How to Design a T-Shirt Template

Learning to design fashionable clothes is not as hard as you might think. If you start with a basic T-shirt template, you can begin to see how shirts are made and how simple the process really is. Using the template as a pattern, you can create customized clothing. You can choose your favorite color and textured material to make your favorite styles.

Things You'll Need

• Cotton stretch material
• Sewing pins
• Scissors
• Ruler or measuring tape

Instructions

1. 

   Fold the material in half horizontally. After you cut your template out, this will give you two exact pieces for a pattern. Make sure from the top to bottom you have at least 30 to 35 inches of material measured.

2. 

   Place a ruler horizontally on the material, 5 inches from the bottom of the material. Measure a 20-inch span and mark the measurement with sewing pins on each side.

3. 

   Place the ruler on the bottom sewing pin, vertically. Measure up a full 15 inches. Do this on both sides of the pinned, marked material. You can now cut the square bottom half of the T-shirt template out.

4. 

   Fold the template in half again vertically. Starting at the top of the shirt, 2 inches from the side, you will need to cut out a large, reversed J shape for the armhole. The bottom of the J shape should span 3 inches and end up 15 inches from the bottom of the shirt.

5. 

   Separate the two-piece template to complete the necklines on either side. Do this by cutting a half circle on the top of each pattern piece. Make sure that the back of the shirt has a collar 1 inch higher then the front.

6. 

   Take the 3-inch scrap piece that you cut out for the underarm area. Fold your remaining material in half. Place the scrap piece on the material and measure a full 3 inches all the way around it and mark the measurements with sewing pins. These two pieces will become sleeves. Make sure that you measure how long or short you would like the sleeves to be. Fold the sleeve templates in half and sew onto the shirt. If you place the fold point of the sleeves on the shoulder seam, your sleeves should be lined up perfectly.

7. You should now have the two separate T-shirt pieces. This is your T-shirt template pattern. You can use it to create as many shirts as you would like.

Tips & Warnings

• Cut the top of the template in a V shape for a different look. For a more body-fitting look, take the T-shirt template in a few inches around the waist area. Save leftover material to use as hair accessories.