Hey, I have a new pattern for you guys today! I wasn’t actually planning on making another tee shirt pattern, but at a neighborhood barbecue the other day I saw my neighbor wearing this cute top with a pretty twisted knot at the hemline. I made a beeline over to her and asked if I could look at the twist and try to figure out how it was sewn. Or at least that’s what happened in my head – in reality I think I just walked up to her and grabbed the hem of her shirt. The best part was she didn’t even seem surprised – I guess my neighbors know I’m a little weird when it comes to stuff like that.
Anyway, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how this twist knot thing was happening, so I asked where she got the shirt and headed over there the next day, only to find out all the knot hem shirts were sold out already!
I wasn’t that surprised – it’s kind of a fun new style that does a fabulous job covering that infamous muffintop – so I figured I needed to know how to make one. I found a similar top on Amazon, got it here in two days thanks to Prime shipping, and promptly cut it up to figure out where that knot comes from.
Three new shirts later, and I have a pattern for a twist knot tee to share with you guys! This pattern is in size Large only.
For this tee shirt you will need 1 yard of 60 inch wide knit (stretchy) fabric. Some knit fabrics shrink more than others and you will need a full yard for this top, so if you aren’t sure whether your fabric will shrink get a yard and a quarter or a yard and half and wash and dry it before you begin. Also, be aware that a small portion of the wrong side of your fabric may show in the finished knot. Finally, different weights of knit fabric will give you a slightly different look – at the end of the post I show you the three different versions I sewed up so you can see how fabric affects the look.
You should also be familiar with the basic construction of a tee shirt. If you need help with that, you can visit my Classic Tee post here.
How to sew a twist knot hem tee shirt
To begin, you’ll need to download the Twist Knot Tee pattern by clicking here. This pattern is in size Large (about a 38 inch bust and roomy in the waist). The pattern prints on 17 pieces of 8.5×11 paper. Be sure you are printing at 100% or full size. Butt the pages together with no trimming and tape them. It will look like this:
Here’s how I laid out the pattern on one yard of fabric:
The first thing we need to do is get the twisted hem on the shirt front. If you look at the pattern for the shirt front there are colored dots which show you what parts get sewn together. So you’ll want to mark these dots on your fabric, either with pins or chalk or something like that. Note that there is a set of larger dots in each color and smaller dots in each color – so the smaller blue dots get matched to each other and the larger blue dots get matched to each other, etc. Then you will sew the pieces together between the dots. It’ll make more sense as you follow the photos below!
First, grab the small extra piece and match the blue dots on it to the blue dots on the shirt front, right sides together. Sew together between the dots using a 1/4 inch seam. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seams, or use a serger and tie off the thread tails and trim right after the knot (this is what I did).
Press that seam open. This area is going to get scrunched up inside of the knot, so you need to hem part of it right now. For about 5 inches on either side of the seam, fold the raw edge up 3/4 of an inch and hem with a stitch that will stretch (I use a double needle).
Now you’ll want to scrunch the extra piece up along that seam. Lay the pointed portion of the shirt over the extra piece, as shown below.
Loop the pointed part of the shirt over the extra piece, and bring the point up to match up the pink dots (shown as black dots on photo below).
Pin right sides together between the matched pink dots and sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, as shown below.
Press that seam open. Now you will see that you’ve made a loop that the hemmed portion of the shirt goes through.
Now it’s time to match up the yellow dots. Flip the extra piece upward so you have right sides together and match and pin yellow dots. Sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Now you have a finished shirt front, complete with a twisted knot hem.
At this point, you can sew the shirt up the same way you’d assemble a standard tee shirt (using a 1/2 inch seam allowance from now on). If you need step by step instructions for this, you can find them in the Classic Tee post.
Two more things you’ll notice as you finish up the shirt:
First, the sides of the front will be a bit longer than the sides of the back. Just stretch the back piece as you are pinning the side seams.
Second, when it comes time to hem the bottom of the shirt, remember that a few inches around the twist knot are already hemmed.
This is what the shirt looks like finished:
Play with the twist a little once you put the shirt on until you like how it looks. Different fabrics lay a little differently, so depending on what type of fabric you used you may end up seeing a little bit of the wrong side of your fabric along the twist.
I sewed this shirt up in three different fabrics, and I’ll show you each one so you can see how fabric choice affects the finished look.
First I used an inexpensive jersey that’s a bit thin and very drapey. The lightweight fabric was a little harder to sew with, but ended up working really well with the twisted knot hem because it drapes so well.
Next I used a more expensive stable knit, which was a dream to sew with. But it just didn’t have quite enough drape to look great with this pattern, so I don’t love how it turned out.
Finally, I made one more shirt out of some brushed polyester spandex, which was a pretty good middle ground between the first two fabrics – more drape than the expensive knit, but easier to sew (and will probably hold up better) than the cheaper jersey.
Honestly, I think I actually like the grey one best, so I’d recommend choosing a fabric with a lot of drape. Good luck and I’d love to see photos if you make one!
Kristie says
Super cute. I have wondered how they did the twist on the shirts. Such dedication to your readers.
I can’t wait to print this one out and give it a shot. I need to figure out how to do this for my girls, they would love this. Thank you!
Lora says
I imitated this for a top for a little girl. Used a t shirt pattern I had, added length to front pattern then cut angled slightly across lower front. Cut in upside down narrow “U” as Autumn did. Then measured along inner leg side of “U” to cut a flap-shaped piece similar to Autumn’s additional little piece which becomes part of the knot. Then I simply followed Autumn’s excellent directions to complete the knot. It turned out perfectly on version 1 made from fabric formerly known as a maxi skirt 😉. Making more as this is very popular!
Carol says
This is real cute! Thanks for the tutorial!
Teresa Thompson says
Lovely!
Thanks for all of your tutorials and free patterns, you’re amazing!
MARY M says
Excellent instructions! Probably the best I’ve ever read. Thank you so much for figuring this out for us.
Bonnie says
Love this…. thank you! I appreciate the time you took to figure this out AND then sharing it with us! I’m anxious to try this. Wonder if anyone would notice if I just “cancelled” today and hid in my sewing room? 😉
Michele says
Great tutorial as all your tees are!!!! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to do this for us! 🙂
Sue says
Would it be easy to enlarge this pattern?
Luna says
You could try this:
1. Download the file and open it in Acrobat.
2. Click File then Print
3. Under Page Sizing and Handling, click on Custom Size and then put in your percentage of how big you want it. Ex. 115%, 120%
I don’t know how it will affect the pattern since some of the lines will go off the page but it’s a start if you want to try to enlarge it a bit. I enlarged one pattern but it was for a bib and it turned out.
Good luck!
Sue says
Thanks, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Nancy Ferguson Timmermans says
Really nice
Thank you
Katie says
Love this! Thanks so much for figuring this out and offering it for free. I’m a big fan of your sewing patterns and tutorials!
Kat says
Thanks for doing this! Another one for my personal to-do list!
PennyC says
Hi, I found this great pattern thanks to a fellow sewist on Pattern Review.com, and I can’t wait to try it. One question: I know you call the size Large, but could you please give me an idea of the measurements it will work for?
Susan Bain says
Any chance you have different sizes? I’ll buy the pattern for a small or an xsmall!
Dalene says
Wish you had a XL size. Thanks for sharing your patterns!
Kristie says
I bought a shirt this style, and then made one from your pattern. They look so similar! Thanks for sharing a great pattern!
autumn says
Glad to know it worked out for you – thanks for letting me know!
Mandi says
How could I do this to a tee I already have?
autumn says
Hi Mandi! I tried to make this work with a tee from the store, but sadly it doesn’t. You need quite a bit of extra fabric to get the twisted look, so if you want one you’d have to start from scratch. Thanks!
S says
I have a loose dress that I want to turn into a shirt so I would have all the extra fabric, any idea on how to make this work? Should I just cut the dress to the size I want and use the cut off piece to make my triangles for the “twist”?
Katy says
Ingenious! Like all of the patterns you make this looks great on you! Thanks for sharing your pattern.
Bri Streeter says
Thank you for sharing this pattern! And should youth mind sharing where you picked up that gorgeous floral dbp fabric? ?
Kylie says
I’m going to try this on a sweatshirt ($67 AUD for a sweatshirt?! I think NOT).
Thanks for the great pattern and instructions. I have a twisted front t-shirt from lululemon that is nearing death but I still don’t have the heart to cut it up to work out if I can replicate the twist!
Sheila says
Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was hoping to find. I am excited to give it a try!
Eva says
Thank you for your great tutorial! I wear size small, but I think that I will manage to alter one of my existing patterns thanks to your super clear instructions. <3
Audrie Goff says
Been looking for the perfect knot tie pattern, should have known Autumn would have had it! Thanks for the awesome pattern and tutorial!
Marylou says
Can’t wait to try it! I use your basic tee pattern quite a bit. It’s made making knit tops an option for me… finally! Thanks so much for sharing these with us. 🙂
Kerry says
I’m wondering if for a smaller size you could just print the pattern at at reduced ratio on the copier…what do you think?
Elizabeth McDonald says
I made this shirt in a medium and thank you the pattern is fantastic. On my knot area..I have a weird little 2 inch section that isn’t serged at all….did I do something wrong? I am not sure what to do with it. It looks a bit unfinished.
Pilofun says
Love your pictures, patterns and instructions. My only problem is reading the faint light gray print of the instructions. Very artistic, but it would be easier to read the instructions if they were printed in a darker color font.
Thanks for your excellent patterns!
A Johnson says
This is a great thing but this pattern is hard to put together trying to match the pic. Just a small suggestion to maybe number the pages so that it’s easier to assemble. I’m having a devil of a time.
Marilynlenting says
Thankyou very much; for you beautiful tee patterns❤️
Chris Boyd says
You always have such great stuff for us! Thank you so much! Is there an easy way to move the knot to the center of the shirt you think?
Thanks again!
Karen Poole says
This is super cute! I have a few store bought shirts that have these knots and I always wondered how they did it! Thank you for this pattern!
Audrey says
Thank you for the free pattern. I don’t know
how you figured this knot out! Someone else commented that they had a section of the knot unfinished. I too have this. Did I do something wrong?
Thanks again for sharing your pattern.
Tiny Schanssema says
Hi Mandy. Are u using a seam allowance at your patterns?
Tiny Schanssema says
Hi Mandy. Are u using a seam allowance at your patterns?
Sophia says
thank you so much
Martha Lyle says
Thanks for this! I’ve been trying to work out how to do this for a romper bodice for my great-granddaughter! I love copying garments I see online, and figuring out how they are made, but his had me stumped. Can’t wait to try it!