Green T-shirt

One more short-sleeve T-shirt for my husband. I had a piece of green cotton fabric with almost no stretch, which was a remnant from another project, so in this year's spirit of clearing my stash, I decided to turn it into a blouse.

I used again my true-and-tried Burda pattern, size 50, but with some tweaks. The pattern is tailored, but I made it straight and I also played a little with the neckline, widening it 1.5 cm at the front. 

As I often make t-shirts for husband, based on this pattern, you might think, that I can make these now by heart - but nothing could be farther from the truth. Every time I decide to cut a new t-shirt, I start measuring and tweaking and guessing what had I changed the previous time to get a good fit.

So, I've decided to make a cardboard copy of the pattern and to introduce all of the tweaks and mods I find necessary, based on this latest t-shirt, so that next time I wouldn't need to guess what kind of elongations and other changes I need to make, to get the perfect fit. And as I am really curious how this would work, I am very much inclined to visit my favourite fabric shop and buy a piece of knit fabric, just to try the modified pattern with all the latest alterations. Expect a new men's t-shirt here in the nearest future :)

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 50 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

Three T-Shirts For The Boys

Whenever I visit my favourite fabric shop downtown, I always check the knit fabrics section for fabrics, suitable for men's t-shirts. Husband and son have plenty already, but I find it so difficult to restrain myself, when I come upon some really good quality fabric, especially when it is also at a good price.

Thus last time I bought a piece of this super soft cotton knit, extremely pleasant to the skin. The piece of fabric was supposed to be 1.8 m, perfect for two T-shirts, but when I came home I found out, that the seller had made a mistake and the piece was only 1.3 m. Well, it's human to err, so all I was left was to figure out how to make two tall men's T-shirts with half a meter of fabric missing. Spoiler alert - I managed!

First I cut the t-shirt for my son, as he wears a smaller size and then I started playing Tetris with the remaining fabric and the pattern pieces for my husband's T-shirt. The solution I came up with was to add decorative elements out of another blue piece of fabric and to cut the back out of two separate pieces.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 50 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

The seam at the back is covered with a strap of the lighter blue fabric and I also added another strap for good measure.

I personally love this T-shirt the best of the three I made and I am especially happy that I was left with practically no remnants of the darker blue fabric. It gives me always such a satisfaction to use up a piece of fabric to the last centimeter :)

The lighter blue fabric is a gorgeous cotton-viscose knit with lycra, which I had bought for the lining of a hoodie I made last year for Gaby's boyfriend. After I cut the lining for the hood, I was left with plenty of fabric and I had been planning a t-shirt for him out of it ever since. I had the patterns out and the overlocker threaded, so all I was left to do was to cut the fabric and make a third t-shirt.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 5 days

And this is the first t-shirt, which I made for my son - it is super plain and unadorned, as he prefers them, with just a tiny label added to the side of the pocket.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 1 day

 The three men's t-shirts I made this week - time for something girly!

Grey T-shirt for Husband

One more T-shirt I made for husband, probably the last short-sleeved one I'm making for him this year (for now :).

There isn't much to say about it, I used the same pattern with the same corrections I had made for the previous T-shirt, the only difference is, that I added color elements, utilizing some remnant fabric from his previous red T-shirt.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 50 with with added length

Fabric: polycotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

A curious fact - I paid double the money for this grey fabric, compared to the red fabric. Both fabrics are the same length - about 1 m with 180 cm width. However, the red fabric was 100% cotton knit, while this grey fabric is soft and pleasant to the touch, but the burn test showed, that it had some (probably about 25-30% polyester content). So, higher price is not always an indicator for higher quality, you know :)

On the other hand, the grey fabric was very easy and pleasant to work with and has a really nice touch to the skin, so all in all I am actually happy with it, despite the polyester content.

Red T-shirt for Husband

One more T-shirt for husband. Although he does have plenty of T-shirts, he requested a few new this summer and of course, I was more than happy to oblige.

The pattern is the one and only, that i use for men's short and long sleeve T-shirts - Burda 132 from the December 2020 issue. Despite the fact, that I've already made probably a dozen T-shirts out of this pattern, I'm still perfecting the fit for husband. 

This summer he requested them with a bit looser fit, so I've been cutting the size 50, with added length, but with corrections for the neck opening, which he prefers more close fitting.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 50 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

As is my habit of late, I added again a pocket for interest, with a small label I've salvaged from something old I've probably thrown away. I like the way these pockets with labels break the monotony of plain color T-shirts. 

I've covered again the back neckline with a strip of fabric, the way men's T-shirts are made industrially. I like the polished look such finishing provides, apart from its utility purpose - to cover the overlocked edge. Funny, that such finishing is rare in women's T-shirts.

Three Men's Dark Grey T-shirts

In the second half of June I made three men's T-shirts out of a big piece of high quality cotton T-shirts knit fabric - two short sleeve T-shirts for my father (not photographed) and my son and one longsleeve for my husband. All three T-shirts were made out of the same Burdastyle pattern, my true and tried Burda 132 from their December 2020 issue.

Starting from the last one, here is the longsleeve for my husband, which we photographed yesterday, taking advantage of the span of cold weather we had on the day amidst the wave of heat this whole spring and summer.

This time I decided to go up a size and made the size 50 for him. It fits him well in the torso, but is too wide around the shoulders and the neck. Next time I sew him a T-shirt I think I will go back to the 48 size in the upper part of the blouse and transition to 50 in the under the armholes part, to give him more ease in the mid-section.

 

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 50 with with added length and width

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days

Lately I've been in the habit of adding a small pocket with a label to the T-shirts I make, I think it gives them some interest and makes them look a bit more professionally made.

This is the second T-shirt I made and it is identical to the first for my father, only the size is different.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46 with with added length and 50 with with added length

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days for the first one; 2 days for the second

As is my custom lately, I covered the backneck with a black cotton knit band, following this youtube tutorial I highly recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICzbAmApp-I

Dark Grey T-shirts For The Boys

One of the pieces of fabric I picked from the section with fabric remnants in my favourite fabric shop, was a dark grey cotton-viscose fairly solid knit fabric. The length of the precut piece was 1.6 m, and I imagined it just enough for a longsleeve and a short-sleeve T-shirt for husband and son.

The pattern is my favourite men's T-shirt pattern, I've already made probably a dozen T-shirts and longsleeves based on it and I still tinker and meddle with it every time I use it, trying to find the perfect fit. This time I cut size 48 for husband with a little added to the side seams and the fold, so the width is probably +2 cm to the designed width and it is just the ideal width for him. I also made the sleeves with short cuffs instead of the usual hem, I think it suits the sporty outlook of the longsleeve better.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 48 with with added length and width

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 6 days for both T-shirts

Next time I plan to make the neck opening for husband the same width as the smaller size, as he has a long and slim neck and the larger size neck openings are a bit too wide for him.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46 with with added length

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 6 days for both T-shirts

For my son I cut the smallest size, adding length to the body. I also moved a bit the neckline, lowering it 2.5 cm at the front and bringing it a bit higher at the back, as this placement suits him better.

The pattern is more or less a straightforward T-shirt,  with slim fit and shoulder seams, shifted 2 cm to the front. I overstitched the shoulder seams, the neckband and the hems with double needle and covered the seam of the back neck opening with an additional fabric band, as is done in high quality RTW T-shirts. And I obviously added small pockets for interest.

Color Block and Grey Blouses

After the green blouse I made for my husband, I sewed two more quick longsleeves, based on the same pattern. The first is a color block longsleeve, planned around the remnants from the green cotton fabric and two other cotton fabrics I liked as a color combination. 

I made some slight changes to the original longsleeve pattern - I moved the shoulder line back to the true shoulder and I moved the neck opening to the front, otherwise it is the same pattern with added length.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 48 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 1 day

For the back I decided against adding another yellow strip and left it just green and grey. It was great fun, planning and sewing this color block longsleeve and I should make more color block blouses.

While taking the pictures in the park, we saw a squirrel, munching on some late autumn fruit.

Right after I made husband's blouse, I decided to use up all of the grey cotton knit fabric and made a plain grey longsleeve for our son.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

I finished the neckline, following this super useful video tutorial.