Menswear is a foreign language to me, so I thought I would break myself in gently. While I was tempted to make a men’s shirt, I erred on the side of caution and decided to start with making a couple of men’s tees. They’re a wardrobe basic that will always be worn so there was nothing to lose by starting with this jersey basic.
Firstly, I cannot believe this is a free pattern! It’s brilliant – it’s a basic, semi fitted t-shirt with a crew neck and short sleeves. Simon hates fitted tees so I figured this pattern was worth a shot. This pattern is just as good for lounging around the house in as it is a casual day staple – there’s a lot to be said for super comfy clothes, especially these days with life having us at home more and enjoying simple pleasures like picnics and country walks. The cotton jersey was sourced from Dalston Mill – it’s their premium jersey (and I’ll definitely be getting a few more shades).
The size range of this pattern is great, spanning 8 sizes. I up-sized because Simon gets annoyed with regular tees (especially as he doesn’t find the length to be long enough) but this does involve manipulating the neckline a little so that it doesn’t sit too loosely. As a bonus, you could easily use this pattern as a unisex pattern.
It was a really satisfying make – you can make a tee within an hour if you’re uninterrupted. I think Simon was impressed – but since I was sewing for someone other than me for a change I did make sure they were perfect (and thankfully my machine played ball because it can sometimes be really tetchy with jersey fabrics.
I thoroughly enjoyed making these and will certainly use this pattern a lot in the future. The instructions are brilliant – so concise and clear. I used the overlocker to finish the seams but I could probably have used it for the main construction of the garments; however, I love the triple stretch stitch on my machine and it seemed to really suit the fabric.
It took about 2.5metres to make both tees.
Now, I’ll have to talk him into modelling one! 🙂
I can’t find the Sage Tee pattern to download or the instuctions to download.It says its free but I can’t get any of them,Is there anything you can do so I can download the pattern and instructions.Please let me know,thank you.
W.A,