The Boxy Tee

This Boxy Tee project is easy and fast to whip up in an afternoon and a great intro to working with Knit Fabrics because all we're working with are rectangles. So for our front and back of the shirt, we're going cut two rectangles that are 25 inches wide by 27 inches long. And those dimensions are super customizable, the 27 inches long is the height of the garment. So if you want it longer or shorter, just adjust that measurement to fit whatever you want and the 25 inches is across your shoulders measurement. So to start with, we wanna cut our neckline scoops.

So I've folded my fabric in 1/2, this is my 27 inch long measurement, so I folded it in 1/2 along the 25 inch measurement to cut my neckline out from the center front. So if this is my center front, you have to decide how wide you want your neckline to be. Mine is eight and 1/2 inches wide. So from the center front, we're gonna measure four and 1/4 inches, and mark that. And then you need to decide how far down you want your neckline to scoop.

So for the front scoop, I wanna scoop four inches down. So I'm gonna make my mark four inches. And it doesn't matter if you fold your fabric in 1/2, right sides together wrong sides together, it doesn't matter. We're just cutting out our neck lines. So here are our points, and we need to connect those in a little curve.

So you can freehand draw it or you can draw it, if you have a French curve ruler, you can use that to kind of sketch in your curve. You just wanna make sure that at the center front point and then also at this shoulder neck point up here, it is perpendicular to the edges for at least a 1/2 inch so that you get nice square corners and no weird angles as you're sewing that together. So you can move that French curve ruler around to find the right angle of a curve. Then we're going to cut that neckline curve. Then you wanna do the same thing for the back panel.

I've already done it to my back panel, and you wanna start your neckline four and 1/4 inches from the center front so that matches up on the front and the back, and the back scoop I scooped down two inches from the upper edge. So the scoop is just a little bit shallower than the front, just typical. And then on this front neckline, I'm going to fuse some stay tape and this knit stay tape is awesome. It is SewKeysE by Emma Seabrooke, and it has stretch to it because it's a knit stay tape so it will stretch with the seam, but it provides just enough stabilization for the fabric so that it doesn't get stretched out of shape when you're handling it and also when you're sewing it. Let me bring my iron in here to fuse this on.

And she includes instructions with the package of state tape on how to fuse it. It's really easy. Set your iron to the steam setting. Make sure you know which side is the fusible side, it's the side that is down when it comes off of the roll. And this tape is just going to curve right around this neckline, we're fusing in, this is 1/2 inch wide stay tape.

We're aligning it with the raw edge of our neckline curve. So it's going to stabilize the stitches along the neckline. It's also going to help the fabric snap back to its original position when it gets stretched out. There we go. Now we also need a couple more pieces for our top.

we've got our front and our back in this lovely 100% cotton fabric, and I chose to do a contrasting fabric for my armbands and my neckline. So arm bands, you wanna cut 15 and a 1/2 inches long by two and a 1/2 inches wide. We need to have those, and then for the neck band, it all depends on how wide your neckline is, how deep the scoop is. So you wanna measure your neckline from the stitching line. So we're gonna stitch these at 1/4 inch, so make sure you account for those seam allowances.

So measuring from that 1/4 inch seam allowance line at the shoulders, measure this neckline and measure the back neckline as well, add those together and subtract one inch, and that is the length that you're going to cut your neckline binding. We want it a little bit smaller than the neckline so that it will ease in and lay flat against your skin when it's turned under. So cut all of your bindings, your armbands, and your neck binding. And you wanna fold those in 1/2, with wrong sides together and press. Now for our shirt, we want to align right sides together.

We're going to stitch these shoulder seams. I'm using quarter inch seam allowance. And the shoulder seams we can use a straight stitch cause those seams do not need any stretch to them, but we will be using stretch stitches later. And since this fabric is 100% cotton, Jersey knit fabric it rolls a little bit at the edges, so you just have to be careful when you're aligning the raw edges, make sure everything is aligned. This fabric is from Cotton and Steel, so cottonandsteel.com.

They still only do woven fabrics but now they have a nice selection of knit fabrics too. So my body fabric and my binding fabrics all came from Cotton and Steel. So I'm using my straight stitch at 1/4 inch. There we go. Backstitched a little too far, backstitch to lock your stitch in.

When you start stitching on any fabric, you don't want to start directly at the very raw edge, because knit fabrics have a tendency to get jammed down into the throat plate. Especially those Slinky Rayyan knits, the cotton jersey knit not so much, it's a little more stable. There's one shoulder. So there are our shoulder seams. Next we're going to do our side seams.

So align those raw edges. So to give ourselves an arm opening, we are going to measure eight inches down from the upper edge, and put in a mark. So eight inches from my upper edge is right here, I wanna make sure my edges are aligned here. So starting here, we're going to stitch from this edge in one inch, and then we're going to start stitching down for our side seam. Now, you could definitely continue that one inch side seam all the way down, or I like to taper in my side seam, just a little bit toward my hips.

So I'm going to end this side seam at one and 1/2 inches down at the bottom. And I want that to end at one and 1/2 at least two inches up from the lower edge because I'm doing a one inch hem allowance and I don't want any circumference change within my hem allowance. So I'm gonna draw myself in this stitching line. So I'm just going to taper in, say two inches up, and one and 1/2 inches in. So it's just gonna be a little bit of a diagonal, very gentle taper.

We're gonna do the same thing on the other side as well, we put a few pins in here so I don't get any shifting. And we'll mark the same thing on the other side. The nice thing about this cotton, Jersey knit fabric is that once you get the layers aligned, they kind of stick together so you don't really need as many pins. So starting from the upper edge again, eight inches down and that's going to be our armhole. We're gonna stitch in and pivot down.

And two inches down, or two inches up from the lower edge. One and 1/2 inches in. So there is my other side seam. So we're gonna stitch these using a straight stitch. And I'm gonna take a stitch across that point so it's not a real sharp point.

I went a little bit past my line, that is okay. The silhouette of this top is very loose and flowy and forgiving. I'm using a contrasting fabric so you can see what I'm doing but you would probably wanna use a matching thread. Sorry, a contrasting thread, but you would want to use a matching thread. So there is one side seam, and we're going to trim these down to about 1/4 inch.

We wanna kind of clip into your point at the underarm. We're gonna do the same thing on the other side. Here we go. Trim that side seam down. And then next, we're going to attach our armbands.

So the armbands, we fold it in 1/2 with wrong sides together and pressed. Now we're going to unfold them, fold it in 1/2 widthwise, I'm going to stitch it into around using a quarter inch seam allowance and a straight stitch. And then press or finger press that seam open, and refold it along that fold line. And since our armband is a little bit smaller in diameter than our armhole, we're going to quarter mark them both. So quarter marking, I've done this one already.

So I have folded it in 1/2 with the seam at one end and marked the fold and then brought that mark to meet the seam and marked those folds. So that's quarter marking. And then we're gonna quarter mark the sleeve of the armhole as well by bringing those shoulder seam to meet the underarm seam and marking those folds. That's just to make sure that the excess, the extra fabric is eased in evenly. Now to stitch this, we're actually going to stitch, I should have put my pins on the other side of the fabric, but that's okay.

So turning it right side out. Going to align, I like to align the seam of the band with the underarm seam of the shirt. And align the raw edges, and then we're just matching all of our quarter marks. Now we are going to select a stretch stitch on our machine, because this seam might have to stretch a little bit as we are putting it on. So I'm going to select zigzag stitch.

And I like to start stitching the underarm just as a point of reference to start. And the band is just slightly smaller than the armhole. So we're not gonna have to stretch very much between our points but make sure that your needle is in the down position when you stop sewing, so that as you are stretching gently, stretch that armband just enough to meet the armhole edge, it doesn't get pulled out from under the presser foot as you're stretching. And as you stretch, those edges do want to roll even more. So go slow and careful.

and make sure your raw edges are still matching. So our seam is attached, we're going to press that, pressing the seam allowances toward the shirt. So you wanna give that a press, and then to attach the neck band, we're going to do the very same thing. So the neck band is this long strip, you do the same thing as you did to the arm band. with right sides together, you stitch those short edges refold it along that long fold line.

And then I like to match the seam of the neck band with the center back. So to quarter mark the shirt, you find the center front and center back, and since the back scoop is a little bit deeper than the front scoop, our shoulder seams are actually not going to be true quarter marks for us. So we take the center back, and center front, and then bring those points together, and aligning the raw edge, we find that the true quarter mark is just ahead of the shoulder seam. So it's the same process. We're going to start aligning these quarter marks, raw edges matching.

So I'm going to start again at my center back, the right side, we're stitching the right side of the fabric to our binding. And again, we're going to get the needle down in the fabric, and then we can start stretching that neck band to match the curve and the raw edge of the shirt. And I'm using 1/4 inch seam allowance, so I'm just aligning the raw edges of the band and the shirt with the edge of my foot, which gives me a nice point of reference to align with. As we are stretching this neck band, in addition to keeping the raw edges aligned, we wanna make sure we're exerting equal amounts of pressure behind and in front of the presser foot, so that we're stretching the neck band material. But we're not pulling it under the presser foot, we're allowing the feed dogs to still do their job, and glide that fabric under the presser foot naturally.

So our neck band is attached with a stretch stitch so that it can stretch around your head as you're pulling it on. And the scoop is so deep that we probably don't need a whole lot of stretch in the seam. But just in case as we're wearing it, we wanna have some stretch in that seam. So you're going to wanna press that seam allowance down toward the shirt, and you can see already how that neck band is going to lay nice and flat against your shoulder. Since it's a little bit shorter than the neckline of the shirt, as it gets turned under and pressed, it's going to ease really nicely in.

Now, we're going to attach that seam allowance to the shirt. So we're going to throw a line of stitching right along that seam allowance to make sure it lays flat on the inside of the shirt. We're going to use a double needle to do that because that just gives a really nice professional finish. Of course you would attach the other armband just the same way as we attach the first one, but I'm gonna put a double needle on my machine and we're going to go ahead and finish off attaching this seam allowance. So I have my double needle on my machine and with the right side of the fabric facing up, because that's where we want our lovely decorative finish to show with the double needle.

When you start stitching, I always like to start stitching at the center back to make sure everything looks nice by the time we get to the front. And we're going to be attaching this seam allowance with this double needle stitch. We're stitching kind of close to our neckline, seam allowance. And we're going through a number of layers here. So if you find you're getting a little lump of fabric in between your needle threads, just loosen up your tension a little bit.

This double needle is three millimeter apart, double needle, so the three millimeter is the width that the needles are apart. They come in different varieties, different widths. I'm using a contracting thread again, for my finishing stitch here, cause I thought it would look nice, you could of course use a matching thread, so that any inconsistent stitches would be far more invisible. And as you're stitching, you just wanna make sure all of your seam allowances are laying nice and flat as they're going under the presser foot, nothing is stretching. And we are using a straight stitch cause the bobbin thread creates kind of a zigzag stitch on the wrong side of the fabric between these needles.

So this stitch will have a stretch to it. And then we'll backstitch at the end as we overlap our stitch beginning. Clip all your threads, give everything a nice final press. And if you go nice and slow and steady, you can get a nice even double needle finish around the neckline that looks really beautiful and professional, and we're gonna use a double needle to do the hem as well. So for the hem, I have my shirt that is nearly finished.

I've got my armbands on both armholes, and for the hem, I'm doing a one inch hem. So I measured two inches from the raw edge and folded my raw edge up to meet my two inch mark which is gonna give me a one inch hem. And we're going to stitch with the fold at about a 5/8 of an inch hem allowance or 5/8 of an inch from that lower fold. The double needle is a really easy way to add just a little extra something special. It looks really nice and professional and finished when it's completed.

And if you tightened up your tension at all to stitch that neck band, you wanna remember to loosen it, because we're not stitching through as many layers as we're stitching the hem, it's just two layers of the body fabric. Again, we're gonna backstitch as we overlap the stitch beginning. Give it a good press. You can see the wrong side of the stitch has a little zigzag. So it's going to have stretching stitch.

Give everything a final press, to keep everything nice and flat. And you can stitch up this Boxy Tee in under an hour in any fun fabrics you choose and customize the size to your preferences.