How to Sew: an Easy Comfy Top | Knit Fabric DIY Garment

This sewing tutorial demonstrates a fun and simple method for making a very comfortable top using knit jersey fabric. The result is a slouchy-style t-shirt shape with a slight 'batwing' profile at the underarms, and if you use sweatshirt jersey like me you'll get more of a short-sleeve sweater than a t-shirt.

Instead of providing a pattern, I'll show you how to make your own very easily, and then how to turn this pattern into a top with an added waistband and cuffs. It's personal preference what material you use for this, and how loose you would like it...this is the kind of pattern you can make over and over with different fabrics or alterations each time. Enjoy!

- Knit fabric; I used sweatshirt jersey in a marled mustard yellow. I liked it because it has some weight to it so is warm and has a bit of structure, plus it is fleecey on the 'wrong' side so is very cosy.

You'll want to use a light/medium-weight fabric for this so the applied edges don't look too bulky. Also it should have some drape to prevent it looking stiff or boxy, and a you should pre-wash it too :)

- Sewing machine & matching thread; I used a white thread so you could see the sewn lines a little, but a matching thread (or contrasting thread if you're feeling brave!) would look best. It's also highly recommended that you use a ball-point sewing needle in your machine, as these are designed for use with knit fabrics.

- A fitted t-shirt, or even just a t-shirt you like the fit of.

- Disappearing or 'magic' fabric pen

- Ruler & tape measure

- A3 paper, tape & pen/pencil

- Regular scissors, plus fabric scissors

- Iron & ironing board; for the final press.

- Sewing pins & clips

- Serger/overlocker (optional)

- Rotary cutter & cutting mat (optional)

The first step is to tape together A3 paper sheets to make a piece large enough for half of the garment. I used 3 x A3 sheets.

Then take a fitted t-shirt and lay it out flat on top of the paper, so that just over one half of the t-shirt is on the paper. Draw around the outside of this t-shirt with a pen or pencil. Be careful not to move it.

At the neckline, I marked the inner and outer lines of the neckband, and I also roughly drew the lower front neckline shape. Ignore this front neckline for now. If you want to add a neckband later, or you just want a slightly wider neckline, use the lowest (inner) line of the neckband. Otherwise you can use the upper line of the neckband for your template.

You will also need to mark the centre point of the t-shirt at the top and bottom. To do this, I measured across the bottom of the t-shirt, and marked a point halfway across. And then did the same at the top. This is important because you want this template to represent only half of the t-shirt shape.

Note that the t-shirt I'm using fits me snugly so I'm using this to represent my body size. If you use a looser fitting t-shirt, just take that into account when adding to the size.

Then it's time to make adjustments to this basic shape:

- I first removed 3" from the length of the t-shirt outline and drew a new line. This is because I'll be adding a wide waistband later on to replace this removed material. I want to end up with a top approximately the same length as this t-shirt.

- I then added 1.5" to the side seam, from the base to around 4" from the underarm, then I went out to 2". There are no rules here, it just depends what fit you want. You'll see I ended up with a 'classic' fit as a result of these alterations i.e. not snug but not loose either. As I mentioned already, I ended up with a slight batwing effect under the arm, but you can exaggerate that effect however much you like. You'll just need to make longer sleeves as a result.

- I decided that I wanted the sleeves to end 7" from my underarm, but I also knew I was going to add 3" cuffs on the ends of the sleeves. Therefore, I took 3" from 7" to give me 4", and then measured this distance from the underarm and drew a line. I then measured the circumference of my real-life arm 4" from my underarm, and this was 14". As a result, I made sure the end of the sleeve on the diagram measured 7" across. This made my sleeves snug, so if you want more room, feel free to add an inch or so more.

- I then joined the side seam to the end of my sleeve with a curve to give that comfy, slight batwing effect.

So that's what I did, but you can alter it as you see fit. For instance, you could make it longer, or baggier, or even cut a wider neckline.

Go around the final outline with a thicker pen line.

Also, add 1/2" seam allowance to the end of the sleeve so that you have a straight section to easily join the cuff to.

Then cut out the template, making sure that you cut along the back neckline not the (lower) front necklline.

Then fold (or cut) the paper along the centre line that marks the middle of the t-shirt.

You now have a perfect half template shape.

Now, place your template on top of your fabric and draw all around it using a disappearing or 'magic' fabric pen. Make sure you leave enough space for the other half of the t-shirt shape on the flat-edge side.

Important: You want the stitches in your knit fabric to be orientated so that the little 'v's are upright. This will mean that any stretch the fabric has will be widthwise across your fabric pieces. You want the pieces to stretch left-right rather than up-down.

Then flip this template over horizontally so that the straight edge lines up with the centre line you've just drawn. Then draw around this shape again. This will give you the full t-shirt body shape.

Cut it out (around the outer line - ignore the centre line) and then use this piece to cut out another identical piece.

Note: I'm using slightly thicker fabric, which is best being cut as a single layer, but if you are using lightweight fabric you could cut your 2 body pieces on the fold instead to save time. To do this, fold the fabric once and place the template on top so that the centre line (the edge of the shape that represents the centre of the top) lines up with the fold. Then draw around the template and cut through the 2 layers at once. This would be easiest with a rotary cutter.

Place these 2 body pieces right-sides together and pin along the shoulders and side seams.

Sew along these lengths using a stretch stitch and a ball-point needle. If you don't have a stretch stitch option, use a narrow zigzag stitch.

Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end, and also make sure you don't sew along the base of the top, or along the neckline or across the ends of the sleeves.

If you have a serger, feel free to use that instead to sew the seams.

I used 1/2" seam allowance throughout this project.

Try on the sewn top to make sure it fits OK so far, and also mark how low you would like the front neckline to be. Then take off the top, fold the front neckline in half, and cut away the fabric you don't want here - cutting through both layers at once so the result will be symmetrical.

I had already decided that I wanted the finished cuffs on my top to be approx. 3" long, but feel free to change this length to suit you. The width of the cuff pieces will be 2 x whatever length you want, plus 1". So in my case that was (2 x 3)+1 = 7"

For the length of the cuff pieces you'll need to measure around your arm with a tape measure where you want the sleeves to end. In my case this was around 12". You want this cuff to 'grip' onto your arm, so it needs to be relatively snug. I therefore didn't add any more length, not even to account for the seam allowance.

If you're not sure you want the cuffs to be a snug fit, make the length of these pieces an inch or so longer because you can always make them tighter in the next step.

Measure out this cuff shape twice on your fabric, and cut them out. Make sure the fabric stretches parallel to the longest sides of these fabric pieces i.e. lengthwise.

Tip :A fun idea might be to make the cuffs and waistband in a contrasting knit fabric.

Take a cuff piece and fold it in half, short-side to short-side, right sides facing.

Pin the short edges together after lining them up. Then sew with a stretch stitch (or serger), and use 1/2" seam allowance as usual. This will create a tube.

Push the tube up your arm to where it will sit on the finished top, in order to see if it fits snugly enough to stay in place. If not, you can reduce the size now by re-sewing.

Turn half of this tube right-side-out to form a double layer ring.

With the folded edge facing the end of a sleeve, push the sleeve into the centre of the ring. The aim is to have the seam of the ring lining up with the underarm seam, and all of the fabric edges lining up.

Then pin/clip these edges together all around. This will be 3 layers thick all of the way around, so it's best to clip rather than pin.

Clip the underarm seams together first, then stretch the armhole to find the point directly opposite that and clip there too. Then bring these clips together and stretch the armhole again to find the centre points between these clips, and then pin/clip at these 2 points also.

Don't worry if that bit doesn't make sense; you're basically clipping the 3 layers together at 4 points, each a quarter of the way around the armhole. And because it's likely that these cuffs are tighter than your sleeves, you'll have some excess fabric on 1 of the layers. You need to space out this excess fabric as evenly as your can.

Then sew all around the armhole. I used a slightly longer stretch stitch (3.5mm) because of the thickness, and I went very slowly over the seams.

Note: Due to the probable excess fabric on one layer, you'll need to stretch the other 2 (cuff) layers to match the length of the longer layer as you sew. I like to stretch and sew each quarter of the armhole at a time.

For the bottom hem (aka the waistband) you will need 2 identical pieces of fabric. I wanted the band to be 3" wide when finished, so I needed the width of the waistband pieces to be (2 x 3")+1", which is 7", same as the cuff pieces.

For the length, it will depend whether you want the waistband to be the same width as the bottom of the top and just hang straight, or whether you would like the waistband to grip onto your hips/waist.

The length therefore will need to be somewhere between 1/2 of your hip circumference (or wherever your top will come down to) and the width of the bottom of your top, PLUS 1" for seam allowance.

1/2 of my hip circumference is 20", and the width across the bottom of my top so far is 21", so I decided to choose 20" to make the waistband grip my hips a bit. (As a result, my waistband will be 1" shorter than the bottom edge of my top and will need to stretch a little when sewing.)

You must then add 1" for seam allowance. Therefore, the length of my waistband pieces is 21".

Once you know the measurements of the rectangle, cut out 2 from your fabric, making sure as usual that the fabric stretches lengthwise.

You then need to place the waistband pieces right-sides-together, and pin along both short edges. Then sew along these edges to form a tube.

Turn half of this tube right-side-out, so you now have a double layer ring. Try out the size and fit of this ring on your own body to see if it's what you want. If it's not, re-sew.

Push the bottom of the t-shirt top through the centre of this double-layer ring, making sure the raw edges are all lined up along the base. The side seams also need to align.

Then clip the side seams together at each side, and then add a few more clips in between, trying to space out any excess fabric evenly.

Sew through all 3 layers of fabric, all the way around. If there is any difference between the lengths of the top and the waistband, make sure to stretch the fabric layers without excess as you sew.

The last sewing step is then to finish the neckline. I left my neckline quite high,so I decided I didn't want to add a neckband to it. Instead, I simply folded 1/2" of fabric to the inside, pinned and then sewed with a stretch stitch, making sure to be as neat as possible.

If you do want to add a neckband, you would do this in the same way as you added the cuffs and waistband. You would likely want the neckband to be about 1" wide when finished, so the fabric piece would need to be (2 x 1") + 1", which is 3".

The length would be the length of the neckline (which you would find out with a tape measure) MINUS x, PLUS 1" for the seam allowance. 'x' would depend on how stretchy your fabric is, so if it's not very stretchy like mine you might have x = 1", if it's pretty stretchy you might have x = 2 or 3", and if your fabric is very stretchy, then x = 4 or 5"

So in my case, the neckline is 21.5", and I would take off 1" and then add 1" on. So the length would be 21.5"

You'd then sew this piece into a tube/ring by joining the short edges. Then fold it in half, wrong sides together, line up the raw edges with the raw edges of the neckline, pin and then sew as you did with the cuffs.

Lastly, you'll want to press your top with an iron along the seams to give a professional finish.

And that's it, it's finished!

I hope you liked this Instructable, and thank you for reading :)