Tutorial: convert the Liberty shirt into a T-shirt

Today, my dear friends, I am going to give you my method for changing my much-loved Liberty shirt from The Sewing Workshop into a T-shirt.

Since I love my Liberty so much and have been wearing both the shirt I blogged about as well as my new T-shirt in regular rotation this winter, I thought I would do a quick and dirty tutorial on how I changed the woven shirt into a T.

My inspiration T.

There’s so much to love about this shirt.  I found the picture on the web (unfortunately I cannot give credit as I just saved the photo and not the maker).  I believe it was on a Neiman Marcus website.

What do I love about this?  The easy fit and the hemline!  My thoughts went right to my Liberty shirt.  I loved the soft sweater fabric, and although I used fabric from my stash I am always on the lookout for this type of fabric.

What do I dislike?  The high turtle neck collar.

If you’re using a pattern meant for woven fabric (like the Liberty) to make a knit T-shirt,  your first consideration should be to check to see just how much ease there is in the pattern.  I don’t like a lot of negative ease any more, even in my T-shirts.  Measure the pattern (minus seam allowances) to see what the actual measurements are, especially across the bustline.

So what size should you choose?  When I made the woven version of the shirt I chose the L size and did a full bust adjustment of 1 1/4 inch (my current measurements are bust 44 –45 inches, hips 47 inches). However for the T-shirt, I chose to use the size M, with no bust adjustments at all – I just did  a small reduction in the shoulder width.  This results in just the right fit for me across the chest and shoulders.  This purple knit is a lovely and soft rayon knit with a large flower in every meter.  I had no problem using the 5/8 inch seam allowance, but when I used a firmer ponte knit, I needed to use 3/8 inch seam allowances to give myself a bit of breathing room across the chest.

My purple T-shirt.

Ok, now let’s look at the pattern pieces.  For the T-shirt, all you need is the front, the back and the sleeves.  I chose to lengthen this shirt the same 3  1/2 inches on both the front and back (the same as I did on my woven shirt).

You will need to figure out what neckline you would like.  I have made this pattern with a scooped neck and with a cowl neck.  Find a neckline treatment that you love on another T-shirt and trace it on to your pattern.

The back piece of the pattern remained unchanged, but the front of the pattern is where you have to make your changes.  First of all locate the line marked centre front.  That line becomes the centre front of the T-shirt and will be place on the fold of your fabric.

Next, look at the hemline on the front of the shirt.  Since you will not be using the facing on the front you will be changing the hemline and straightening that line out.

I have drawn that line in blue crayon and coloured it in here in this picture.  That becomes your new cutting line.  One tip for you all,  I have learned the hard way to always TRACE a multisized pattern.  I had to buy a brand new pattern after I cut my old one up!

The rest of the sewing remains like every T-shirt you have ever made.  I still used the 3 inch hem line in the directions and still made the mitred corners that are in the instructions.

You can see by my use of a size medium why the shirt is so useful for us plus sized pears!  I am really sure that by using my methods a woman who is 55-58 inches in the bust and 60 inches in the hip area could use this pattern with great success.

I have really enjoyed doing this tutorial for you all.  A big thank you to the editors of this collective in giving us all a safe place to find our bliss.