Batwing shirt Tutorial

I finished my Amy Butler Cosmo Bag... washed all my fabrics and ready to sew!
On last batwing shirt blog page, I mentioned that I wanted to make a tutorial...
I do! I do!

Before I start, I apologize in advance if my spacing is a little off.
Everytime I edit the page, the program re-spaces on its own, and it's really annoying. I'm planning to fix it once I'm done with everything.
Also, I'll be updating as I progress the project.
I'm doing this while my kids are taking a nap, so bare with me if I take long to finish it!

I'm not sure if I can upload a pattern.
It's handwritten so I scanned and tried to make it nicer using photoshop.
But I'm not sure how the sizing will go.
First of all, I'm XS/S, and this is the size I made for this pattern.
If I was able to upload a pattern, I think you can just printed out in enlarged size for bigger sizes.
But rather than printing, enlarging, etc, I think it's easier if I just show what I did.

Here's what I did.
Pick your favorite shirt.

Fold it in half lengthwise, on the back side, and trace the neck/shoulder area (colored in red) on a paper. (I taped about 6 pieces of paper)
You can decide how long your sleeve wants to be...
But from the tip of your sleeve, make a semi-circle (Or should I say quarter-circle, since it's folded in half?) to the bottom of the shirt -or however the length you want- colored in purple.
Also draw a line where the side seam is (colored in light blue). This is where your side seam will be.

I didn't do this for myself (I noticed it after I started sewing), but please add any seam allowance.

Voila! That's it!!
I'll be cutting the fabric tomorrow...

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8/20/2011

Here's my fabric.
First fold it in half, lengthwise. Then fold it in half again.
This way, you can cut front & back pieces at the same time.


Layer the pattern over the fabric, matching the folds, and cut your pieces.
This is how it should look like, 2 pieces.

We'll make one of the pieces a front piece, by lowering the neckline.I just guess-timate it, but you just cut a semi-circle from the edge of the original neckline, to the depth of neckline of your choice.
Don't cut too much, because when you use a bias finish, it'll be even more lower.
You'll also need a bias-tape.
I use the same fabric. I measure the neck line (length) and cut a strip in 4cm width.
You can use any width, I just like 4cm.
So for my shirt, my neckline is 64cm, so it'll be at least 64cm x 4cm strip.
I like to have extra, so I'll make 70cm x 4cm just in case.

OK! Ready to sew!!

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First, sew (in my case, I serged) one side of the shoulder seam.
After one shoulder seam is done, attach the bias tape to the neckline.

I'm not the best person to do the bias finish, but this is the method I learned from one of the sewist from www.sewing.patternreview.com website, and it's so much easier!!

First fold the tape in half, lengthwise, RIGHT side out.
Then attach this to the RIGHT side of the fabric.

Then sew the MIDDLE of the (folded) bias tape.

Half of the bias tape should be around 2cm (in my case), so there should be 1cm on each side of the seam. Cut about 0.5cm.

Fold up the bias, and press.

Now sew the other shoulder seam.


Now when you fold over the bias, raw edge is enclosed. Sew.


That was the hardest part of this project, and believe it or not you're almost done!
All you have to do left is to sew the hem, and side seams!

I used my serger to do a rolled hem on my shirt.
I used the good old fold twice & sew method (I'm not sure if there's a proper word to describe this?) on my last batwing shirt, but because it's a knit, it turned out too wavy.
This was my first rolled hem, and even though it could improve some more, I like the look of it. Plus it's only one-step! I love it!

Then you sew the side seams.
It's the line you drew on the pattern where the side seam on the normal shirt.
I'm not sure if you can see, but there's a seam line on my shirt.
You just have to try it out, but it worked the best for me when I sew up to the hip area.

TAH-DAH! YOU'RE DONE!
I'll be wearing this tomorrow and upload a picture. :)