How to Make a Shirt

Whether you want a blouse, a peasant top, or a shirt for the office, making your own shirt will allow you to choose just the fabric and style you want. Pattern catalogs (available in fabric stores or online) offer a variety of shirt patterns. Some patterns even offer several different style options within the same pattern, such as rounded or pointed collars, short or long sleeves and optional pockets. This type of pattern can allow you to make several shirts from the same pattern, without making them all look the same. In general, shirts with fewer pieces are easier to sew and some patterns are especially designed to be easy. Be sure to choose a shirt pattern that suits your style as well as your sewing skills.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shirt pattern
• Fabric
• Matching thread
• Buttons (optional)
• Fusible interfacing (optional)
• Scissors
• Iron
• Ironing board
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine

1. Choose a shirt pattern you like. Be sure to look at the cut of the shirt and not just the way it looks in the photo or colored drawing, since the shirt may look very different in a different fabric.

2. Buy fabric for the shirt, following the guidelines on the pattern envelope for how much fabric you need and what type to use. Cotton and lightweight denim work well for casual shirts, while poly-blends and even silk work well for dressier shirts. Shirts without buttons generally need to be made from fabrics that stretch, such as knits.

3. Pick out thread that matches the fabric, as well as any other needed materials listed on the pattern envelope, such as buttons, fusible interfacing or elastic. Most patterns recommend a particular size and number of buttons, but you can vary these to suit your personal style.

4. Cut out the pattern pieces for the shirt, using the cutting line for the size you need.

5. Smooth out the patterns. You may even want to iron them with a cool (low-temperature) iron to get out the all the wrinkles and make the patterns more accurate.

6. Follow the cutting guide in the pattern directions to pin the patterns to the fabric and cut out the pieces. If the shirt has several different options (such as collars or sleeves), make to sure to cut only the patterns you need.

7. Follow the directions that came with the pattern to sew the pieces of the shirt together.

8. Add buttonholes, if needed. Sew the buttons on by hand, making sure to line them up with the buttonholes.

Tips & Warnings

• In some cases, you can save a lot of money by making your own shirts. For other shirts, like t-shirts, it’s generally cheaper to buy them ready made. You can often find plain t-shirts in fabric stores that you can decorate any way you want.
• Use caution when working with scissors, pins, irons and sewing machines.