Copy a Shirt

If you have a shirt that you love the way it fits, and you wish you had more than one....you can.  Here is how I duplicated one of my old shirts from high school. 

 

First, decide which pattern pieces you will need to make.  My shirt only requires three pieces (front, back and sleeve). I didn't have to make a facing for the neckline because it is bound with a bias strip. If there are any facings, those will need to be traced as well.

 

 

Iron the shirt, and try creasing the seams so they will hold better while you are tracing. 

After the shirt is ironed, pin it onto a cardboard cutting mat.  Make sure that you don't stretch the fabric, just pull it taut.





Gradually, roll the pattern paper over shirt (remove pins and re-pin through the pattern paper and fabric.  If your fabric is stiff enough, you probably don't need to pin it down.)  This picture is the sleeve.  The sleeve is special because you can only work one side at a time.  Iron the sleeve seam down and work with half at a time. Draw a line to split the paper in half. This will be the center sleeve line.  Line up the line you just drew with the fold of the sleeve (not the seam) and trace one half.  Then flip the sleeve around, line up the center line again for the opposite half, and trace.

As you make the pattern pieces, be sure to mark any details such as a slit (where it starts), buttons, etc.  Label all pieces as you finish, i.e. center back, front sleeve, back neck facing, etc.  Also, mark where the shoulder seam hits the sleeve and similar details.

Once all the pieces have been traced, take any pattern piece which is symmetrical (front and back shirt in my case) and fold it in the center the best you can.  It won't line up perfect. There will be a little variance between the left and right.  Using a different colored pen for this, mark the line between (averaging) the two lines.  You will only need to do this for one side. After you have the new line, cut the pattern on the folded line and work with the half piece.



You can barely see the line of the armhole under the sleeve pattern.

The next step is to make sure everything lines up.  The front shoulder seam is the same size as the back shoulder seam, the front side seam is the same length as the back, etc.  When you arrive to the sleeve, walk the sleeve around the front armhole, and mark where the shoulder seam hits. Then walk the back half of the sleeve with the back armhole and mark where the back shoulder seam hits.  Ideally, the sleeve should be a little larger than the armhole measurement and this would be the ease. But if your sleeve is smaller than your armhole, you will have to make adjustments either to the sleeve or the armhole.

Measuring hem.

Once all pieces have been lined up, start measuring seam allowances used by the manufacture.  Also measure the hem.  Add these to your pattern.



Finished pattern pieces.