It’s been a while since I attempted a men’s sewing pattern. I have made shirts for my husband in the past, but it always seemed underappreciated. I don’t sew for under appreciation. 🤪 But I figured I’d give it a try with my brother.
He LOVES Formula 1 racing, in particular the Red Bull team. Don’t ask me to explain! I have no idea how F1 works. All I know is the cars look different than the Nascar and they aren’t only going in circles. 🤷🏽 I’m going to show you how to customize a plain shirt into a F1 fan shirt. 🏎
The pattern
Find yourself a nice basic t-shirt pattern, like the men’s Love Notions Dockside.
It’s a great pattern with 3 views – classic shirt, Henley and polo.
There are two sleeve lengths – short and long
There is an option to do split hem too.
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The fabric
I found a nice black cotton jersey fabric in my Fabric Library – have noooo idea from when and where. But it was perfect for this project.
The modifications
I didn’t do ANY pattern mods this time! 😱 Shocking, I know!
Sizing
Because this was a surprise gift, I based the sizing off on off my husband’s shirts (they are roughly similar in size).
future adjustments
The next time, I might need to do a bicep adjustment, but that’s it.
customization
Painting
So far, we have a plain black shirt. Now let’s use some fabric paint to paint some racing stripes. Here’s the look I was going for:
I’ve used fabric markers and a couple paints, but I like the Jacquard Textile Paint the best. I used the same paint to make Lilli’s Halloween costume in 2019. That costume then went on to be a ballet dress for Lill’s ballet classes and got lots of wear and wash. The paint stood up pretty well to it all.
To make the lines, I did not use any kind of tape to keep the lines straight – just some chalk and lots of patience. But I did need to do two coats to have it stand out brighter.
Embroidery
The final touch was recreating the Red Bull logo – using my thread painting techniques. The logo was finished off with an iron-on backing and ironed onto the shirt.
Topstitching
Okay, final final touch was topstitching with bright red thread.
conclusion
Suvritt loves his shirt and I’m happy to add menswear back into my sewing rotation.
Even my husband, once he saw the shirt, he as declared he also wants one (not Formula 1) but a shirt with a small embroidery, kind of like the ones on Ralph Lauren polo shirts. He’s even given me a list of potential images to embroidery. Guess I gotta put him back on the to make for queue!
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Links and Patterns
Links and patterns mentioned in this post are listed below for your convenience.