Pattern: Women’s t-shirt / sweatshirt TO THE CITY crop top version with wide sleeves

I’ve prepared a new pattern again and now we are already getting to the new autumn pieces. I present you pattern TO THE CITY for women’s t-shirt / sweatshirt as the first pattern from this year’s autumn/winter collection. Deliberately write a “t-shirt / sweatshirt”, because you can use this pattern to sew both a long-sleeved t-shirt and a thinner sweatshirt. It depends only on the material used. Pattern has looser shoulders (armholes are further away from the torso) and boat neck. Pattern has a line for sewing the t-shirt / sweatshirt in so called crop top style and for full length version. There are also two types of sleeves in the pattern - classic semi-tight sleeves and then sleeves wide at the bottom with a frilly (balloon) effect. You will find instructions for sewing the crop top + looser sleeves combo of the t-shirt / sweatshirt in today’s article.

Pattern for women’s t-shirt / sweatshirt TO THE CITY, crop top version with wide sleeves

You can get pattern for this women’s t-shirt (or sweatshirt) in our online store:

Pattern for woman’s t-shirt / sweatshirt with looser shoulders TO THE CITY 2in1

Take look on this t-shirt / sweatshirt with semi-tight sleeves in this article:

Pattern – women’s t-shirt / sweatshirt TO THE CITY - Classic version with semi-tight sleeves

Pattern for women’s t-shirt / sweatshirt + sewing instructions

I’ve also done this lace t-shirt according to this pattern:

Lace t-shirt TO THE CITY

Pattern - women’s lace t-shirt with looser shoulders

I’ve used overlock to sew this t-shirt, but don’t worry if you do not have an overlock at home. It can easily be sewn on an ordinary sewing machine too. My recommendations on sewing with elastic fabrics on regular sewing machine can be found in this article:

Sewing elastic fabrics on regular sewing machine – 4 steps to success

Recommended material

You can use almost any type of knit to sew this pattern. Depending on the thickness of the material (its weight), you will create either a t-shirt or a sweatshirt. You can buy suitable fabrics here: Důmlátek.cz :

Knits
- Use something like this for comfortable t-shirt version:
- For thicker sweatshirt version:

Required amount of material (for fabric width of 140 cm)

Sizes 32 - 36: 0,7 m
Sizes 38 - 46: 1.4 m
Sizes 48 - 60: 1.5 m

What else do you need to sew this t-shirt / sweatshirt

Hems (bottom, sleeves and neck opening) are from strips of elastic material. T-shirt with contrasting red hems is finished with ribbed hem knit:

Hem knits

Because sleeves are draped to their hems quite a lot on this version, it is necessary to choose really elastic material for the hems. Ribbed hem knits are an ideal choice.

How to sew crop top t-shirt / sweatshirt with wide sleeves

Cuts preparation

According to the paper pattern prepare:

1x front piece (folded fabric cut) - cut bottom hem along the waistline marked in the pattern
1x back piece (folded fabric cut) - cut bottom hem along the waistline marked in the pattern
2x sleeve - wider and slightly longer version
Stripe for the bottom hem - its width is 14 cm (but you can make it wider or narrower) and length is the waist circumference + 4 cm
Sleeve hems - length should be the same as wrist circumference - I’m using ribbed hem knit which is very elastic - I’m not adding anything for slack and seam allowances, width is 16 cm (again, you can choose a larger or smaller width, but make sure the sleeve is not too long or short)
Two strips for neck opening hem - width is 3 cm and length is length of the neck opening of the corresponding piece (front or back) x 0,9

Sewing

Let’s do the neck opening hems first. I’ve done this on overlock, hems are lengthwise folded in half.

You can sew decorative stripe into the shoulder seams. You can use keder, lace etc. It’s up to you. I’ve used leftovers from cutting the stripes for the neck opening hems. They are knit strips, 3 cm wide and exactly the length of the shoulder seams.

I’ve folded them in half (lengthwise) and pined them to the face side of the front piece. I recommend sewing the stripes to the front piece along the edge with the straight seam.

Then lay the back piece over the front piece and the stripe (face side to face side) and sew pieces together with the straight seam.

This is the stripe from face side view.

Use small stitches to attach the edge of the stripe to the neck opening to make it stay flat.

Clean entire length of the shoulder seam on overlock (from the reverse side). Pull free ends of thread chains under the loops near the neck opening.

Press the seam allowances of the shoulder seams towards the back piece. Sew a few straight stitches in the neck opening to make the seam flatter and fix the seam allowances in place.

Now sew the sleeves to the open armholes.

There are marks on the front and back pieces for correct sleeve placement.

Lay the sleeve over the torso piece face side to face side, 1 cm wide sleeve seam allowances should extend beyond the marks.

Both seam allowances of the sleeve and shoulder seams should point towards the back piece.

Sew in the sleeves.

Leave the sleeve seam allowances free beyond the marks, so you can do the side seams and sleeve seams easier.

Pin the side seams and sleeve seams. Sew them in one go.

Sew the hem knits to form the “tunnels” (face side in).

Fold the hem knits in half and pin them to the sleeves. Since you are sewing the version with wide sleeves, it is necessary to take into account that the sleeves are draped quite a lot to the hem knit. Which means that you will have to stretch the hem knit a lot in order to sew the hem evenly.