Assembly Line Sewing

I’ve missed you!

Without going into details, I’ve had an up and down kind of month. I’ve worked a little bit on a project I’ve had going for months, but am not ready to share quite yet. Other than that, my machine has been off until yesterday.

Our weather has been beautiful! And, finally with the presence of warm weather, I discovered little Dude just doesn’t have any warm weather wear. Two lonely T shirts, that’s all he had.
Well, until yesterday.


This was the first T shirt off the press (or machine).



Then came 6 more.



Sewn assembly line style (did all the cutting, then all the shirt bodies, then the bindings, then did the topstitching) enabled me to complete 7 shirts in just a few hours. And, sewing for a little boy, having the same style T shirt works A-OK. One shirt to trace and he now has a T for every day of the week.



Little Dude is obsessed (that’s an understatement) with dinosaurs and pirates. Lucky for him the few boy knits I’ve collected, mostly in surprise boxes, fit with the theme.

Do you sew for your boys? Truth is Little Dude receives very few things from my machine other than jammies.  For a long time I worried that if I made him clothing it would look too “look at me and the funny lookin shirt my mom made me”.  Then one day I decided just to go for it and I haven’t looked back. T shirts are so easy, so if you’ve never made one you should give it a try. Make one for your littlest and you will hardly use any fabric at all. All of these T shirts were made out of basically scraps. I should sew for the little guy more, but girl sewing is just so much more fun. There is a certain satisfaction to be had though with making half a play wardrobe in only an afternoon.

Here are some tips to create a great looking t shirt...


If using stripes cut your pieces so that when you sew them up your stripes are going to line up. It makes a nicer looking shirt, although you’d be surprised how many store bought shirts have stripes that don’t line up. It irks me. Line your stripes up and your shirt will look better than store bought!



To make your T look just like one you’d buy in a store, do two rows of topstitching around your bottom and arm hems. You can use a double needle, but I’m not friends with my double needle. I do two rows the old fashioned way.



Make sure to topstitch your neck binding down, and when doing so make sure that you take that extra time to make sure your topstitching is smooth and even. No wonky sewing or uneven seam allowance. Little things like this make all the difference.



Nobody will look twice at your Little Dude’s T’s and feel sorry for him that his mom dressed him funny.
And, he’ll love them more. These dino and pirate T’s came with lots of hugs and kisses.

Never sewn with knits? Check out my Knits 101 Post and Needle Confusion Post, they might help! You can also find a link to the Lil' Blue Boo Hoodie sew-a-long under the Tutorials tab at the top of the page for a few more pointers.

Hopefully I’ll be back sooner than later! :)