Home » Sewing Projects » Adult Clothing » Women's Sewing » How to Sew a Shirt – 20 Minute Tunic Project
by Melissa Mora 12 Comments
Hey y’all – today I’m sharing this tutorial showing how to sew a shirt – which is SUPER easy and you can make this out of basically any knit fabric at all. PLUS no pattern needed because it all starts with a rectangle, so you can make it in about 20 minutes!
To make this, you’ll need two pieces of knit fabric that are about 30 inches long and about 40 inches wide.
For this tunic I used Riley Blake Knit 1/4 inch stripes in Gray/Teal
After you have your two rectangular pieces, place them together and fold them in half, matching the short edges. Then you’re going to make cuts as shown above. Make one cut to form the side seam, and one for the neckline. Then, if desired, cut off the bottom corner to round the hem. This cut is optional, if you want a straight hem all around, that works too.
Place the two pieces right sides together. Sew across the shoulders and down the side seams as shown below, using a stretch stitch. New to sewing knits? See this post for all my best tips and tricks for sewing knits.
Since knits don’t unravel like wovens, you can be finished after sewing those seams. Or you can finish the edges by turning them 1/2 inch to the wrong side and stitching to hem.
If you cut curved edges, you’ll fold and press them as well, but when youfoldaround the curves, you’ll have some wrinkles that will end up on the back side. These are okay, and they won’t show on the front side. Hem, using a stretch stitch and you’re done!
For this look, I added my denim skirt and some heels and half tucked the front of the shirt. When it cools off a little here I think this top will be great over leggings with a belt. And for even colder weather I think it would be cute over a long sleeved fitted t-shirt or turtleneck too.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
you are such a cutie!! great tutorial! i think i know some folks who could use this!! thanks bunches
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Dara
Thanks SEW MUCH!! I will have to do this! Happy sewing!
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Pennyp
And I thought your wrap skirt was my favorite tutorial…… ((gasp))
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Julia Miller
I love this! And the link to your advice about sewing with knits. I find your blog so clear and helpful. Thank you!
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Deborah
great article
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Love the boat neck line! Great sewing!
Thank you.Reply
Val
Love this Thank you.
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Rose Estigoy
Would it work to make it wider and have longer sleeves?
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Melissa Mora
I haven’t tried that, if you do, let me know how it goes!
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Laura Kee
Is it supposed to be 1.5 x hip measurement for each rectangle, or is that the total width of both rectangles? It sounds like you are saying each rectangle should be that wide, but that just doesn’t make sense to me. The hip measurement is all the way around the widest part of your hips, right? If I take my hip measurement and multiply by 1.5, I get 60 inches. But, 2 rectangles that are each 60 inches wide will give me a shirt that is 120 inches around. Even subtracting seam allowances and the small part to make it have sleeves, that doesn’t seem right. Am I misunderstanding something? Thanks! I really do love your blog and tutorials, I’m just confused this time. 🙂
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Melissa Mora
Nope, math is correct for the tunic that is shown. For larger sized hips, so you don’t end up with longer sleeves and a lot of fabric to cut off, you might want to go with 2x the shoulder to shoulder measurement as your width as long as that width is at least 8 inches more than 1/2 your hip. If you’re very pear shaped, you might want to go with a more trapezoid shape, 2x shoulder width at top and 1/2 hip plus 8 inches at bottom.
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Vickey Gerrish
Thanks for the great tutorial –just one question….in your diagram you have indicated a 4 inch X 3 inch cutout for neck opening, but no inch measurement as to how much to cut on the sides for the sleeve formation…or did I miss it?
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