin the wax paper to anchor it to the shirt.

Using a Sharpie pen, trace the front of the shirt as shown. For the shoulder area, I found it helpful to press and feel the seam with my finger so that I knew where to place the line. Mark the front center as a fold line.

For the sleeve piece, I traced the front and back sleeve portions separately and then taped them together, as shown in the pic below.

Use your sewing measuring tape as a guide to add 5/8 inch seam allowances where necessary. (The standard width of a measuring tape is 5/8 inch.) Be sure not to add seam allowances to center front and back fold lines. Add about 1 inch to the sleeve and body bottom hem line. There is no photo, but I also traced the stand up collar piece and marked where the zipper bottom would be on the front of the shirt.

I hope this is helpful. As always, be sure to ask if you have any questions!