Ladies (or girls) Lion Collared Shirt Tutorial

Ok, first let me say that you can easily make this for girls. Here is a picture of one I made for my daughter this summer. It's made from a denim looking linen type fabric (not sure what it was b/c it was given to me). Its best if you make this from knit especially if you are making it for yourself b/c we have parts that need more room than a little girl. ;)

Disclaimer: I'm sure there is a "correct" way to make this but since I made up my own pattern you'll have to put up with my way of doing it. ;) Please feel free to let me know if you have a better way of doing something.

Girls:


Ladies:


(the rose colored shirt I'm wearing...)


Ok, lets get started! For the pattern I used a fitted long sleeved tshirt that I like. Please note: the tshirt stretches easily and the fabric I used for this tutorial doesn't so I wished I would have cut it bigger. Before you start cutting, determine wether or not the fabric will stretch much. (another disclaimer: if you are big busted you might want to try this on junk fabric because I'm not sure how this type of shirt will fit you since I don't have that problem. ;)

Lay the tshirt (that I will call the pattern from here on out) on top of your fabric. You will be cutting out 2 pieces, front and back so make sure your fabric is doubled. Make sure you cut it with the stretch going from side to side. :) I cut about 2" from the edges of the pattern and I cut it about 4" longer than the pattern.


for the neckline you can cut it pretty close since we need the neckline big. It won't stretch at all so it needs to be able to fit over your head...



when you get one side cut out I fold it over and use it as a pattern to cut the other side out so they are both the same. It's a little confusing, I hope the picture explains it.


next is the sleeve. lay the fold of the sleeve on the fold of the fabric. We only cut one sleeve out at a time. I should have pinned it down but I was too lazy. ;)


now you are going to sew the sides of the shirt, the top of the shirt and the sleeves together (where the yellow lines are)



next your going to sew the sleeve into the shirt. You will need to sew a basting stitch at the top of the sleeve, the curved part at the shoulder. The reason for doing this is so it will turn over your shoulder nicely. You can google "basting stitches for sleeves" since I forgot to photograph that step. This is what it will look like when you get the sleeve sewed in...


and here is what the sleeve looks like. See the little bit of gathering at the top of the sleeve? You don't want too much though or you will look like someone from the 80's. ;)


ok, you've got both sleeves sewed in, this is what it should look like...


now we're going to make the ruffles for the neck. I think I cut out two 8" strips of fabric


now here is the important part. If you want the ruffles to stand up and hold their shape nicely you need to put interfacing on the back of the ruffle strips. I like to use iron on interfacing because it's easier to sew with


with the right sides together sew the ends of each ruffle. Don't sew the 2 strips together, just sew the ends of each strip to itself.


you should now have 2 pieces of fabric that are sewn into a circle. Now we're going to sew the edges of each one together, wrong sides together (I use a basting stitch to do this, the longest stitch)...


the 2 ruffles for the collar...you can see that they are not perfect but since they will be ruffled you won't be able to see that anyway. ;)


If you are familiar with ruffling you know that you sew a basting stitch and pull one of the threads to ruffle it. With thicker fabric or layers of fabric that doesn't work. This is how I ruffle thick fabric. I use a long stitch just because it doesn't take as long to sew. :) Be careful it's easy to break a needle at this point. You might want to break out the safety glasses here. ;) I bunch the fabric up as it gets close to the needle.


this is what your ruffle should look like after you get done ruffling it


put the ruffle up to your neck line (make sure the hole is big enough to go over your head first) make sure the ruffle is approximately the same size as your neckline. You can adjust as you sew it on.


now sew the ruffle onto the neckline


it should look like this when you get the first ruffle sewn on...pretty rough ;)


now you're going to sew the other ruffle on the opposite way....the raw edge is facing down


to cover the raw edges between the ruffles I ruffled a small strip of brown knit and sewed it between the ruffles on the raw edges


here's what it looks like


hem the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt using a stretch stitch or pull the fabric just a little while you're sewing so it will still stretch a little when you put it on. Otherwise your thread will snap when your shirt stretches


TaDa!! You're done!!


If you have any questions feel free to email me. Have fun!