A while back I got this very simple top pattern from 1991 at a thrift shop. It looks like a loose T-shirt (except not made with jersey). Looking at the drawings of the shirt, I knew it was going to be voluminous and ill-fitting (since much from that time period seemed to be over-sized). However, since it had kimono sleeves, I thought it would be an easy pattern to alter.
The shirt looked too long and too wide; I decided to trace the uncut pattern onto Swedish tracing paper so I could alter it. I traced the pattern as-is and made marks to indicate how much I wanted to shorten it. That was the only change I made before cutting out my fabric. I knew it was going to be too wide on me, but it was hard for me to visualize by how much so I left the shirt with its original width.
I sewed the front and back pieces together, sewed the neckline and then sewed the sides together—and the shirt was way too big. Not truly shocking. The length was okay, but the width was huge on me. So I sewed in each side by a couple of inches, and cut off about four inches off the length of the sleeves. I’ll admit, I wasn’t quite as precise as I could have been (as I sadly realized as I hemmed the sleeves that one sleeve’s circumference was about an inch less than the other’s). [Sigh.] However, the overall fit was better than it had been before.
This purple shirt is not perfect, although I don’t think it’s horribly noticeable. I like the color and I think it’ll be good for warmer weather. It’s an easy shirt and didn’t take long to make—two afternoons (since I’m not a fast sewer and was fixing things as I went along).
About a week later, I decided to sew this shirt again with a blue and white patterned fabric. I used my altered Swedish tracing paper pattern of the shirt, and this time it took a lot less time to sew. This may become a pattern I sew often because it’s just so easy and quick to do.
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