For today, I have prepared sewing instructions for an original sweatshirt pattern for little ladies. I'm talking about my pattern for girls' sweatshirt WILD CAT, which is available in sizes 116–164. You can find out more about the pattern itself in the product detail.
Recommended material
This pattern is designed for elastic fabrics (knits) of medium thickness. You can use French Terry knits, combed/uncombed laid-in knits, stretchy velour, and so on.
You can take a look at beautiful French Terry knit with colorful cats (which I used) here: French Terry - Cats
Sewing instructions
Suggestion
You can sew this sweatshirt on an overlocker or a regular sewing machine. If you plan to use a regular sewing machine, I recommend reading this article first:
Pattern layout
Prepare:
- 1x front piece (cut on the fold)
- 2x back piece (cut on the fold)
- 2x sleeve
- 1x bottom hem facing (front)
- 2x bottom hem facing (back)
- 2x sleeve hem facing
- 1x neckline facing
If you have a fabric with some directional print (as in my case), be careful not to cut some of the pieces upside down... Use (ideally elastic) one-sided fusible interfacing to reinforce all facing pieces (whole, including their seam allowances).
Facing
Connect all three bottom hem facings into one large facing piece. Press the seam allowances towards the middle of this large piece. Sew sleeve hem facings to the sleeves (face side to face side).
Clean all edges of facing pieces that will remain free - the inner curve of the bottom hem facing, the outer curve of the neckline facing, and unsewn edges of sleeve facings.
Shoulder seams
Take one of the back pieces, put it on top of the front part (face side to face side), and sew both shoulder seams. Press the seam allowances towards the back piece.
Sew the neckline facing to the other back piece - both pieces should be oriented the wrong side up. Sew the facing to the shoulder seams of the back piece. The "shoulder" edges of the facing piece are shorter than the actual shoulder seams - clean the parts of the shoulder seams that extend beyond the facing.
Press the seam allowances towards the facing piece.
Neckline
Spread the first set of pieces (front piece & one of the back pieces connected in shoulder seams) on your table and then place the second set (back piece & neckline facing) on top of it. Arrange the facing so that it lies face side down on the front piece. Both back pieces should be oriented face side up.
Sew around the neckline and connect all pieces. Pull free ends of thread chain under the loops (when using an overlock machine).
Drag the facing and one of the back pieces through the neckline (to the inside of the sweatshirt). The entire neckline should be finished.
I recommend basting (temporary stitching) the neckline to stabilize its shape.
You can learn more about basting here:
Slide inner back piece about 1 mm (0.04") down (lower into the sweatshirt) so that it is not visible from the face side.
Do the opposite in the front part of the neckline - slide the facing about 1-2 mm (0.04–0.08") upwards to decorate the neckline with a thin band of facing. Baste and iron the neckline.
Side seams
Turn the sweatshirt inside out and sew the side seams. Press the seam allowances of the side seams towards the back piece.
Hems
Sew the bottom hem facing to both back pieces and front piece (face side to face side).
Align the seams of the facing with the side seams of the sweatshirt and press the seam allowances of the facing towards the front piece.
Start sewing near the armscye of one of the back pieces, continue over the bottom edge of the front piece and back up along the edge of the second back piece.
Let's create a decorative hem. Press the seam allowances of the bottom hem towards the facing.
Fold the facing over the seam allowances and to the inside of the sweatshirt.
This creates a narrow hem visible from the face side. The decorative hem will have a constant width (thanks to the seam allowances hidden under it). Baste and iron the entire length of the hem.
Sew the facings of both sleeves in the same way. Press the seam allowances towards the sleeve pieces.
Fold the facing over them and to the inside of the sleeves. Baste and iron newly formed hems.
Cut off excess parts of the bottom hem facing near both armscyes.
You should now have all the facings (neckline, bottom hem, sleeve hems) ready for topstitching.
Use tailor's soap/chalk to mark the topstitching seamline around the neckline. It should be about 2.5-3 cm (1–1.18") from the edge. Mark the topstitching seamlines along the bottom hem and on both sleeves in the same way (at the same distance).
Learn more about how (and with what) to draw on fabric here:
Topstitch all hems (sew on the face side of the sweatshirt) and then carefully pull out the basting threads.
Sleeves
Sew both sleeve seams. Take care to nicely align the edges of the hems.
Pull free ends of thread chains near hems under the loops if you use your overlock machine. Flatten the bottom part of the seam allowances with a few small stitches.
Now it's time to sew the sleeves to the sweatshirt. Prepare both armscyes - align the edges of back pieces and facings and pin them. You can sew the facings to the back pieces so that the pieces are a bit easier to work with.
Pin the sleeves to the sweatshirt (face side to face side).
Sew the sleeves and pull free ends of thread chains under the loops if you use your overlock machine.
And that's it, the sweatshirt is finished! :)
My fabric: French Terry - Cats
If you have a moment, leave a comment about how you liked today's tutorial below the article, and tell me what you would like to see next.
Have a nice day, Petra
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