Sewing for Fitz is one thing I’m growing into. I imagined I’d do oodles of it while he was a baby, but a) life with newborns and b) where oh where are the cute patterns and fabrics for boys? The balance seems to be swinging more in their favour lately, with things like Celebrate the Boy and the Spoonflower competition to find a new fabric for baby boys, but we’re still going uphill.
So enter Figgy’s, and this pattern for a wardrobe staple – the tee. I throw a tee on Fitz every day – long sleeved, short sleeved, plain, striped, printed. He needs a whole bunch of them to get through a week, especially now he likes to hold his own yoghurt pot. Since I have some knit fabrics just lolling about in the stash, it seemed prudent to find a way of getting some of it onto my kid’s back.
First things first, I liked the packaging. The patterns come in a sturdy brown envelope, with a picture on the outside. Inside you get a printed booklet of instructions (sewn together – nice touch) and the pattern sheet. Full marks on the paper choice for the pattern sheet too, as it’s proper paper rather than tissue. When you buy a pattern that may well see you through six years you want to know that it isn’t going to fall apart.
Reading through the instructions I was perturbed by the notion of the seams being on the outside, and worried about my overlocking being uneven and my general sewing not being good enough. The best cure for that is to just plough on and see what actually happens, because most times you find that your imagined problems are, in fact, completely irrelevant. For a start, you don’t need an overlocker. No serging here. This is great news, because not everyone has one, and sometimes even if you do have one, getting the tension right can take the better part of a year. Secondly, if you can sew a half decent line, you can make this shirt. Seriously. Even if you are afeared of knits.
You use your normal machine (and by rights you should use a narrow zig-zag, except I was giddy with having actual sewing time and didn’t. No one died.) to sew the seam together as you would any seam, except you have wrong sides together. Then you press the raw edges down to the main body of the shirt and stitch it down. It is so simple and so fast, and yet looks incredibly cool.
wrong sides of finished seam
right side of finished seam
Reassured by the finish I pressed on, and had it finished in about an hour. This is partly due to there being no hemming – sure you could hem if you wanted to, but given license not to I went with it. The only change I made was to the neck, which was one raw edge too many for me, so Fitz has a more conventional neckband on his new tee.
I’m looking forward to their book even more now, and can’t wait to see what it holds. Roll on August!
Figgy’s patterns can be found at Backstitch
What an awesome review!! I loved it not just b/c you enjoyed the pattern but b/c it’s a thorough review and very helpful to those that are a little afraid of the knit fabric! Thank you very much.
Thanks Shelly! I love wearing knits and they’re so practical for kids that I think it’s worth just ploughing on and trying them – in fact I didn’t know I was supposed to be afraid of them before I sewed them for the first time and I think that helps too!
I also meant to say that I thought your instructions were very clear and omitted anything unnecessary – very good for busy mums with limited sewing time!
Thank you for this review, I’m always interested in patterns for boys and this may be one I actually go ahead and make…
Do give it a shot. If it works for you you get at least six years worth of tees from the one pattern so it repays your investment. Also – small boys tend not to notice any botched up seams so it’s a good way to practice.
I’ve not sewn clothes since I was at school but this sounds like a great pattern to use, might be good to recycle adult tshirts into new ones for my very nearly two year old.
That’s a great idea Jo! The shirt takes so little fabric for a toddler too (translates to short seams and a quick finish). Off to raid husband’s sad sack tshirt stash…
I love it! A very mature colour as well… very classy! x
Looks fantastic. I will buy this pattern for my Jack now that I’ve read your review!
Great review… I plan to attempt to sew a knit fabric one day. I’m hoping its a bit like zips and button holes, kind of scary until you try it.
Great review, and the finished tee looks like a perfect fit. I really like the contrast stitching on the seams. Might have to give this one a go – a good pattern for me as I can do the dress for the girls and tee for the boy! Should really make the ottobre knit tops first though before buying even more fabric …!
I’ve never really thought about making t-shirts before but you just made this sound super easy. I think it’s great when mums make clothes for their kids – no one else in the world will own that t-shirt – I just love that.
Great job on your shirt. I agree, this pattern is awinner! I’ve made 3 for my son so far and they just get quicker and easier each time. When he grows out of this size range I’ll buy the larger size pattern as well.
Thank you for writing this post, it has just clarified a sewing problem I have. I usually completely ignore parts of pattern instructions that I don’t think will work (or I don’t think I will be able to achieve neatly) without even giving them a chance. I should really just plough on and have a go. The t shirt looks great and so so comfy. x