Boy's Muscle Shirt Tutorial Revisited

Last summer, I put together one of my first tutorials for a boy's muscle shirt. At that point, I only had a handful of posts up, and I don't feel like I really did the tutorial justice. So, now that it's summer again, and I'm feeling inspired by CTB Summer edition, I decided to add some updates to the tutorial.

First, I'll start off with how to make a pattern from a shirt.

Fold the shirt in half, inside out (I do this so I don't accidentally get marker on the outside) and lay it on your paper. As a side note, I use a roll of plain colored wrapping paper to make patterns. Much more economical than actual "pattern paper"


Trace around the sides, adding seam allowances to the shoulders and sides and mark the bottom of the neck where the ribbing meets the body.

I also mark my pattern for where the bottom hem would be if I'm re-purposing a shirt and using an existing hem as well as add 1/2 inch for hemming for when I'm not using an existing hem.

To finish drawing the shoulder and neck lines, hold the sleeve at the seam and trace. Do the same for the neck.

Here's my finished pattern for the front.

Cut out the pattern and lay it on top of the folded shirt to make any necessary adjustments. I ended up cutting a little off the shoulder and side seam allowance.

Another side note, pattern weights help a lot when making patterns and cutting knits. And, you can make your own with my pattern weights tutorial. They also double as fun sewing rooms toys for little ones.

OK, now on to the pattern for the back. First, trace your front pattern around all sides except the neck.


Then lay your shirt on top and mark the neck where the shirt body and neck ribbing meet. Draw the neck curve the same way you did for the front. Cut out the pattern and make any adjustments.

OK, now that we've got a pattern, we can make our shirt. My original tutorial has more detailed instructions, but I've added a little more detail about making the ribbing for finishing the armholes and neck here.

For this shirt I'm going to re-purpose a thrift store shirt from my stash, using the cute graphic on the front.

Here are the front and back pieces I cut using my pattern.


Sew side seams and shoulders with right sides together. Turn right side out and press.

Next we will need to make ribbing bands to finish the openings. Measure the neck and armhole openings. We will be using strips of ribbing 1.5 inches wide and 1 inch shorter than the measured opening.

So, my armholes were about 8 inches all the way around, so I cut 2, 7 x 1.5 inch strips. The neck was 14 inches all the way around so I cut another strip 13 x 1.5 inches.
Next, fold the strips in half matching the longer sides and press well.
Open up the folded strips, match the shorter sides, right sides together and sew with a 1/4 inch seam. I used my serger for all the seams, but you could also use a regular sewing machine. I would recommend using a longer stitch length than you would use on woven fabric or a wide zig zag.

Fold the ribbing back up with the seam allowance on the inside.
My original tutorial shows show to pin these ribbing bands to the shirt and sew in place. Basically, you match the raw edges on the ribbing with the raw edges on the armhole, pin and sew. Probably easier to understand when you see the pictures.

For this shirt I used my twin needle to sew a top-stitch along the neck and armholes. This is totally optional, but gives the shirt a more finished, store-bought look. It's helpful to iron your finished seams with a good amount of steam. It makes the fabric shrink up if it's been stretched and come together better.

All that's left on this shirt is the hem. Since I wanted to use the graphic on the shirt I was upcycling, I couldn't use the existing hem. So, I serged around the bottom, then folded it up 1/2" and used my twin needles to sew it in place.


Done! In the time it's taken me to write this post, I probably could have made 3 of these muscle shirts, they're that easy!

A perfect fit.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think. There's a lot between the original tute and these additions.....hope it's not too much to digest. Do send me a link or pic if you make one, I'd love to see!

A Vest for the Boy

The fall weather is in full swing and the kids and I have been decked out in our vests. My son has been wearing this old vest that is a hand-me-down from his sister and really starting to be too small......but I LOVE it!


So, since the vest I made for my daughter was such a success, I decided to try my hand at a boy's vest. This posed a challenge since the one thing I avoid like the plague is sewing zippers.

I had this old blanket I'd found when cleaning out a closet. Yes, we had a Patriots blanket for our babies.....yes, we love football.....


And here's what it became....


I don't love the way this came out, it's okay. It's been worn and it's functional, but not exactly what I was going for. Oh well....sewing for boys is sometimes harder than it should be.

Girls PJ Shorts Refashion

Despite not sleeping well last night (after a fun night out with the girls!), I had a burst of energy after lunch and decided to go through the kids fall clothes from last year and get rid of whatever won't fit this year. My almost 4 year old daughter is SUPER picky and will only wear stretch pants so we ended up with a bunch of cute ones from last year that still fit in the waist, but are now too short. So, instead of sending them off to goodwill, I decided to make them into some cute PJ shorts and add some applique to her camis. This is very easy and a fun way to get some new PJs out of clothes you already have.

Here's what I started with: 3 pairs of pants (only got 2 in the picture).


I cut off the legs at about 1/2" longer than I wanted the shorts to be.



Folded the edge over about 1/2" and ironed.

Then sewed a simple zig-zag stitch along the bottom edge. I like to use my walking foot and stretch the fabric a little bit as I sew. That way the stitching has a little bit of stretch and won't break.


Here's how the right side looks.

The best part is that you've got all the fabric you cut off from the bottom of the pants leftover to do some fun applique. I grabbed the PJ Ts and camis out of my daughter's drawer and added some coordinating decorations.

The easiest way to do the applique is to use wonder under. I didn't have any on hand, so I just fused some lightweight interfacing to my fabric piece, cut out the shape, and sewed it on using a straight stitch. The interfacing keeps the fabric from stretching while you sew.

This birdie applique is definitely my favorite.

Finished shorts.

Finished PJ set.

There it is! This was super quick and very satisfying, and once again, not on my sewing list! Oh well.....

Leave me a comment if you make a pair, I'd love to see what others come up with.

My own Kid's Clothes Challenge

Last week was a busy week between my husband's birthday and getting ready for an upcoming overseas trip where I'll be leaving my babies for a whole week....so I didn't participate in the official Kid's Clothing Week Challenge. Instead, I set forth on my own challenge: to start using up my stash of clothing bought second hand to re-purpose.

Here's just a tiny bit of my stash.

And here's what I made:

I forgot to take a before picture of this next top, but imagine a giant, ugly tube top, turned into super cute little girl tank.

And, I am in love with Kai's shirt from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. A fun shirt for a fun little boy.

I made a lot more clothing that I didn't get around to taking photos of, but I'm proud that I am actually making a dent in my stash, resisted the urge to go to the Salvation Army today on 1/2 price day, and my kids are looking cute and enjoying their new clothes!