Reworking a t-shirt, and learning something along the way

This t-shirt originated at Kohls.  But after taking Pamela’s Patterns' t-shirt workshop, I decided to buy an XL size and remake it to better fit my body.  I had hoped to use my Perfect T-Shirt pattern and recut all of the pieces from the existing shirt.  After deconstructing the t-shirt a bit, I discovered that I really couldn’t fit the pattern pieces on the fabric I had to work with.  I then turned to two other patterns in hopes that one of those would work.  One of them is Burda 3197 (available here) that I made years ago and perfected the fit with Sarah Veblen.  The long-sleeved tee I made from this pattern is one I wear often, and each time I think “I should make another shirt from this pattern”.  The original pattern does not have a bust dart but Sarah helped me add one (coming from the armhole as that is where the extra fabric was), and the shirt fits much better because of it.  However, when that pattern also did not fit onto my cut-up store-bought tee, I decided I should look at another of Pamela’s patterns, T-Shirt Makeover.  This pattern is designed to re-shape commercial t-shirts to a size and shape that is more flattering for a woman’s body.  After I made the necessary alterations to the pattern, I placed it on the deconstructed t-shirt.  Luckily I had not cut apart the t-shirt at the shoulders so I was able to forego any changes in that area or to the neckline.  Pamela’s instructions say not to worry if there isn’t quite enough fabric at the underarm and, in my case there wasn’t.  I hoped she was right as I had to fudge this part quite a bit.  In turn, I was left with an armhole that was larger than the pattern, requiring I “reverse ease” the sleeve into the armhole.  When I looked in the mirror I had what I expected, a large fold of material in the front armhole area (the dart that wants to be sewn). 

It was only then that I remembered that Burda t-shirt pattern I had just looked at with the armhole dart.  I took apart the front part of the sleeve seam, sewed a dart into the armhole and re-inserted the sleeve.  What a difference! 

The fold of fabric was gone and the shirt looked much neater.  I will definitely keep this in mind when I sew dartless shirts in the future.

One other note – one reason I had so much trouble fitting a small sized pattern onto an XL t-shirt is that the shoulders of the store-bought t-shirt were very narrow, leaving me barely enough fabric to cut out my new pattern.  For you ladies out there who wear a larger size but are always discouraged by the large and droopy shoulder area of commercial clothing (the designers of which must think that as you go up in size your shoulders also grow longer?), you might check out Croft & Barrow brand shirts from Kohls to see if my experience is standard across their clothing line.

One week from today I leave for my weekend workshop at Alabama Chanin.  I can hardly contain myself.

Pamela's Patterns: A T-Shirt Workshop

I waited until today to post my weekly garment as I wanted to write about a great workshop that I took yesterday and about the top I created.  My local American Sewing Guild Chapter sponsored Pamela Leggett from Pamela’s Patterns to come and teach a t-shirt fitting workshop.  The event started on Friday night with a trunk show where Pamela shared her garments along with lots of useful tips about garment fit and construction.  The next morning about 20 of us gathered, and Pamela walked us through the measuring, layout and construction of our own t-shirts.  Most of Pamela’s designs are exactly the kind of clothes that I wear and like to sew:  simple, stylish, easy to sew, well fitting and comfortable.  She works with a lot of knits and has patterns for tops, jackets and skirts.  What makes her patterns unique is that she incorporates a lot of the common pattern alterations required by women (forward shoulder and rounded back, shorter shoulder seam length and others) and provides easy to understand instructions for making other necessary changes for a custom fit.  The 20 women present represented a pretty wide range of figure sizes and shapes, yet each of us was able to leave the workshop with a finished (or nearly finished) t-shirt that fit us much better than any ready-to-wear garment and for many, a better fit than we’ve been able to accomplish with commercial patterns.  Here’s my plan:  using some of the huge volume of knits in my stash, cut out about six t-shirts with various necklines and sleeve finishes and have them ready to sew when time allows.  I’m willing to bet I can sew one of these in less than an hour if it is cut out and ready to go.

Here’s a picture of my final t-shirt.  It fits great and is comfortable and stylish.

The rest of these pictures are shots of some of Pamela’s garments and her products.  She was a great teacher and has a true talent for drafting great patterns.  I can’t wait to try her pencil skirts.  I had a super time yesterday, the best part of it being time to see my fabulous sewing friends and spend a whole day together doing what we like best.  When you are done reading this post hop on over to my friend Jane's blog to read another one on this workshop (and you will see why Jane and I get along so well.)

Fabrics, waiting to become t-shirts

A Rack of Pamela's Garments

The Perfect Tank Top

Pencil Skirt from stretch lace

Bias skirt made from a vintage tablecloth

Pamela with a selection of her garments

Patterns