Today Jess is with us sharing how she turned the Just a Jersey from a football to a basketball style shirt…just in time for March Madness! Read on…
Hi sewing friends! Jess from If Only They Would Nap here, with an easy hack to the Just a Jersey T-shirt pattern. My boys are huge basketball fans, and my four-year-old is always stealing his older brother’s Wisconsin jersey. So I made him his own!
This pattern is designed for knits, but I used an athletic mesh fabric without any stretch. Before putting the pattern together, I widened the neck and lengthened the neckband to account for the lack of stretch. (And I made sure it would fit over my son’s head before I sewed it all together – don’t skip that important step!)
The Just a Jersey pattern has sleeves built into the yoke, but I wanted the jersey to be sleeveless. To do this I simply cut off the pattern piece after the seam allowance notch (where you’d sew down the side seams).
After sewing the yoke, neckband, and the front and back pieces, I also wanted contrasting side panels. To do this, leave about an inch free on either end, when sewing the front and back pieces on (you can see that on the red fabric above). Cut a side panel that was the same length as the front and back pieces. Then cut out a scoop for the armhole.
Sew one side of the side panel to the back piece.
Then line up the yoke and back pieces, and finish sewing across through to the side panel. Repeat with the other side of the side panel and again with the next side panel. Fold the raw edge of the armhole under and hem.
I had hoped to add a number to the front and back of the jersey with heat transfer vinyl, but I could NOT get the vinyl to stick to the athletic mesh. But we can still root for our Badgers without it. 😉
All my little basketball loving boys are asking for their own jersey now, so it’s a good thing I ordered lots of this fabric!
Now we’re all set for March Madness! You can grab your copy of the Just a Jersey T-shirt HERE.