You want to make your partner / son / dad some clothes but you’re worried that your makes won’t match up to ready to wear and will end up in the back of his drawer, never to see the light of day.
Sound familiar?
I’ve been here and I can reassure you that it’s fine; you are good enough and he will wear them. I actually find the men in my life easier to sew for than myself; way less demanding!
After my first ever make I did have to ask him “why don’t you wear the top I made?” and it turned out he wanted to save it for “best” as he didn’t want to ruin it. We are over that now, he wears clothes I’ve made almost every day, they are not delicate and will not fall apart! I’m still getting over this with my Dad who proudly wears the things I’ve made him whenever he goes out but cannot be convinced to wear them round the house where no one will see him.
Where to start…
You can never go wrong with a t shirt. The Sage Tee pattern by Elbe Textiles is a great pattern, there are long and short sleeve options and it may just become your most made pattern of all time. The sizing is perfect and the construction well explained. A similar one would be the Thread Theory Woodley Tee.
Start with a solid cotton jersey or a French terry like the ones found here. You can mix it up with contrast ribbing or keep in one colour.
Essential Chic cotton jersey colour bundles
Stripes and textures work well too such as this orange and baby blue from See you at Six or this neutral textured chess knit from Mind the Maker.
Mind the Maker Chess Knit in Velvet Fog.
Top tip - if you add a scrap of fabric to the back neckband when sewing and fold it over the back neck seam allowance using wash away quilting tape to hold it in place you can cover the back neckline stitching and add a cute label. No one would ever know the difference between your make and RTW.
As you get more confident you can play around with the pattern by blocking colour.
For this choose a section where you want to change the colour and draw straight lines across the pattern piece, I decided to block at the bottom of the sleeve.
Cut the piece out and add 1cm seam allowance on all four of the the cut edges.
Cut your fabric and stitch together using a stretch stitch and the 1cm seam allowance you added, you can add decorative top stitching and even a little vinyl design.
This is your front piece complete.
Now just follow the pattern as usual. This is where you can get really creative and make something completely bespoke.
A T Shirt - but woven!
You can really elevate this one by French seaming. I’ve made a lot for gifts and they have always been well received - and well worn! I love these prints by Merchant and Mills...
The Wardrobe by Me Draper Polo is another great pattern for men. A slimmer fit than the Sage and definitely more advanced but worth the effort.
Once you start...
You’ll never stop! I noticed my 15 year old son was wearing my husband’s t shirts I made and so I made him some of his own. He will often request a new batch or find some interesting fabric he likes such as this See you at Six summer horizontals stripe. Apparently it’s a flex to have your own personal seamstress. You can find more striped jerseys here.
The sky is the limit…
There are more great men’s sewing patterns out there, you can find a good selection here and Lamazi have a menswear fabric section too.
This autumn I’ll be making the Thread Theory Goldstream Peacoat, I’m ready for a more advanced make and it’s been requested.
