Today we’re welcoming Lyndsey from our Advisors Circle. She has sewn up four Liesl + Co. patterns in the same fabric to create a fit baseline for herself in the future. Read on to see how she did it.
A long sleeve t-shirt was on my fall sewing plans this year, but I couldn’t decide which pattern to use. Liesl + Co. sells several long-sleeved knit patterns, but I was having a hard time visualizing which one was best for me.
If I were trying to decide between woven patterns, I would sew muslins to compare and check the fit. Sewing muslins for knits is tricky though, as each knit fabric has a different amount of stretch. After mulling it over for a few days, I decided that I would sew four different long sleeve t-shirt patterns in the same exact fabric: the Neighborhood Sweatshirt, the Bento Tee, the Maritime Knit Top and the Metro T-Shirt. That way, I would have a base comparison of how each pattern fit me, and I would have four new long-sleeved t-shirts to add to my core wardrobe for the fall!
Keeping design ease intact
I knew I would need to make my usual pattern adjustments, but I wanted to maintain the design ease drafted into each pattern.
Design ease is the amount of room added by the pattern designer beyond wearing ease to achieve a certain look or style. For example, if the pattern body measurements call for a 33″ waist and the finished waist measures 43″, then the amount of design ease in the pattern is 10″.
Sometimes I want more or less design ease for the look I am trying to achieve with a pattern, but for this project, I wanted to use the intended design ease while adjusting for my body shape. I prepared the patterns, took my measurements and set to calculating the adjustments.
All of my adjustments were done equally to front and back pattern pieces using the pivot-and-slide method. [Note: Liesl + Co. has a tutorial for a dartless pivot-and-slide FBA.]
Creating a pattern fit baseline
I sewed each pattern in the same Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey. One of the reasons I selected this fabric is because it is usually readily available, and could act as my “standard” amount of stretch. If I decide to use a fabric that has more or less stretch compared to this jersey in the future, I will have an idea of what adjustments may be needed. I will make a few more tweaks the next time I sew these patterns.
Neighborhood Sweatshirt
First up was the Neighborhood Sweatshirt. I selected a size medium based on my high bust measurement of 36 1/2″. The pattern’s body measurement for the bust is 37 1/2″ and the finished measurement is 42″. The difference between those two measurements, 4 1/2″, is the design ease.
To maintain that design ease, my final bust measurement after pattern adjustments needed to be 4 1/2″ inches larger than my actual bust measurement of 39″. This meant that I needed a final bust measurement of 43 1/2″. The original finished bust measurement was 42″, so I needed to add 1 1/2″ to the bust.
I used the pivot-and-slide method to distribute this total amount evenly around the circumference of the bust. I did a 3/8″ adjustment to both front and back pieces. Since the pattern pieces I adjusted are cut on the fold, this works out to 3/4″ added to front and back for a total of 1 1/2″ added. I also added a total of 3″ to the waist and 3 1/2″ to the hips in order to maintain the design ease.
| Me | Pattern Body Size M | Pattern Finished Size M | Design Ease | Final Measurements | Adjustments | |
| High Bust | 36 1/2 | |||||
| Bust | 39 | 37 1/2 | 42 | 4 1/2 | 43 1/2 | +1 1/2 |
| Waist | 33 | 30 | 43 | 13 | 46 | +3 |
| Hips | 43 1/2 | 40 | 43 1/2 | 3 1/2 | 47 | +3 1/2 |
| Length | 26 3/4 | 27 1/4 | +1/2 |
Bento Tee
Next up was a long sleeve version of the Bento Tee. I followed the pattern advice to select by bust or hip measurement, whichever was the largest. My waist and hips measured exactly right for a large. The bust measurement for a large was 1 1/2” larger than my full bust measurement, so I’d have slightly more ease in the bust than how the pattern was drafted.
I intended to sew View A but without pockets. In order to achieve the length of View A as it was drafted, I determined I needed to add 3 1/2” length to the View B cut line. I did this using the pivot-and-slide method, and it was the only adjustment I made for this pattern!
| Me | Pattern Body Size L | Pattern Finished Size L | Design Ease | Final Measurements | Adjustments | |
| High Bust | 36 1/2 | |||||
| Bust | 39 | 40 1/2 | 44 3/4 | 4 1/4 | 44 3/4 | 0 |
| Waist | 33 | 33 | 44 3/4 | 11 3/4 | 44 3/4 | 0 |
| Hips | 43 1/2 | 43 | 44 3/4 | 1 3/4 | 44 3/4 | 0 |
| Length | 22 1/2 | 26 | +3 1/2 |
Maritime Knit Top
The third pattern is the Maritime Top. I selected a size 8 based on my high bust measurement. Using the same method for calculations, my adjustments were +5/8” at the bust, +1” at the waist, +1” at the hips, and +3/4” length.
| Me | Pattern Body Size 8 | Pattern Finished Size 8 | Design Ease | Final Measurements | Adjustments | |
| High Bust | 36 1/2 | |||||
| Bust | 39 | 36 1/2 | 38 | 1 1/2 | 40 1/2 | +2 1/2 |
| Waist | 33 | 29 | 38 | 9 | 42 | +4 |
| Hips | 43 1/2 | 39 | 38 | -1 | 42 1/2 | +4 |
| Length | 25 1/2 | 24 1/4 | 25 | +3/4 |
Metro T-Shirt
The final pattern is the Metro T-shirt. I had sewn a short-sleeved version of this pattern before, but not with a dartless FBA. Technically I should have selected a medium based on my high bust measurement, but the large had worked well previously so I decided to stick with that size. This pattern only provided the body measurement for the bust, so I got to decide how much ease I wanted in the waist and hips. Since the t-shirt is intended to have a slim fit, I decided to maintain the 1 1/2” design ease at the bust and to allow 5 1/4” ease at the waist and 2” of ease at the hips. To achieve this on a large, I needed adjustments of +1/2” at the bust, no adjustment at the waist, and +1 3/8” at the hips. I didn’t add length.
| Me | Pattern Body Size L | Pattern Finished Size L | Design Ease | Final Measurements | Adjustments | |
| High Bust | 36 1/2 | |||||
| Bust | 39 | 38-40 1/2 | 38 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 40 1/2 | +2 |
| Waist | 33 | 38 1/4 | 5 1/4 | 37 | 0 | |
| Hips | 43 1/2 | 40 | 2 | 45 1/2 | +5 1/2 | |
| Length | 25 1/2 | 25 1/2 | 25 1/2 | 0 |
I did not do my usual forward shoulder adjustment, and I can see in every picture that I need to make that adjustment. I also need more length at the center front in every picture to get a hemline parallel to the ground. I added more width to account for a full bust but didn’t add the needed additional length. The Neighborhood Sweatshirt is intended to have a high-low hem, but I would prefer slightly more length in the center front.
Once the sewing was finished, I finally got to see each pattern side by side! You can see that each pattern fills a unique role in my core wardrobe. And now that I know how these patterns fit as intended, going forward I can decide if I want more or less design ease the next time I sew. Hopefully, the side by side pictures are a good reference for you, too!