dana's test blog: TUTORIAL: Muscle Tees

One final project to wrap-up Celebrate the BOY.
It's a simple spin on the Basic TEE I shared 2 weeks ago and works great for Texas summers.

I told him it was a muscle Tee and he said, isn't it a tank top?
Fair point. But doesn't muscle tee sound cooler?

Muscle Tee it is. He thought it was fun to show off his (growing) muscles and actually surprised me by loving this outfit. He asked if he could wear it the rest of the day. You gotta it Mr. Muscles.

The sleeveless Tee is just as easy to make as the Basic Tee. Start by reading the Basic Tee tutorial and download the free size 4T Pattern .

And now it's time for that mysterious dotted line. Ooooo. Cut along the dotted lines of the Front and Back pattern pieces and you have Muscle Tee pattern pieces ready to go!
NOTE: Make sure your write "Muscle Tee" on the new pattern so you aren't confused the next time you go to make a Basic Tee and pick up the wrong pattern.

• With your new pattern pieces, cut a Front and Back from the fabric (as outlined in the Basic Tee)

• Cut ribbing for the neck and armholes, and iron each strip in half (read more about ribbing in the Basic Tee)
Cut 1 Neck piece: 11.5 x 1.75 inches
Cut 2 Armhole pieces: 12 x 1.5 inches

• Sew the neck ribbing as shown in the Basic Tee. Then, rather than adding sleeves we're going to add armhole ribbing.
• With right sides of the folded ribbing and t-shirt armhole together, stretch and pin the ribbing to the armhole. First find the center point of the ribbing and pin that to the center of the armhole. Then pin the ends of the ribbing to the ends of the armhole. Then continue stretching, pinning, and evenly spacing the ribbing along the armhole.
• Sew the ribbing in place using a straight stitch and a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Iron out your seams.

• To add a pocket, cut a small square (or any shape), iron the edges under (sewing the top of the pocket down first as shown in this tutorial), position it on the Tee, pin it in place, and sew it down with a 1/8 inch seam allowance.
• With right sides of the Tee together, pin and sew the sides of the Tee together.

• To keep the armholes snug and from gaping out, do not follow the line of the arm ribbing as it flares out slightly when you sew. Just sew a straight side seam with a 3/8 inches, starting at the top of the ribbing and going straight down (see left photo below)
• When you're finished with your Tee, the side seams at the armholes will be poking into the armhole slightly, which might be uncomfortable to wear. So, sew the side seams down on the ribbing about 1 inch.