DIY Striped Tee

I wanted to make a casual, loose T-shirt for summer and came up with chopping up a chunky striped knit. You may not be able to tell from the photos but it's actually white and navy stripes. Which is exactly why the telescope necklace has made an appearance again. Getting all sailorish and stuff.

So how did I make it? Look out below!

Back of shirt                                                                                      Front of shirt

I started out by taking some roomy measurements and drawing it out on an almost square piece of tissue paper. This ended up being really helpful, as you'll see later. Then I drew some marks on the paper for where the stripes would change. I cut it up and hey presto I had a pattern!

Piece 1                                         Piece 2                                          Piece 3                                          Altogether now!

Now to lay all the pieces on the fabric properly. Piece 1 went onto the stripes horizontally. Piece 2 went on to the stripes vertically and Piece 3 went on to the stripes diagonally. Then I laid them all out to make sure I'd cut them all right. So far so good.

Now for the sewing. I sewed Piece 2 to Piece 3. Then I sewed Piece 1 to the newly joined Piece 2 & 3.
I chopped off my seam allowance to make it all neat before pinning front and back pieces wrong sides together to sew up the sides.

Now for the neckline. I measured mine out with a french curve and made it extra wide. Then I cut the neckline and sewed up either side of the neckline.

Then I made some bias tape and edged the armholes and neckline. And voila!

See it really is just a fancy square of fabric!

But no-one will ever know if you pull it off your shoulder and totally pose in it like this!