Anthropologie Pattern Pop Tee Knock Off Tutorial!

 
I've been lusting after Anthropologie's Pattern Pop Tee for a while now, ever since I saw the amazing knock off the lovely Merrick of Merrick's Art did. Her tutorial is awesome and you should really check it out! She started with a striped men's tee and totally deconstructed it to make a whole new shirt, which is actually much more impressive then how I chose to go about it. Since my process was pretty different, I decided to write up my own tutorial on how I made my knock off of the Pattern Pop Tee.

I started with a t-shirt and some woven cotton fabric. The t-shirt is a basic T from H&M. I liked it ok, but the color made it hard to wear with jeans (which is what I wear 90% of the time) and so it wasn't getting a lot of use. In addition to the items already listed, you'll also need some bias tape, which isn't pictured. I used a color that matched to color of my t-shirt, but a contrasting color would also look kind of cool!

With my trusty seam ripper, I took apart the side seams on my t-shirt all the way up to the armpits on both sides.

I cut away the back by cutting across the top, leaving about 1/2 inch between the armpit seams and my cut (this will become seam allowance).

Using your woven fabric, cut a piece for the back of the shirt that is about 1 1/2-2  inches larger on either side, and about 3-4 inches longer then the hem of the original shirt. You can use the piece of the back of the t-shirt that you cut off as a rough guide, or you can eyeball it. I eyeballed it, because the other piece of t-shirt was all the way across the room and I didn't want to walk that far, lol. Cut the longer woven hem into a large curve, like pictured below:

Pin bias tape along the edge, to the RIGHT side of the fabric:

Sew along the edge, then flip the bias tape over and pin it to the wrong side of the fabric to create a clean edge seam:

Sew it in place, along the very inside edge of the bias tape. I sewed another line of stitches inside my first, so that there are two rows. This was to mimic the look of the double stitched hem on my t-shirt, and to make sure that the hem lies flat. From the right side of your fabric your new hem will look like this:

Now you will pin your woven fabric to your t-shirt. Turn your t-shirt inside out, and you will start pinning your fabric at the very bottom hem of both pieces, lining them up like this, wrong sides together:

Make sure your wrong side of the woven fabric is facing out, with the right side facing the right side of the t-shirt! Next you'll pin up both sides, then across the top. This way if you need to add a tiny pleat at the center of the back you can. I didn't need to, and mine looked like this:

Then, using a zig-zag stitch, sew the woven fabric to the t-shirt, all the way around:

Here's what it looks like right side out!

I also sewed a line of straight stitches very close to the seam at the top of the shirt, making sure to catch my seam on the under side and sew it down. This helps stabilize the seam between the woven and jersey fabric so that it will be less likley to tear or bunch up wierdly, helps it to lay flat, and also adds a more professional detail:

Next you'll do the pocket! Cut a piece of fabric the approximate size and shape you want your pocket to be:

Fold the top of your pocket piece over twice, and sew along the top to create the top of your pocket. Again, I did a double row of straight stitches, mostly so that it looks the same as the other seams on the shirt. You can now eyeball the pocket's placement and double check the size:

Now you'll pin the pocket  down, folding the edges under. Make sure you get it right where you want it! Once you start sewing the front of the shirt, there's no going back!

Here is what the pocket should look like when done. The tiny triangles sewn along the very top sides of the pocket help to keep the pocket from tearing away from the jersey, and also make it look just a little bit more professional: 

And now you have your finished shirt!

This is such a quick and easy project if you use a shirt you already have! I think start to finish it took maybe 45 minutes? And I loooooove it. It took a boring basic t-shirt and transformed it into something special and unique that I will wear all the time. And I love that I got to choose my own fabrics. Honestly I've already made one out of a yellow striped t shirt that I will do a post on later, and I have fabric and plans for at least one more. They're so addictive!

~Jessica