Sew a T-shirt for Boys – with Free Pattern

Hey y’all – we’re back with more sewing for boys today! This time we’re talking that boy wardrobe staple – the t-shirt. Every season I take a day, cut out about 10 of these, and sew up enough to last my boys through that season (or until the next growth spurt).

(For more tips on sewing quickly in bulk, see this post.)

I use both upcycled t-shirts and new fabric, and I often add in scraps from other knit projects for pockets and sleeves. The fabric for this shirt is Jay Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics Feather River Knit – River Rally, and I couldn’t resist it when I saw the print.

So, who wants to make a t-shirt?

To make the Toddler T-shirt you’ll need:

• 2/3 yd of knit fabric (at least 10% stretch).
• 1/8 yd of rib knit fabric
• The pattern, see below

Use 1/2 inch seam allowances to sew this.

Start with a front, back, two sleeves and a neckband. The neckband pattern piece isn’t on the pattern because it’s a rectangle. Cut it at 3 inches wide by 10 inches long, and make sure your ribbing has at least 80% stretch (in other words, you should be able to stretch your 10″ neckband to 18 inches long).

Place the front and the back right sides together and sew one shoulder using a stretch stitch (use stretch stitching throughout this project. Need help sewing knits? See this post).

Open up the shirt and pin the neckband in, stretching it from shoulder to shoulder. Be careful not to stretch the t-shirt, just the neckband. Stitch it in.

Sew the other shoulder and neckband together in one seam, making sure to match the neckline seam and to press the neckline seam toward the neckband.

Pin in the sleeves by placing them right sides together on the shirt. Line up the top center of the sleeve with the shoulder seam, then pin the ends of the sleeve to the end of the armhole, then ease the rest of the sleeve into place. Stitch.

Fold the shirt right sides together and sew the underarm seam and the side seam in one (red line).

Fold the neckband to the inside of the shirt, covering the neckband seam, and pin. Use a zig-zag stitch on the right side of the neckline to stitch in place.

If desired, hem the sleeve edges and bottom edge – though you don’t have to – knits don’t unravel like wovens. I prefer to hem with a twin needle; you can find more about that here. For the size 2 do a 1 1/2″ hem, for the size 3, do a 1″ hem, and for the size 4 do a 1/2″ hem.

You’ll also notice the pattern has a long sleeve option – which I used on Bean’s shirt. I chose to add cuffs to his version – read below to see how to do that. The fabric for his shirt is a knit picked up at Mood LA over a year ago.

Cuffs should be made out of ribbing, and be at least 1″ less in circumference than the sleeve. Sew down the edge of the folded cuff, then roll the top edge down over the tube, until you can match the raw edges. This leaves you with a tube that has right sides out on both the inside and outside.

Place that tube over the sleeve (with the sleeve right side out) and stitch around the cuff/sleeve raw edges.

I had not quite enough fabric left for another River Rally t-shirt for Bean – I added cuffs to the sleeve and a band to the hem (sewn the same way as the cuffs) to get the extra length I needed for him. I really like both variations of the shirt.

For other fun variations for your T-shirt – check out this post on how to sew a V-neck, and this one on how to add a henley placket.