inside: learn how to make a pattern from your clothes. Recreate your favorite looks with a few easy steps. Copy your clothes by creating a pattern from clothes you already own.
How many of you wish you could make a copy of a favorite shirt or sweatshirt? When you sew you can duplicate your clothes pretty easily. I had this sweatshirt that I actually loved the shape and fit of, but the fabric was terrible. I decided to cut it up and remake it, only with better fabric. Today I’m going to show you how to make a pattern from your clothes to make more of what you like.
Duplicate your clothes
There are so many reasons why you may want to duplicate clothes that you already have. When we love something we love we want more of them! I’ve copied many articles of clothing over the years and today I’m going to show you how I recreated this sweatshirt.
Here are the shots of the original shirt. My face is a bit strange as these are stills taken from a video. Of course I forgot to photograph before cutting up the shirt. I actually loved the fit and look of this sweatshirt, but the fabric was terrible. It had really weird stretch and was scratchy inside.
I’d had this shirt for a few years and had sort of suffered through the things I didn’t like, but last week I decided to make something I loved from this shirt. Since I didn’t care for the fabric on this sweatshirt I’m going to show you how to copy your favorite shirt…by cutting it apart.
This is a SUPER easy way to copy clothing and perfect for worn out clothes, or ones you don’t like the fabric like me.
How to copy your favorite shirt
I bought a mystery box from Sincerely Rylee Fabrics and it was FULL of beautiful French Terry fabrics. I made a full length romper for Rose out of a purple and then used this pink to sew a sweatshirt for me.
I decided to reuse the neck band and arm/bottom bands as well. This took a bit more picking with my seam ripper, but I think it was worth it in the end. I added decorative top stitching with my double cover-stitch machine as well. I think I will also make another one of these that is slightly shorter and a bit more of the cropped style.
I’m super please with the result and hope you are inspired to cut up something you would love to copy as well {haha} Here are my top fabric picks if you need gorgeous fabrics. Fall/winter fabric picks – Spring/summer fabric picks
How to make a pattern from your clothes
Alright! here is my old {Walmart} sweatshirt and the fabric I wanted to use to sew the new sweatshirt. I decided the fabric was close enough in color that I was going to re-use the rib knit from the neck/sleeve/bottom. I wasn’t sure about then when I started sewing, but when I finished I loved the result.
Usually I would just cut the shirt at the seams. No need to pick out the seams – you can just add the seam allowance back when tracing. I did use my seam ripper a bit on this project though as I wanted to keep the rib cuffs. I also picked out the side slit so that I could see how it was sewn to re-create.
After you get the shirt cut apart you can trace it onto your new fabric. Make sure to add a seam allowance where you cut it off. I cut the fabric on the fold so I only need to trace half of the front and back.
Here you can see the rib cuffs that I saved and then all the pieces ready to sew again.
Sew the shirt back together. I usually sew the shoulder seams, then the neckband, then the sleeves, side seams and bottom. I top-stitched all my seams with maxi-lock fuzzy thread on my double cover-stitch machine. Need help with your neckband? Here’s my neckband tutorial.
I re-created the side slit as well before sewing the front and back bottom band on. You could also create my split hem tutorial for this look. For the cuffs I actually did the top-stitching 3/8″ from the raw edge of the sleeve while it was still up and flat. I don’t like to use my cover-stitch in small circles. After I sewed the side seam and the cuffs back on it actually looked like top-stitching, even though it was sewn before.
After it was all finished, I put it on and loved it! The fabric is soft and cuddly and just what I was looking for. I’m very pleased with the result. If you love the end product, trace your cut up shirt onto tissue paper so that you can save the pattern easily.
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