In general, I think the whole internet sewing circle is great because it motivates me to move beyond my usual lazy habits. But sometimes, when I am feeling like my projects always have to be better and more interesting I have to remind myself that simple is good too.
I wanted a basic T-shirt. And I wanted to make something simple. So I morphed the Burda Lydia T again. This time into a very basic grown-on cap sleeve T-shirt. It's not perfect, but I have already worn it a few times.
If you want an easy, fast short sleeve T- or even to dip your toes into pattern drafting, give this a try. I would suggest giving yourself a lot more ease than I did, because I think this style looks a bit better when it is looser. Also, because you don't have a separate sleeve, moving you arms up tends to pull the shirt up more than usual and then the fabric can bunch up on the high spots. I would make sure the shirt is at least 2" bigger than your bust measurement.
First take the front and the sleeve pattern for a knit T, ( I used Lydia) and put them on a piece of paper like so, overlapping about 1/2 inch (2 cm) at the shoulder:
(You can see I used my boat neck neck version. )
Then draw a new underarm seam curving from the body side to sleeve bottom. Give yourself more ease than I did. I cut at the purple line, but a curve like the red would have made the T a bit less binding at the underarm.
Then lift up the sleeve and draw a new shoulder line as shown in blue. Create the sleeve hem line by connecting the shoulder to the underarm (red line). I did it with a very gentle s-shaped line, but it can be straight too. The only important thing is that the top and bottom of the hem line need to intersect at a right angles to the seams. (You can see that I did the same thing where the neck line intersects the shoulder seam when I raised and widened the neck opening.)
Repeat the process with the back. The back might be a bit bigger than the front, but just make sure the side and shoulder seams have the same curve. Your pattern is done.
This is the complex way to draft it and it helps to understand exactly what you are doing. But really, it is so simple you could just throw a T-Shirt down on paper and basically do the same thing, by simply curving the side seam to the underarm, and cutting the sleeve and body all in one.
When you add more ease, the result will be more like this Toast T.
Sew the shoulders and then the sides, hem, and you are done.
I simply serged the edges of the neck and folded them under for an easy, if not perfect, neck finish.
I think I want something in the style of that Toast T too so I am going to re-draft with more ease and make it out of some purple jersey I found in a remnant bin. In the meanwhile this "muslin" is feeling pretty comfy.
