After a summer of making Renfrew tees, I was in the market for a new tee shirt pattern. Raglan tee? Yes, please.

Lane #1: Baseball tee

I made my first version as a classic baseball tee using organic cotton jersey.

The orange-ish colored fabric was leftover from one of my Renfrews – a nice stash-busting perk! I just barely squeezed the sleeves and neckband out of my remnant – in fact I had to cut the neckband as two pieces, so it has two seams (one at each shoulder). I sewed this entirely with my regular sewing machine using a ballpoint needle and a twin stretch needle for hemming.

I love the look of the classic baseball tee, especially when it’s Giants colors…

I made zero adjustments to the fit on this – just a straight up size XL. And I like the fit. Isn’t it great when you don’t need to change anything?! (Although looking at these pictures now, I wonder if I should have used the ‘FBA’ pattern piece). The sleeves are a tiny bit long, but I like them that way. I have so many “long” sleeved RTW t-shirts in my closet that I have to roll up because the sleeves are too short and they look silly rolled down. They usually start out ok, but after a couple of times through the wash they are an inch or two short. So having a slightly longer long sleeve (if that makes any sense!) feels like a luxury to me:)

I was so pleased with this shirt that I jumped right in and made a couple more versions. Next up:

Lane #2: Hooded sweatshirt

I have had this fabric in my stash for about a year, in fact you can see a picture of it here, auditioning for a Seamwork Oslo cardigan (that clearly never got made). It’s a sporty, moisture-wicking knit, smooth on the wrong side and sort of nubby on the right side – really cozy, and quite stretchy. It never really felt quite right for the cardigan pattern, so it stayed in my stash, but when I started looking for something to make into a hooded sweatshirt I knew this would be perfect!

I opted for the banded hem and sleeves on this version. The instructions recommend sizing up for an outerwear piece, so I made an XXL. I think the combination of the larger size and the super stretchiness (and weight) of my fabric made both the sleeves and hem length a bit too long on this version. I ended up cutting off the hem band, chopping 2″ off the shirt and then serging the hem band back on. I also took a couple inches off the width of the hem band so that it sits a bit tighter on my hips. I left the sleeves as is – again, they don’t bother me so much, I can pull them over my hands if it’s chilly.

I lined the hood with some heather grey cotton spandex jersey for a more polished look (I didn’t like the look of the reverse side of the fabric). This was pretty easy to do (roughly followed these instructions) – the trickiest part was keeping track of which way the hood pieces went. The bottom curve of the hood (that attaches to the neckline) looks very similar to the front curve of the hood after you sew the two halves of the hood together, and I sewed the hood and lining together wrong (bottom to front instead of front to front) the first time. I remember thinking, ‘huh, these don’t match up perfectly; they must have shifted/stretched when I cut them’. But I just sewed them together anyway, only realizing my mistake after the two pieces were VERY securely attached to each other with my 4-thread overlock stitch! Let me tell you, unpicking a serged seam is a supreme exercise in patience. So. Mark your hood pieces.

This version was constructed using both my sewing machine and my serger. I basted with my regular machine, then serged the seams. Because the seams were a bit bulky from the thick knit, I also top-stitched them down keeping them nice and neat.

Overall I’m quite happy with this version. It’s super soft and cozy and I’ve worn it a lot already. It’s great to throw on for a hike or bike ride or just around the house. I’m not sure I like the hood that much though – it’s really big, a little bit too big for my taste…maybe it’s the fabric around the bottom (neck) of the hood that’s too much? This could be due in part to the weight and stretch of my fabric again, but I think it’s also designed that way (seems that way from other pictures I’ve seen online). It also might help if I actually put a draw cord in the hood – not sure why I haven’t gotten around to that yet:) I’d also like to figure out a cleaner way to finish the hood-neckline seam – maybe a strip of ribbing/jersey to cover that seam allowance would work.

Lane #3: Another baseball tee

I made the elbow length sleeves instead of the full length sleeves for this version and added a pocket, but otherwise it’s the same as Lane #1. I used a couple of cotton spandex jerseys, so while it fits and looks very similar to Lane #1, it feels just a tiny bit sportier.

I’m not entirely sure that I’m sold on the pocket – I feel like it needs to be shifted toward the center a bit – and my not-so-perfect stitching on the pocket makes it look a bit ‘handmade’ (and not in a good way).

I added a narrow zigzag stitch to the neckline to keep the band from flipping out, which is looks nice and is super functional – awesome!

All three of these have made it into regular wardrobe rotation already…they are comfortable, easy to wear, and easy to make! There’s nothing better than finding a pattern I love, and making a bunch of them!

---

Details

Pattern: Lane Raglan from Hey June Handmade – note that this is the updated version of the pattern released in February 2016.
Size: XL (tees) and XXL (hooded sweathsirt)
Fabric: orange baseball tee: ‘light’ organic cotton jersey from Organic Cotton Plus; blue baseball tee: cotton-spandex jersey from Girl Charlee; hoodie: Nike moisture-wicking knit from Fabric Outlet in SF