The great thing about sewing is that we are all designers and we are all able to get clothes that fit us well and make us look and feel even better – and we can do that by just changing the neckline.
But yet many people just sew up the patterns straight out of the envelope (or printer, as may be the case) with out enjoying the possibilities for individual fitting. Some may not do it, because they don’t know how.
SO I thought I would do a series on fitting and altering different kinds of t-shirt.
While there are many ways to fit garment and almost as many books instructing how to, most of them merely talk about fitting woven fabric garments. And while I’m a big fan of tissue fitting, it just will not work with a pattern with no or even negative ease. So here is my tried and true way of fitting t-shirts.
This is not really about fit – but about altering a pattern by changing the neckline to be what you want it to.
A lot of people have asked me for a kimono shirt with a different neckline than the boatneck. But since it’s such an easy alteration (and the pattern is still free), I thought I’d show you how to do it your self instead. It’s really easy. All you have to do, is to make sure that the front and back shoulder lines match up.
On the pictures, I’m showing you how to alter the neckline on the Birgitte Basic Tee (I wanted to copy a boat neckline for a Breton Styled t-shirt).
What you need for changing the neckline:
- A t-shirt pattern, preferably one already fitted for you.
- Pattern tracing paper
- Pencil and/or marker
- T-shirt you want to copy the neckline of – or, indeed, a pattern you wish to copy.
- Paper scissors
And here’s how to:
First trace your pattern front and back onto tracing paper. I don’t want to change the fit, so I just copy it by tracing on top of the pattern lines, and I’ve already included seam allowances on the pattern. Put a note on each pattern piece – what pattern, size, alterations already done. Don’t cut the new pattern yet.
Fold the t-shirt you want to copy in half so that the centre front is folded. Align the shoulder seams and pin at shoulder and centre front.
Place the folded t-shirt on top of the pattern. You want to align the centre front of the t-shirt with the one on the pattern, and get the shoulder seam of the t-shirt to touch somewhere on the shoulder seam of the pattern (or where the shoulder seam would be if it was longer – if you are making a crew neck, for instance). If you like, you could fold in the ribbing or binding of the t-shirt, but for me, I want to make a visible 1 cm ribbing, so I’ll just let the ribbing be the guide of my 1 cm seam allowance for the neckline.
Take your pencil and sketch the new neckline on your front piece. Then draw it so it has a nice curve.
Now it’s time to work on the back piece. What we want is to make sure that the shoulder length of the new back piece matches the shoulder length of the new front piece.
I place the back piece on top of the front piece, making sure to align the outside shoulder point. I pin the pieces together there, then slide the back piece (note that my shoulder line is very steep – that’s because I’ve altered for a major round shoulder!) so that the back shoulder line follows the front shoulder line. Then I mark on the back piece, where the front shoulder line stops.
Now I sketch and draw the back neckline – and I am ready to cut out the pattern and place it on fabric!
P.S. If you don’t have a t-shirt with the neckline you want, it’s perfectly okay to draw one yourself – just make sure those shoulder lines match!
Thanks for the instructions! Very helpful! I love your finished t-shirt.
Hi Maria,
I just found your blog through Pinterest because I LOVE boatneck tops. Thanks for the tutorial!
I have small slanted shoulders and when I redraw a neckline to make it wider, I end up with gaping on the neckline, or on the armhole, or both…May be there is something more to the modification ? Or may be I should start with something closer to my bone structure, making room for the bust with a fba even if I am a B-cup ?