Need help recreating existing unconventional t-shirt into a larger size.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi Professor Pincushion!
Thanks for being you!
Here’s my issue. My husband asked if I could recreate a beloved t-shirt of his that has now become too tight. He requested if I could not take the shirt apart to do this. I probably would need to enlarge approx. 1 inch all around. I’ve watched your vids on increasing size of basic bodice and sleeve as well as your vid on how to create a pattern using existing clothing. They are all super helpful but I’m having a bit of confusion on how to incorporate these methods with my husband’s shirt (please view images) because it’s not a basic tee. There is a piece that goes from the collar and slopes down the shoulder into the sleeve (hopefully my images are clear enough to see) and an extra front piece that is in the upper chest area that make it different and which are making it confusing for me in regards to the alteration. I’ve already created, what I hope are, the correct pattern pieces based on the shirt’s existing size. I’ve ended up with 7 pattern pieces (not including the stripes on the lower end of the sleeves) now I need to do the enlarging bit. I’m not sure where to begin and where exactly does the shirt need the increase? The shirt is tight all over…sleeves, shoulders, collar, and sides, so at least that is consistent. I hope you might be able to steer me in the right direction to take on this little project. Hope all is well!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

hello. Sorry for the delay, I’m in the process of moving so things are a little crazy for me right now. I think you can definitely recreate this t. The yoke definitely seems to be throwing you for a loop but hopefully we can make things a little more simple. If it was me, I would recreate the the front, back and sleeve, pretending that there’s no yoke pieces. So you have a full front and back. It looks like only the front has the separate blue yoke. Taking the front pattern, draw a line across the top, making the division between the bottom of the shirt and the top yoke. Cut along this line and now the front is two pieces. Now take the yoke piece and draw a line for the division of the blue and gray yoke, cut along this line and now the front is three pieces. Since the gray is curved, you can take your gray yoke pattern piece and just add the curved extension, so the it looks similar, at the top of this pattern, I would put “place on fold, since it looks like it wraps around to the back and is a single piece. I wouldn’t try to do a curved out piece on the sleeve, simply do the sleeve as normal and when you sew the gray yoke on, just stitch it over the cap of the sleeve and you’ll get a similar look.
For increasing the size, I would add to all the side seams. Just realize that if you add 1/4″ to the front and back side seam, then you’re increasing a total of 1″ overall to the width of the tshirt. I know it doesn’t seem like a big increase but the number is ultimately multiplied by 4. The sleeve would be multiplied by 2 so increasing 1/2″ on each side of the sleeve would be 1” total.
I hope this isn’t too confusing. You can do it!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi! No worries about delay. I hope the move goes smoothly!

Thanks for your reply! Your breakdown was really clear. You made it way simpler than I thought it would be, yay! Regarding the gray yoke though, do I need to add any size increase to that in length or width? You didn’t mention it, but I just want to confirm.

Thanks for your help!!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

hmmm… what you could do is pattern grading which is taking the existing pattern and increasing the overall size. So this would be done before you would divide the pattern into any yoke pieces. We don’t have a tutorial on this, but there’s a pretty good article on it here: http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/37396/pattern-grading-basics It might be easier to do this than to worry about all the front piece individually. I hope this helps.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Thank you! I’m going to read up on the article and see if I can figure it out. If not, I’ll just use your original suggestion to make like a regular shirt and then I think I’ll try adding a modest increase on the outside curve of the gray yoke and apply it over the shirt kind of like an applique. Thanks for all your help and the link too! If I’m proud of the result, I’ll post it! Be well!

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