Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Lap T - Pajama Top Tutorial


Now that we have flannel pajama pants, we need a warm top to go with them! A flannel top seemed like a lot of work, and considering all the issues I've had with neck width lately, I opted to make a lap T out of polar fleece.

These tops are super quick - I was able to whip out two during one of Sora's infamously short naps.

Here's the low down:

Find a shirt to use as a pattern. Fold it, lay it down on your fabric, and trace out the back of the shirt. Add some room for the seam allowance. 
To make it a lap T, rather than just a regular shirt, extend the shoulder seam 2-3 extra inches - straight at the arm edge, and slowly curved at the neck edge. It's hard to see my markings below, but they weren't curved enough - it needs to be pretty gradual if you want it to lay correctly on your child's shoulders.

Repeat for the front of the shirt, making sure to make the neckline slightly lower than the back.

For the sleeves, just trace and add seam allowance - nothing special.

Hem the top of the back and front. I chose a 3/8" hem.

Pin the shoulders together. Overlap the pieces so that on the right side, the back shoulders are on TOP of the front shoulders. I always have a hard time with spacial reasoning, so I usually mess this up if I don't think very hard on it.

Sew the sleeves into place.

 Seam up the sleeves and the sides, hem the sleeves and the bottom and you're all done!

One of the great things about fleece is that it doesn't fray, so you don't need to be very thoughtful in your hems - just fold once, sew, and trim the excess away as much as possible.

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