the classic tee in a relaxed fit | easy sewing tutorial

A few months ago I shared a free pattern for a classic women’s tee shirt in size L (get it here). Today I’m showing you how that same pattern looks sewn up in a softer fabric and with a little extra roominess. But first I’m going to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to say: Wow! School started last week and I feel like I have personally destroyed an entire forest with the amount of papers I’ve had to sign in the past seven days. Seriously. With all 5 of my kids in school this year, I must have filled out about 100 different papers about computer usage and instrument rentals and field trips and whether I’ll allow my kids to take sex ed (yes) and whether they’ll be plagiarizing their research papers (no). Why oh why are all these forms not online!?! It’s 2016 and I really feel like I should just be clicking some boxes on the computer instead of actually having to sign my name over and over. My hand’s tired.

Ok, rant over. Back to the shirt. Same classic tee, just an (even more) relaxed fit.

(What’s the deal with my big toes in the photo above right?)

(You too can smirk at people if you just sew up a tee shirt like mine! Taking photos for these posts just about does me in, people…)

Anyhoo, you can get the free Classic Tee pattern in size L in this post, which also includes directions on how to sew it up. Today I’m just going to show you how I modified it a wee bit.

You still need two pieces for the shirt, both cut on the fold, one front and one back. When I was cutting them out this time, I angled the pattern away from the fold slightly to create more room in the body of the shirt without making it too big across the shoulders (see photo below). It gives it almost a swing top feel. I also smoothed out the side line so it doesn’t come in at the waist. And I cut the shirt pieces quite a bit longer than the pattern shows (although I did end up chopping a bit back off when I hemmed the shirt). Two sleeve pieces and a long rectangle for the neck binding are the only other pattern pieces needed.

I was still able to cut all the pieces out of one yard of 60 inch wide knit fabric. A word about fabric: if you’re going for a more relaxed fit, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a soft and drapey knit. Knits that are slightly thinner often work well for more relaxed styles (although I always avoid tissue thin knits as I think they are just too darn hard to sew with – plus they’re usually too see through for my taste).