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Men’s Shirt Pattern and Tutorial

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Blank Slate Patterns Free Men's Shirt Pattern and Tutorial on Melly Sews
 


Today I’m going to share a free men’s shirt pattern and tutorial. A while back you may remember that I guest posted on The Train to Crazy in her Sewing for Men series.  I sewed a shirt for my hot Hubby, and then people wanted me to share the pattern and my cool brother said he would model a shirt made from the same pattern in Robert Kaufmen Architextures fabric that I fell in love with, and this post came together.
 
So, before we get to the men’s shirt pattern and tutorial I give you the Math gEEk shirt. The EE is because li’l bro is finishing his degree in Electrical Engineering (aka EE or double E) and all the math on this fabric made me think of him (and my dad, who is also a double E). This shirt is made from the same pattern I originally used to make Hubby’s shirt, which you’ll be able to download below.
 
I got li’l bro to help me recreate the formulas on glass from A Beautiful Mind, as well as capturing him where he actually works/studies right now – on the computer.
 
Men's Shirt from Architextures fabric by Melly Sews
 
Men's Shirt Pattern and Tutorial
 
Men's Shirt Tutorial and Pattern
 
As you can see, the quilting cotton shirt drapes a little differently than the rayon shirt, but it’s still cool.
 
I do a lot of boy sewing. But not so much MAN sewing. Before this shirt, I had made Hubby a grand total of two items – some mesh reversible gym shorts and a bathrobe. He wears them both, but never outside the house. And I hadn’t made anything for li’l bros since…never, I think.
 
Sew a Men's Short Sleeve Shirt
 
Let’s just say Hubby is picky about his clothing. And he is a guy’s guy – I mean, he’s a football coach – that means his job is a lot like hanging out in a frat house all day and talking sports with other guys (really, there’s probably more to it than that. He puts in tons of hours. But for the 6 months of the year that I’m a football widow, I like to pretend he’s just playing around – it makes me sound like more of a martyr).
 
So, the first challenge in sewing for men is patterns. There aren’t a whole lot of them. The ones that are on the market often stink and/or aren’t fashionable and/or are way too oversized. And since Hubby is so picky, I just had him try on a few non-sporting apparel shirts he owns and tell me what he did or didn’t like about the fit. Then I took two that were closest to being his favorite and used the rub-off method to make a pattern.
 
 
Men's Button Up Shirt by Melly Sews - Novella Rayon Rain Aqua by Free Spirit

The next challenge in sewing for men is fabric. I had picked up this Free Spirit Novella Rayon in Rain Aqua at my local quilting shop intending to make something for a boy with it. To my surprise, when I showed it to Hubby, he said he’d wear it. Another trip to the store (men’s clothing needs more fabric than boys’, after all) and muslining my pattern with an old bedsheet, I whipped up this shirt.

Men's Shirt Pattern by Blank Slate Patterns

The fabric is just the right lightweight drape for this, and despite the bright colors, has a kind of hipster feel that works well in Austin. I left the hem straight because Hubby prefers it that way (no tucking required) and resisted the urge to put on pearl snaps instead of buttons (too far over the hipster line).

And the final challenge? Getting a good picture. He’s not used to being in front of the camera for my blog like the boys and I am.

Men's Shirt by Melly Sews

Wanna make your own? You’ll need:

  • 2 yards of fabric
  • 1 yard of lightweight fusible interfacing
  • Buttons or snaps
  • The pattern…

The pattern is in a men’s size small/medium (somewhere on the small side of medium – finished chest measurement is 43″ and this needs at least 3 inches of ease over the chest measurement of the guy in question). If you need to make the pattern bigger or smaller, check out this post. To get it, click your preferred option below to get the free pattern only as a newsletter subscriber, or to buy the digital pattern + printable instructions for $2.

Please note that all my free patterns are licensed for personal use only (no selling items made from this unless you purchase it) and by downloading you are agreeing to this license.

Start by printing out the pattern, using Adobe Reader with scaling set to “Actual Size”. Trim around the outside of the gray boxes and tape together at the circles. Cut your fabric according to the cutting instructions on the pattern. Fuse interfacing to the wrong side of one collar piece, and the shirt facings.

1/2″ seams are allowed on this pattern.

I’ve used pictures from both shirts in this tutorial, don’t let the changing fabric throw you.

Start by pinning one of the yokes to the shirt back, right sides together. Stitch across, and the press the seam up towards the neckline.
Sew the yoke
 
Yoke sewn on

Wrong side of yoke/shirt shown after they are sewn together.

 
Next pin the shirt fronts to the shirt back right sides together at the shoulders and stitch.
Sew the shoulders
 
On the other yoke, which we will refer to as the yoke lining, press the straight edge 3/8″ to the wrong side.
 
Press the yoke edge under
 
Place the shirt face down and the yoke lining face up. Pin the shirt facings to the yoke shoulders on the side closest to the neck as shown below and stitch facings to yoke lining.
Sew yoke lining
 
Place the two collar pieces right sides together and stitch around the 3 straight sides. Trim the seam allowance down to 1/4″ .
Sew collar and trim seams
 
Turn the collar right side out and press. Topstitch if desired.
 
Turn collar and press
 
Pin the collar in place along the neckline, with shirt right side up and collar right side up. Start by matching the center collar to the center back neck, then continue to pin towards the shirt front edge. Your collar should end up about 1.25″ from the fold line of the facings. Check to make sure this is even on both sides, then baste the collar in place.
pin collar in place
 
Now fold the facing and yoke over so that they are right sides together with the shirt with the collar sandwiched in the middle. Pin along the neckline, matching center back and shoulder seams. Stitch. Check for puckers, etc, then trim the collar seam down to 1/4″.
Sew neckline
 
Match the yoke lining to the shoulder seams of the shirt, and stitch the outside shoulder edges together, stopping where the yoke is sewn to the front facings. In the picture below, the shirt is inside out and the yoke lining is flipped so that the right side of the yoke lining is against the wrong side of the shirt fronts.
Sew yoke shoulders
 
Turn the yoke lining so that the wrong side of the lining is against the wrong side of the shirt back. This encloses the raw edges of the shoulder seams. Pin the pressed edge of the yoke lining over the seam joining the yoke to the shirt back. Turn the shirt right side up and stitch in the ditch of the yoke/shirt back seam or topstitch just above that seam (whichever you prefer) to secure the yoke lining and enclose the raw edges.
pin yoke lining
 
 
Lay the shirt out flat, right side up, and pin the sleeves in. First line up the front and back edges of the sleeve to the edges of the armholes. Pin from the edge toward center, stretching either the sleeve or shirt body as needed to ease the curve. Stitch. The picture below shows the pinned sleeve on the left and the sewn in sleeve on the right. You need to finish this seam using your favorite finishing technique (tips here).
pin in sleeves
 
Sew the underarm and side seams all in one seam, matching the underarm seams. Finish this seam as well.
Sew underarms and side seams
 
 
To finish your shirt, iron the facings on the fold line, then topstitch close to the edge to keep them from rolling out. Hem the bottom and sleeves. 1″ is allowed for hemming on both, so turn under 1/2″ twice.  Sew the buttonholes or apply the snaps and you’re done.
Now go put the shirt on a handsome man 😉

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Comments

  4. Donna

    Thanks so much! It’s about time someone dedicated some thought and time to the men in our lives. Something other then pajama pants or I Pad cases. LOL……. Really I am so going to give this a go. I have wanted to make a shirt for my DH for a long time now. Thanks Again!

    Reply

  5. Asha

    So my husband decided today that he wanted a button down shirt to match the kid’s 4th of July outfits. I am sooo glad that I found this. Thanks!!!

    Reply

  6. rebecca sinclair

    First of all, I want to say thank you for a free pattern for a men’s shirt! Yours is the only one I’ve been able to find on the web. Initially the cutting and taping together was confusing to me…I can see now what I did wrong. I have used printed pdf patterns before, but it was set up differently so I just jumped in without reading or thinking. Now, I’m confused and can’t tell if I’ve done it all correctly. One suggestion I have is to show a photo of what the final pattern pieces look like, all taped together and cut out. Just having a photo to look at and compare the size and shape of the pieces would make a big difference. Thanks again for a wonderful pattern!

    Reply

    • rebecca Sinclair

      I finally finished the shirt using your pattern. I am not an experienced seamstress at all, but I followed your instructions and it came out beautifully! The only instruction I never seemed to find was when to sew in the shirt facings…but I just did it before adding the yoke lining and it worked. Thank you again!!

      Reply

  8. tallowah

    hello Melissa Thnk you Soo much for the quick reply. but pls can I have a free tutorial on how to make an off shoulder maxi dress.thank you am Soo grateful.I love your teachings.Soo calmin and easy to learn

    Reply

  10. glo

    i love this, it’s helpful, but not reall;y sure how you cut the front of the shirt to get those little flaps. pls help put a pix of the front before it’s folded. thanks

    Reply

  11. Khemara

    I Love It So Much, This is very well Explanation. I can Make this shirt for my self It look nice . Thanks you so much.

    Reply

  12. navnit

    this is really help full for new ((lern swing))my wife is top blouse mekker but I want to swing my shirt self I am in learning proses

    Reply

  13. Lisa

    So this is imprinted on my brain now. I’ve made five and have a sixth ready to cut out! Great pattern. Well done, great pics. BIG huge thank you! My two teenage sons now want custom shirts:)

    Reply

  14. sarah walther

    wow!! i just made this shirt tonight 🙂 being a novice, this tutorial was really helpful and i cant wait to make another one!

    Reply

  15. Janet

    Thank you so much just what I have been looking for.
    Little early but Merry Christmas and all the best for 2016

    Melly Sews

    Reply

  16. Nicole

    Hi Melly,

    Just wanted to say thank you and beautifully done! I’m a designer/pattern maker of women’s clothing and am making some presents for the men in my life. Your explanation and pattern presentation is fantastic and I am very impressed.

    Thank you for making my life easier and my man very happy!

    Reply

  18. andrea

    THANK YOUUUU! Im making this for my boyfriend’s birthday, you saved my life! <3 followed you on pinterest and youtube!

    Reply

  19. Rodney

    this is a great place to start! …have sewed other things but never a shirt….the photos help to make sense of it all ….Thank you for a great article! will be ready to try this:)

    Reply

  20. Sharon

    Thank you for this great tutorial!! I have a shirt pattern that is pretty much like this shirt, except it has a single yoke and a back facing. I wanted to change it to a double yoke and skip the back facing but couldn’t quite picture how it would all go together. Now I get it! Hooray!

    Reply

  21. Lillian Pahina

    He-eeyyy!
    Thanks ever so much for the free men’s shirt pattern. I can picture it all coming together nicely. Now that I have the pattern, can’t wait to try to make matching shirts for my two boys.

    Much love… 🙂

    Reply

  22. Maria

    I’m late to this party, but just wanted to say that I’m a beginner sewist and made your shirt for my husband today, and it came out great! Thank you so much for the pattern and instructions!

    Reply

  23. Natalie

    Just wanted to let you know that my son loves this shirt. I’ve made him several over the last few years and he just requested another out of some Mickey Mouse fabric he found when I drug him into Joann’s against his will this weekend. (He’s 21 and still loves all things Mickey!) Thanks so much for sharing this awesome pattern I’ve literally gotten years of use out of!

    Reply

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