Here is some inspiration!

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The volume in this case is starting from the shoulders, not the bust. That’s what I’m going for with today’s hack. It will resulting top has lots of “swing factor” and a really relaxed fit.

Alright let’s get started…

We’ll begin by tracing the front piece of our Renfrew Top pattern. Since we will no longer require any side seam shaping, draw a straight line from the underarm to the hemline corner to eliminate that shaping. I am also going to raise the neckline on my version, just because!

After tracing and cutting out your piece, draw lines parallel to the grainline. I did my lines 1″ apart because I want to add a lot of volume and I want it to be distributed really evenly. You can do fewer lines if you’d like.

Slash your lines, cutting from the bottom to the top, taking care to leave a tiny bit of paper uncut at the top to create a hinge. Work from the center and spread each opening by 1″ (2.5cm) at the bottom edge. You can tape to secure as you go, just make sure each piece is nice and flat before you tape it down.

Here it is all taped up and ready to be trimmed. That’s a lot of tape, huh! Now is a good time to lengthen the pattern by a few inches if you’d like – you can do this from the hemline. I’m going for something shorter on this version so I’m leaving it as-is. At this point you can trim out your front piece, and repeat the same thing for your back piece!

After hacking up and trimming my front and back, I retraced them. Since I raised my neckline, I also re-drafted a neckband piece. Here’s a tip: as a general rule when I’m drafting a neckband, I measure my neckline (without seam allowance), and then calculate 5-10% less for the neckband. 5% for a knit with low stretch, 10% for a higher stretch knit. I also grabbed my sleeve and sleeve band from View B.

You can now sew up your t-shirt as per instructions! Obviously we wont be using the hemline band for this garment. For my version I simply serged the raw edge, turned up a 1/2″ (13mm) hem, and then topstitched with a stretch stitch on my regular sewing machine.

The end result is loose and super comfortable. I love the way it looks layered under a long chunky cardigan with skinny jeans. You could lengthen it into a dress for an awesome summery piece, or change up the hem (I love the idea of a high-low hem!). I’m already planning a long sleeve and lengthened version to wear with leggings.

Voila, c’est tout!

The post How to Draft a Swing Tee! appeared first on Sewaholic.

I’m starting with the Granville shirt sleeve here, but you can do this adjustment on pretty much any one piece sleeve.

Begin by tracing your sleeve, along with markings like notches and grainline. Trace your seamlines where they intersect as I did above. For the Granville shirt, this is 5/8″ (1.5cm) from the edge.

Next trace in your slash lines. One line will run along the center of the sleeve, parallel to the grainline. The second slash line will run across the bicep, connecting your underarm seam intersections.

Now we need to cut along these slash lines. We will be pivoting from the seam allowance line (not the paper edge). I like to cut straight through and use pins on a pinnable surface to hinge and pivot my paper. I find this much easier than leaving a millimeter of paper uncut to create a hinge, which always seems to rip on me anyways.

Pin at the bottom edge of your sleeve as shown, right at your seam allowance line. This will create the “hinge” that we need.

Spread the sleeve apart in a V shape in the amount of extra ease you require. For a woven sleeve, 1.5-2″ (3.8-5cm) of ease should be enough. you can measure your bicep (with your arm bent) and then measure the original sleeve pattern at the bicep to see how much you should add.

After you’ve spread in the amount you need, pin the bottom portion of the sleeve in place so that it doesn’t move.

Next, anchor your sleeve with pins at the underarm seam allowance, as shown above.

Finally, pivot and pin down the sleeve cap so that the top center seam allowance intersection lines up. If that sounds confusing, check out the left side of the photo above.

You can also see above that our hinge/anchor points are at the top and bottom seam allowance line, and the underarm seam allowance intersections.

When you’re happy with how everything lines up, you can tape your pattern piece in place.

Slip paper behind your pattern piece to fill in the gap in the center, and tape in place. Now you need to true up (redraw) the sleeve cap*, bottom edge and underarm corners. Be sure to redraw your grainline too.

*See comments for some interesting sleeve cap discussion! 

Here’s the final piece all trimmed. If you’re going to have a sleeve placket, you’ll also want to redraw your placket slash line so that it’s parallel to the new grainline, as I show above in green.

And that’s it! We’re all finished with our full bicep adjustment.

The post How To Widen a Sleeve (Full Bicep Adjustment) appeared first on Sewaholic.

I first made a tank top variation of the Saltspring dress a few years back. I loved this top, and wore it a lot. For this version, I decided to go for a more delicate look. I envisioned spaghetti straps, a simple facing (instead of lining), and an extra gathered panel at the hemline. You could easily do this hack without the gathered panel for a super simple camisole. I’m planning on making a few of those too.

Here’s how I hacked the Saltspring dress to make this camisole!

• I started off with a 1″ (2.5cm) FBA. I outlined this during the sew-along here. Instead of keeping a dart, I closed it and transferred the fullness to the hemline. I’m going for an a-line shape in this tank so this was perfect. If you aren’t doing a FBA, you can simply slash and spread the pattern in a pie shape.
• To match the a-line shape of the front piece, I slash and spread the back by about an inch as well.
• I eliminated the seam allowance at center back to cut it on fold.
• I lengthened these pieces by 1″ (2.5cm) at the hemline.
• I drafted two rectangular panels for the hemline. To do this, I measured the length of the hem, and then drafted rectangles that were 1.5X this measurement. Hem allowance was 1″ (2.5cm), and seam allowance 5/8″ (1.5cm) as usual.
• I finished the neckline with 2.5″ (6.5cm) facings which I drafted by tracing the top edge of the tank pieces and then traced 2.5″ (6.5cm) from that edge.
• I raised the front neckline by 1″ (1.5cm) – this was just a personal preference, I wanted a higher neckline.
• Finally, instead of tie straps, I went for simple spaghetti straps. I used the same pattern piece and just cut two lengths instead of 4.

Here is what I ended up with:

In terms of construction, it was pretty straightforward. Here’s the rundown:

1. Stay stitch neckline of bodice and facing. (Start at the center front and sew towards side seams to prevent skewing.)
2. Sew side seams, finish seam allowances, press side seams open. Sew from the bottom up to prevent skewing.
3. Sew facing side seams, finish seam allowances and bottom facing edge, press seams open.
4. Sew your straps.
5. Do a quick try-on and pin straps at the length you like. Measure the length you pinned and mark/trim your straps to the correct length.
6. Sew the neckline/straps as per the pattern instructions or the sew-along (1, 2)!
7. Gathered panels: Sew side seams, finish seam allowances, press open.
8. You can hem the panels now, it will be easier to handle.
9. Sew two rows of stitches with a long stitch length, first 3/8″ (1cm) from the raw edge, then 1/2″ (1.3cm) from the raw edge. Gather the panels to fit your bodice hem.
10. Attach panels, finish seam allowance. I also topstitched the seam allowance towards to top to keep everything in place.

I am pretty in love with this camisole! The fit is spot on and it turned out exactly as I envisioned.

Thoughts? Would you guys give this hack a try?

The post DIY Saltspring Camisole Hack appeared first on Sewaholic.

It can be a bit tough to get nice, clean corners with knit fabrics. So I decided to put together a step-by-step tutorial for you with some extra tips.

We’re starting off on the very first step for view C, so we have pattern piece #9 (front) and #10 (collar pieces). Here’s a small extra step that I like to do to get really nice clean corners.

We’re working with ⅜” (1cm) seam allowances for the set-in collar. Mark your corners on the right side of the garment at a scant ⅜” (1cm) from the raw edge.

Stitch along your marking lines with a short stitch length, and clip into your seam allowance until the corner.

Grab your collar pieces and mark your corners on the wrong side at a ⅜” (1cm) from the raw edge.

Pin your right collar piece to the body, right sides together, along the long edge. Line up your marked corners (you can stick a pin right through both corners to secure them together as I did above).

Start sewing at the shoulder. Remember: use a seam allowance of ⅜” (1cm).

Stop sewing right at your corner. (Take your time!)

Insert your needle, lift the presser foot, and pivot your collar. You will also pivot your front body piece so that you are now lining up the short raw edge of your collar with the corresponding edge of the body. Lower your presser foot and sew the rest of this seam ending at the center front.

Give it a nice press, seam allowances pressed towards the body.

Time for the left side. This time we’ll start sewing at center front.

Stop sewing at the corner that you’ve marked, ⅜” (1cm) from raw edge.

Insert your needle, lift the presser foot, and pivot your pieces so that the long raw edges are lined up. Lower your presser foot and finish sewing your collar!

Give your collar a final press, seam allowances towards the body. You can trim your seam allowances or overlock them together at this point.

Et voilà! Nice clean and crisp corners. The additional step of stay stitching and clipping the corners prior to sewing is especially great if you’re working with a knit that is a little bit more delicate and stretchy. In this case I’m using bamboo terry. Something like a hefty double knit or ponte de roma will be easier to sew and you probably don’t even have to worry about any extra steps.

The post Fraser Sweatshirt: Sewing the Set-In Collar appeared first on Sewaholic.

There are many ways to sew a knit binding as a neckline or armhole finish. I particularly like this method because all raw edges are enclosed. To finish, the binding is turned to the right side of the garment (it’s not visible from the wrong side), and because of this it’s easier to get a clean finish. You’ll see what I mean!

I’ll demonstrate this tutorial on a swatch, but this is the exact method we outline in the instructions for the Dunbar top. Let’s get started!

The knit binding piece is drafted to be 1¼” (3.2cm) wide, and the neckline seam allowance is ⅜” (1cm). Start by pinning your binding strip with the right side of the binding facing the wrong side of your neckline. Since I’m not using ballpoint pins, I like to pin inside of the seam allowance and parallel to the raw edge, so I don’t accidentally poke holes into my garment.

Sew with a ⅜” (1cm) seam allowance. Here I’m using a narrow zig zag stitch (length: 2.5, width: .5). I also love to use my machines triple stitch, it’s great for knits and has a lot of give. I recommend testing out a few stitch options on a swatch and stretching the heck out of them. The one that doesn’t pop and feels secure is your winner!

Trim the neckline seam allowance (not your binding). We’re looking at the right side here.

Turn up your binding. Again, this view is from the right side.

Turn under the raw edge of your binding by ⅜” (1cm). The raw edge will line up with your stitch line. You can do this with your fingers or press it with low heat on your iron.

Turn it again, so that your raw edge is enclosed and the binding is not visible from the wrong side.

Pin in place.

Here’s what it looks like all pinned, from the wrong side. You can barely see the binding from the wrong side of the garment. This makes the final sewing step so easy because you can focus on getting a nice clean finish on the right side, and not worry about catching another binding edge on the wrong side.

Sew a zig-zag stitch close to the fold from the right side of the garment. You can use a short and wide zig zag for this (I did length: 1.8, width: 2.8) so it will stretch really nicely.

Here’s what it looks like from the right side! I love this clean finish.

Here it is from the wrong side. Still nice and clean, all raw edges are enclosed, and you can barely see the binding peeking out from the right side. I prefer to have a millimeter of the binding visible from the wrong side, than to have the body fabric peeking out from the right side.

Like with any knit project, preparation is key! I recommend using your fabric scraps to do lots of testing before you sew up your finished garment. Test out seam finishes, test out this binding method, figure out your zig-zag widths and lengths and note them on the pattern instructions.

What’s your favourite method for applying knit binding? If you try this one out, let us know how it goes!

The post Dunbar Top: Knit Binding Tutorial appeared first on Sewaholic.

Start off by completing Step 1 (View A & C) or Step 2 (View B) for your leggings: sewing the back piece to front along the side seam, and sewing the lower leg panel if you are making View B. If you’re doing any fancy seam finishes, like seams that look like flatlock, do that to your side seams now.

Next you’re going to fold the leg in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew the inseam at ⅝” (1.5cm), starting at the hem. Stop sewing ⅝” (1.5cm) before the end of the seam. Above I’ve marked that point with chalk so I remember to stop! Repeat with your other leg piece.

Here’s what that looks like when you open it up.

I like to use chalk to mark the corners of my gusset. Mark each corner on the wrong side of your gusset at ⅝” (1.5cm) from the raw edge.

Next we’re going to pin the gusset to one leg piece first. I’m working with the left leg piece here. The longer side of the gusset is the back.

Here it is pinned. I failed to get a good photo of the following: clip your left inseam at ⅝” (1.5cm) from the edge so that it lays flat. You’re clipping at the point where you stopped sewing the inseam. If you’re a visual person, I show this step for the other leg below.

Sew the gusset to leg, starting at ⅝” (1.5cm) from one end of the gusset – the corner that you marked. When you get to the inseam corner, insert your needle, lift your presser foot, pivot your project, and then lower your presser foot and continue sewing. Stop sewing at ⅝” (1.5cm) from the other end of your gusset.

Turn your other leg piece right side out (in my case it’s the right leg piece), and slip it into the leg piece you’ve been working on (for me, that’s the left leg piece).

Pin the two legs together all along the center seam.

To make pinning and sewing the gusset seam easier, clip your inseam at ⅝” (1.5cm) from the edge.

Pin this gusset portion.

Here’s what that looks like from the other side. Clipping the inseam helps you to get a really nice corner and less bulk. It lays flat which makes sewing easier! Okay we’re all pinned now…

Start sewing your crotch seam from one end. I’m starting from the center front. Stop sewing and back stitch right when you reach the first gusset stitch line (see where my pin is?).

You’ll need to pull out your needle and clip your threads, because now we’re beginning to sew from the gusset side. Start sewing at the front corner of the gusset, and sew to the inseam corner. Take your time and make sure everything is lined up on the back side.

As before: insert your needle, lift your presser foot, pivot, and then lower your presser foot. Sew along the last edge of the gusset, stopping when you reach the corner that you marked.

Now you can sew the other side of the center seam. Start sewing right where your gusset stitches stop.

Your crotch is now officially assembled. Above is the view from the wrong side!

And from the right side. If you’re using the faux-flatlock seam finish (I am!), here’s what that looks like… Wrong side:

Right side:

Just for your reference, I am sewing my seams with a triple stitch (3.0 length). Then I open the seams, and use a three-step zig-zag stitch to sew along the center of the seam from the right side. I don’t have the baseball stitch on my Bernina 530, so I experimented with a few other ones and settled on the three-step zig-zag. Bottom right in this photo:

So there you have it! We tackled the gusset and really, it’s not so bad when you mark your pieces properly and take your time, using lots of pins.

The post Pacific Leggings: Sewing the Gusset appeared first on Sewaholic.

The Pacific Leggings are designed for practicality with a nice big back pocket. This pocket is large enough to hold a smartphone, even the big iPhone 6 and larger Android phones. It closes securely with a zipper so you can run, stretch and bend without giving your pocket a second thought. Who wants to worry about stuff falling out of their pockets while working out or running? Not me or you!

Today I’ll demonstrate how to sew the back zippered pocket. I decided to make a real pair of leggings using the navy fabric and neon red thread from the last tutorial post since I thought it looked cool.

I also chose a hot pink zipper. Athletic wear is a great place to use bright contrast that you wouldn’t necessarily want in your everyday clothes. (Plus running shoes always seem to have bright and unusual colour combinations, so if you’re sewing for the actual gym, embrace the bold look!)

You’ll need:

• your waistband fabric pieces cut out and ready
• fusible bonding web. The kind I used comes on a roll, 5/8″ (1.5cm) wide, called Stitch Witchery.
• Your zipper, shortened to fit the opening if necessary. You want to have 5/8″ (1.5cm) extra length on either side of the zipper when it’s inserted into the opening.

First, cut two pieces of fusible web the length of the zipper opening. Here’s what it looks like, with the packaging.

Fold under 5/8″ (1.5cm) along both edges of the pocket opening. Tuck the fusible web strip into the fold and press to ‘glue’ the seam allowance down.

This step makes all the difference to sewing the zipper easily into stretch knit fabric. This is the most important thing to take from today’s tutorial post, if nothing else!

The fusible web restricts the stretch of the edge, making it easy to stitch the zipper in place. After all, you don’t need that edge to stretch since zipper tape doesn’t stretch. If you sew it normally, the stretch knit stretches and the zipper doesn’t, resulting in puckers and ripples. Even hand-basting it in place first doesn’t help enough to keep the edge flat. Trust me! I tried a few things and this approach gave the best results. Fusible web is the way to go.

Line up your pieces as shown, with the zipper in between the two fabric pieces. The folded and glued-down edges of the fabric face the zipper. In the instructions, we tell you to place the zipper slider at the LEFT side. This is because the majority of people are right-handed, and so you’re likely to reach behind you with your right hand, grab the slider, and pull towards yourself to open the pocket. Smart eh? There’s a reason for everything!

Now if you’re left-handed and want to customize your pocket to match your handedness, flip it around! Place the slider on the RIGHT when the zipper is closed and then you can open the pocket easily using your left hand. (Reach behind yourself and try it out. What feels more natural? Ever had a pocket that you had to ‘push’ the zipper slider away from you to open, that’s the worst!)

Once you’ve decided which way to place the zipper slider, pin or line up the top edge along the zipper. You want to get it fairly close to the teeth, but still with some space on either side of the teeth. Some zipper tape should be showing.

Mine are a little too close in this demo so I wanted to mention it. If you do sew them as close as I did, it’s OK but it means the side panels might be longer than the centre panel, and the seams will be off. You want about 1cm (3/8″) of zipper filling the space between the two fabric pieces.

Using a zipper foot, sew close to the fold. Move the slider out of the way as you pass by, keeping the needle down if you lift the presser foot.

When you sew the other side of the zipper, sew the edgestitching in the same direction. This way if your fabric stretches at all, it’ll stretch the same way on both sides. I switched the zipper foot to the other side and sewed again from slider to zipper stop.

I’m pointing it out because once the zipper foot is on, I’m likely to turn my work and not switch the foot. In this case, you want to switch the foot.

Your zipper is now sewn between the two fabric pieces.

Sew the side waistband pieces to either side of the center zipper panel.

Continue with the Pacific Leggings sewing steps, right up until attaching the waistband to the pants. Before you do that, stitch in the ditch or topstitch along the centre panel lines.

This is what separates the back pocket from the rest of the waistband. Otherwise, your pocket opening opens up to the entire waistband! Interesting to put your hand all the way around the waistband tunnel but not very useful in keeping the pocket’s contents in place.

I went ahead and finished the leggings after writing this tutorial. I’ll take proper photos, but look at how flattering they are! Here’s a photo of the back view. (For some reason it feels less awkward to post in black and white.)

The thick nylon lycra smooths everything out, like shapewear, but in a visible garment. The seamlines accentuate curves in a good way, and if you wanted a more subtle look then I’d use contrast thread. I’m going to make a plain navy pair out of the remaining fabric and use matching thread.

The post Pacific Leggings: Sewing the Back Zipper Pocket appeared first on Sewaholic.

One thing I wanted to demonstrate is how to sew stretchy, professional-looking seams on your Pacific Leggings. You can sew regular seams with a stretch stitch or narrow zigzag, or sew all seams on your serger. I came up with this way of finishing them and it’s a great way to have your leggings look like they were professionally manufactured!

You’ll often see a type of stitching called flatlock used on leggings and yoga pants. What is a flatlock? On athletic apparel, it’s a type of seam that is sewn on a special machine. It looks similar to serging with its multiple threads, but it’s sewn with one edge overlapped on top of the other.

We can create a similar look using regular sewing machines!

In my demo I’m using neon red thread so it shows up clearly on the navy fabric. For comparison I sewed a regular zigzag, a three-step zigzag, a stitch I refer to as ‘baseball stitch’ and a random other stitch that looks like it could stretch.

Test your chosen stitch on a scrap of fabric. Now stretch it! I stretched my little sample both lengthwise and widthwise to see what the stitching would do. If it stretches easily without restricting the fabric or snapping, it’s a good choice.

The baseball stitch is the one I’m going to use. It’s #13 in the photo below. This is a good stitch because there’s a lot of thread in it, going from side to side as well as down the seam. It’ll take a lot of stress on the seam for this one to snap! In comparison, the zigzags reach their maximum stretching potential well before the baseball stitch does. I can feel the resistance as the zigzag stitches straighten out.

There are two steps to this process: sewing the seam, then topstitching on top of it to create the flatlock effect. Here’s how to do it!

1. Sew the Seam

I used a narrow zigzag stitch so the seam itself will stretch. On this demo, I’m sewing all seams in neon red thread, but if I were sewing a real pair of leggings I’d use navy for the regular seams and save the neon for visible stitching only.

2. Press it Open

You can just use your fingers for a quick press and skip the iron. You’ll be holding the seam open when you sew it, so it’s not super important to press first.

3. Baseball Stitch down the Centre of the Seam

Center your stitching over the middle of the seam, so the baseball stitch covers both sides of the seam.

Look, a rare photo of both hands!

I wanted to show where to put your hands while sewing the seam. I’m stretching lightly across the seam with my hands, and stretching slightly from top to bottom with my thumbs as well. Kind of an allover stretch.

4. Trim Seam Allowance

Turn the piece over, and trim excess seam allowance on either side of the seam.

That’s it! It’s only one more step than sewing a plain seam but it adds visual interest to the seamlines, without restricting stretch or movement.

See how much it stretches! It stretches and recovers back to its original size. It has the appearance of flatlock, but you can do it on a regular home sewing machine.

What if your machine doesn’t have this baseball stitch? You could use a zigzag stitch, a three-step zigzgag, or any stitch that is wide enough to cover both sides of the seam and has built-in stretch. Depending on how many stitch functions your machine has, the look will vary.

More Faux-Flatlock Tips

• The baseball stitch is directional, meaning it looks different if you sew down a seam, compared to sewing up the seam. Sew all your seams in the same direction for a consistent look.
• This stitch also looks identical on both sides of the fabric. This means you can sew your hems from the inside, if that’s easier for you, and it will look the same as if you’d sewn from the right side.
• If you’re using a contrast thread, you may be able to keep your bobbin threaded in matching thread. I switched both bobbin and top threads to red every time.. until I started to run out. Then I left the navy in the bobbin to make the red last as long as possible. I couldn’t tell the difference! This does mean you’ll have to always sew from the right side of your garment, but it can save time switching back and forth. (Unless you have two sewing machines. Then thread one in your main thread colour, the other in contrast.)

Specific Tips for the Pacific Leggings

• When topstitching the gusset and inner leg seam, sew from the front, pivoting to sew around one side of the gusset, then continue up the back seam. Then go back and sew the other angled side of the gusset. The stitching will overlap a bit at the starting and ending points but it won’t be super noticeable unless you’re using contrast thread.

The post Sewing Seams that Look Like Flatlock appeared first on Sewaholic.

(image from our tailored placket tutorial post)

Yes! You totally can. You just need to figure out what part of the sleeve placket piece is the one that shows on the right side.

This is for the plaid Granville shirt I’m sewing – read previous posts here:

• Sewing A Plaid Granville Shirt: Deciding What to Cut on the Bias
• Cutting the Granville Shirt in Plaid Fabric

Cutting the Plaid Sleeve Placket

First, read our tutorial here to ‘watch’ the sleeve placket construction in action. You can see that it’s the wider part with the pointed top that forms the wide tower placket, and of that section, it’s the outer half that ends up on top. My first instinct was to line up the centre of that part, between these two lower notches, on the same plaid line as the placket cutting line. Let’s see if that is correct.

This is our plaid sleeve, and the pin marks the top of the placket placement line. It falls along the very thin navy stripe that’s in the middle of the yellow stripes.

So then, the placket will be centered over this line like so:

If you’re wanting to match something complicated, and it’s hard to puzzle out in your mind, make a mockup and walk yourself through the construction with basting or pins. If it’s a small piece like the placket, it’s easy to recut if you guessed wrong. It’s just fabric and often the learning lesson is more valuable when you work through the problem in three dimensions.

Sewing the Plaid Sleeve Placket

To sew the placket, follow the tailored sleeve placket tutorial here, with some additional guidelines on doing it in plaid:

When laying the placket on the sleeve piece, make sure the lines of the placket are parallel to the sleeve plaid lines. In the photo below, I’m lining up where the green line meets the navy line on the placket, to the very thin navy line between the two yellow lines on the sleeve. I’ve lifted up the placket piece to check, and as I position the placket piece, I make sure it’s lined up all the way to the hem. It looks wrong, as the plaid isn’t matching from placket to sleeve, yet. 

When sewing, make sure you’re sewing straight along the plaid lines. It’s almost easier than sewing along markings in a way, you don’t need to draw in the lines if you can use the plaid lines as your guide. Along the top edge, I’m aiming to keep the stitching just inside the navy part, and along the lower edge, I’m stitching just outside that thin navy line.

Moment of truth: in order to check, I need to slash the opening. Ok, I’m prepared to redo it if it looks bad. Here we go…

As the placket part is turned back, it lines up with both the horizontal plaid lines and the vertical plaid lines. Success!

It even matches on the smaller side of the sleeve placket, less important but still very nice to see.

What is smart to do though, is make sure you know how to cut your second placket if the first one works out. That’s one benefit of always photographing your work for tutorials – you can look back at the photos to cut the second one the same! I cut my sleeve plackets one at a time, but used the photo reference to cut the second one.

So there’s a tip: photograph your first placket, even if you aren’t writing a tutorial, so you can cut placket #2 the same.

When you edgestitch the placket, use glue to keep it in place. I got confident and started sewing without basting! The presser foot can pull the layers apart, making them not line up, if you’re not careful. Glue prevents that from happening. More on glue-basting here.

When you press the point of the tower, make sure it’s centered over the middle plaid line. (Like this photo below, but better. My yellow lines at the top tip look like they’re off a little, I think it’s just the 3D nature of the placket and if it was pressed flat they’d like up. Either way, make sure yours do!)

Definitely glue-baste the tower side of the sleeve placket. That’s the one that will show.

Here is our finished, plaid-matched sleeve placket!

What do you think? Pretty good!

It’s not 100% at the tower end but then again, we are looking at it extremely closely. I’d be impressed if someone else had sewn it or if I’d seen it on a ready to wear shirt. Now, the goal is to sew the second one exactly the same or better!

ps. Check out all posts on shirtmaking here, and get the Granville Shirt pattern here!

The post Plaid Granville Shirt: Can You Match The Sleeve Placket? appeared first on Sewaholic.

For this post, I opted to cut most of the pieces on the straight grain. I didn’t allow enough extra fabric to cut bias pieces when I originally bought it. Patterns often instruct you to buy extra fabric to match plaids and stripes, but you’ll need to buy even more if you want to cut plaids and stripes on the bias!

For the front, I focused on ensuring the straight edge of centre front was placed along a straight plaid line, and I lined up a horizontal stripe below the dart line.

The reason I placed the line below the dart line is so the side seams would line up, otherwise if you use the armhole line, it’ll line up above the dart but possibly not below. I used the yellow lines as a guide since they stood out the most in this fabric. I then drew that same horizontal line across all of the body pattern pieces: front, back, side back.

I cut out the fronts first, and was so excited that I sewed the front band right away, before cutting the rest of my pieces. It’s not a recommended approach but sometimes you’re so excited to start, you have to start!

Instead of using the front band pattern piece, I left the extension on both pieces. The pattern instructs you to cut one side smaller, and then sew on a separate button band. I thought I’d make it easier and save fabric by cutting the button bands as part of each front. This also means one less piece to match!

When topstitching the bands, sew with the right side up so you can sew evenly down a plaid line. Use the first band as a guide to sewing the second band – in the photo above, I’m sewing just inside the green stripe on the left, so it looks identical to the right side.

I also originally started with navy thread, but switched it to green when I realized the stitch line would be on a green section.

Look at how the centre front lines up across the button band. Nice eh?

When cutting the side back pieces, I did the quick-matching method, rather than the way we described here where you pin through the plaid intersections.

Cut out one piece single-layer, then lay it down on the fabric, moving it around until the lines line up and the piece disappears. Can you see the lower, curved edge in the photo below?

Take extra care to line up the lines, and then cut out the piece. You’ll end up with mirror-image pieces, like so!

If there are a lot of pieces, I tend to work my way around the body. In this case, I started with the front, so I’ll do the side back next, then move to the back.

You can see that when it’s sewn, the side seam will line up across the horizontal lines. Pin it if you like, to check!

Next is the back. I decided that I wanted the thin green line, the one that’s in the middle of the thick navy stripe, to be my centre stripe. I’m placing the fold line of my pattern piece along that line. The fabric isn’t folded, it’s a single layer. (We’ll fold it later.)

It’s most important to have a straight line down the middle of the back, so I’ll pin along the fold line to keep the pattern piece in place. I’m lining up the PLAID LINE marked on the pattern piece along the same yellow stripe, so the horizontal lines align all around the body.

Now I’ll cut only around the pattern piece edges. I’m leaving the fold alone for now. Do not cut along the fold line! If you’re easily distracted, place a pin or weight or book or something in the way. It sounds silly, but it’s easy to go on autopilot when cutting.

Remove the pattern tissue. Now, fold the fabric piece along the centre plaid line, the one we determined when laying out the piece. In my case, that’s the thin green line in the middle of the navy stripe. Depending on your fabric, you might prefer a ‘space’ between lines centered there instead of a stripe line.

Take care to line up each horizontal stripe across the piece.

Cut around the fabric piece, using the cut edge as a guide.

Here’s our back piece – take a look at the side edges. It’s pretty close. Sometimes there’s a tendency to cut the second half slightly larger, since you’re trying not to cut the original fabric edge. If that’s the case, even out any unevenness.

I did the same process to cut the yoke – cut half first, fold the cut half on to the other side of the fabric, cut around the fabric edges.

I used the first yoke piece to cut the second yoke piece.

For the cuffs, you’re basically only using the pattern piece to get the correct dimensions. I figure out where I want the piece to fall on the fabric, then I’ll use the plaid lines for the actual cutting.

The top edge is between two yellow stripes, so I peel back the pattern piece and cut between the stripes.

This plaid fabric is excellent for the Granville Shirt, because the distance between the stripes is exactly the width of the cuff piece! Neat. In the photo below, you can see the top edge is between two yellow lines, and so is the bottom edge!

I cut along the short edge, then along the bottom edge. I’ll re-position the pattern piece and cut the last short edge.

Use the cuff piece to cut three more identical cuff pieces.

For the collar and collar stand, I’ve turned the pieces so they’re cut on the cross grain, rather than parallel to the fold or selvedge. This is so we can continue to place the same stripe line – thin green stripe on a thick navy stripe – down the middle of the piece. Use the notches as a guide to centering the piece on the plaid fabric.

I did the same thing as the yoke and back – cut half first, then fold it over. It’s a good habit for cutting plaid pieces on a fold.

In the end, we have the same plaid line running vertically down the yoke, the collar, the collar stand and the back. Nice!

As with anything that requires matching while cutting – stripes, plaids or prints – the hard work is in the cutting. The sewing is easier than the cutting process. Now all we need to do is pin our pieces together correctly, and the plaid lines will line up across our seams.

See all posts on shirtmaking and sewing the Granville Shirt here. Get the Granville Shirt pattern here!

The post Cutting the Granville Shirt in Plaid Fabric appeared first on Sewaholic.