Makes for the Boys

A few knit fabric practical sportswear I made for the men in my family. These are patterns that I've used many times and I've tweaked enough to fit the recipients.

First - two joggers for husband and son. The fabric and the pattern are the same, cotton and viscose, very light french terry for the home office in the summer months. The pattern is Jack by Vikisews, which i bought for husband, when he was a size bigger. Being lazy and thrifty in the best way :), I just adjusted the width to fit his new size (-1 cm from all parts, a total of -4 cm). 

I've tried several other men's joggers before, Burga and Shkatulka, but Jack from Vikisews is the best, in my opinion. My husband prefers his joggers with an elastic at the ankles, so I added coordinated grey rib knit.

Pattern: Jack by Vikisews

Size: 44 (L) Height: 178-184 cm

Fabric: cotton viscose French terry

Time to make: 5 days

The second pair is for our son, his has straight legs without the rib knit and is one size smaller - so I removed -2 cm width from every pattern piece, a total of -8 cm. I also had to add some length to the legs, to compensate for the lack of rib hems.

Pattern: Jack by Vikisews

Size: 42 (M) Height: 178-184 cm

Fabric: cotton viscose French terry

Time to make: two weeks

The third make is for my father - a long sleeve blouse. I've made this pattern many times for the boys, this time I chose the biggest Burda size - 54. The fabric is very soft and stretchy cotton with lycra.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 54 with with added length

Fabric: cotton knit with lycra

Time to make: 4 days

I made some of my usual mods - I added a small pocket for interest, I also added cuffs to the sleeves and finished the neck, using my favourite method with a contrast knit fabric tape. I hope it fits well.

Quick Christmas Sewing

The time around Christmas, when Gaby visits us, is usually, apart from all the family cooking and feasting and all the other activities we do together, also time for some last minute frenzied sewing. I'm just that kind of person, I love it when I can make something with my own hands for my close and extended family.

This summer I sewed some curtains for Gaby's kitchen and as an addition to my Christmas presents I decided to sew a matching tablecloth for the kitchen table. I bought a big piece of fabric and made two tablecloths - one for Gaby and Vali's kitchen and a smaller tablecloth for our kitchen table too, out of the remaining fabric. Yes, I love using up all the fabric, when possible!

Earlier this year I made a t-shirt for Vali, which he loved, so I bough another piece of cotton viscose fabric and made him another t-shirt for Christmas.

The fabric is divinely soft and pleasant on touch, I really hope he likes his present.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

This year Gaby joined a folk dance club in Vienna and she asked for a simple black t-shirt and short black skirt for her folk dance practice. For the t-shirt I chose a true-and-tried-many-times Burda basic t-shirt pattern - 6820. My light modifications - I shortened the sleeves to make them 7/8 and raised the neckline, which I finished with a simple covering band.

Pattern: Burda 6820

Size: 36, shortened sleeves, raised neckline

Fabric: black cotton knit

Time to make: 1 day

The skirt is a shortened version of the skirt of the Willow Wrap Dress by Love Notions, which I made this summer for myself, so I knew the pattern. It is super simple, with two seams at the sides and a waistband with an elastic.

Pattern: Willow Wrap dress by Love Notions

Size: xs, shortened

Fabric: french terry

Time to make: 1 day

Purple Blouse with Flounce Sleeves for Gaby

Last year in the section for precut small pieces of fabric and remnants in my favourite fabric shop I came upon a piece of very soft and beautiful cotton jacquard fabric and made myself one of my most favourte blouses, using a fairly fresh for that time Burda 12/ 2023  pattern. Not long afterward I found another piece of the same fabric and I snatched it for Gaby, planning to make her the same blouse.

However, when Gaby came for Christmas, she decided that she would prefer a more fitted blouse with interesting 7/8 flounce sleeves.

For the body of the blouse I used my tried-and-true Burda 6820, which I've sewn so far in plenty of variations - boat neck, henley neck, short, 7/8 and long sleeves, deep scoop and crew neck, almost every variation on the fitted T-shirt I could think of :) If I've counted them correctly, this is the eleventh blouse I've made out of this pattern!

As far as modifications go, this one was fairly close to the pattern. I changed the neckline, which I raised significantly and closed with a band and I took in the width of the shoulders by 1.5 cm, as Gaby has fairly narrow shoulders compared to the standard Burda model.

Pattern: BurdaStyle 6820

Size: 36, modified

Fabric: soft cotton jacquard, 1 m

Time to make: 3 days

The only interesting moment in this iteration of the pattern were of course, the flounce sleeves. I watched a couple of videos on the construction of such sleeves and in the end decided on the slash and spread method. I took a piece of paper, cut it in the form of a rectangle with length - the length of the flounce and width -  the width of the sleeve at the point of joining. Then I decided on the desired circumference of the hem of the sleeve, cut the rectangle in six pieces, spread them fan-like and the pattern of the flounce was ready - it's so easy. And because I'm a nerd, I even made a mock-sleeve out of a remnant fabric piece, to be sure, that I had nailed what Gaby had in mind.

I think the blouse came out fairly interesting and I actually plan to make myself a similar one for the spring/summer season out of light cotton-viscose fabric.

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.