After about a month of being sick and lying in bed, I finally feel back to my old self again. It was not even a day after I started feeling better that I was back at my sewing machine. One project that I’ve been dying to share with you is this simple pintuck shirt that I made for my cute sister-in-law. If it was my size, I would have kept it for myself; but, with it being so simple to make I just wiped up one for myself as well. When I say simple, I mean simple as in just about anyone with a sewing machine could make this in just a few hours. Not only is it easy to sew, but it is a great basic piece to add to your wardrobe.
Supplies Needed:
– 1 yard of fabric
– Matching thread
– Pins
– Measuring tape
– Scissors
– Sewing Machine (or serger if you have one)
– Iron
Step 1: Cut your fabric to your desired width and length. I would recommend making the width several inches larger than your bust size and then adding on 3 more inches for the sleeves.For the length, measure where you would like your shirt to hit, then add an additional 3″ for every pintuck plus another 1″ for the hem. So for example, if you want three pintucks add 9″, or for 5 pintucks add 15″ to the length of the shirt (plus 1″ for the hem).
At this point you should have yourself a big rectangle. To create the sleeves, cut 1.5″ off each side of the shirt up to the armpit of each sleeve. Then cut out your desired neckline. Sometimes it is helpful to use a shirt that has a neckline you like as a pattern. Just remember that we will be hemming the neckline as well so add 1″ to whatever you’d like your neckline to be in the end.
Step 2: Once you have your basic shirt cut out, mark each pintuck starting 1″ below the armpit. I wanted my pintucks 1.5″ wide so I measured out 3″ on my fabric with 1.5″ gaps in between each pintuck.
Step 3: After marking the fabric, fold together the fabric so your markings meet to create a pintuck.
Step 4: Once you have marked and pinned all your pintucks, press down the pintucks with an iron. I know ironing can be tedious but in order to get a nice clean finish you will not want to skip this step.
Step 5: Now flip each pintuck up and sew along the inside crease.
Step 6: Before we sew the shirt together, the next step is to hem the neckline. I like a thin classic rolled hem between 1/4″ and 1/2″ wide. To do this just fold the fabric in 1/2″, then fold it over one more time so that no raw edges are showing. Iron, pin and sew.
Step 7: With right-sides together, pin the front and back pieces to one another and sew the shoulder seams first. Then, starting at the edge of the sleeve, sew the side seams all the way to the bottom of the shirt. I used a serger for this step, but a single stitch on a sewing machine with work just fine too. Going back and zig-zagging the edges with help the material not to fray.
Step 8: Keeping the shirt inside-out, use the same technique from Step 6 to hem the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt. You can keep the bottom straight or you can round it like I did in the shirt for my sister-in-law.
Linked to:
http://madeinaday.com/2013/07/11/made-u-look-linky-76/
