April 24, 2016

Concord T-Shirt Sewalong: Hemming and Cuffs


Today is going to be a little different depending on the style of shirt you’ve elected to make. We’re going to have three sections: cuffs, hems, and tabs.

If you are making the cuffed sleeves in any length (short, mid, or long), start with the cuffs section. If you are also making the cropped or hip length, then continue to the hem section. If you are making the long curved hem version, you’re done after the cuffs!

If you are making the hemmed sleeves, skip the cuff section and go straight to hemming. If you are making the long curved hem version, you’ll just hem the sleeves and you’ll be done.

Finally, if you are adding the optional sleeve tabs, finish off your shirt at the Tab section.

Cuffs

Start by sewing your cuffs together along the short sides with right sides together.

Press the seam allowance open and trim it down. Fold in half along the long edge, wrong sides together. Press this until it lays nice and flat.

Attach the cuff to the sleeve by placing it right sides together with the sleeve, raw edges aligned. Make sure to match up the sleeve seam with the cuff seam. Sew the cuff to the sleeve at a 3/8” seam allowance.

Press the cuff down and the seam allowance up towards the sleeve. Repeat for the second side.

Hemming

For the sleeves, turn under the hem by 1″ and press. Pin in place.

For the body hem (on the crop and mid-length versions), turn under by 1.5″ and press. Pin in place.

Sew the hems using a long zigzag stitch, a twin needle, or a coverstitch. Press the hems after sewing them to relax the stitching.

Sleeve tabs

If you’re using the optional sleeve tabs, you already have them attached to the wrong side of your sleeve from the previous step. Now, we are just going to put on the finishing touch by anchoring them in place with a decorative button on the outside of the sleeve. Fold the sleeve tab to the right side of the sleeve so that the tip overlaps the square of stitching. Pin in place.

Sew a button on by hand, securing all the layers, and repeat with the second side.

That, my friends, is a wrap! Here we have our two finished shirts!

We can’t wait to see the Concord T-Shirts you make (we bet you can’t make just one!). Share them with us on social media with the hashtag #ConcordTShirt.

3 thoughts on “Concord T-Shirt Sewalong: Hemming and Cuffs

  1. Susana Pourxet says:

    Hi Jenny: I,m a very new sewist and the first and only wearable Tshirt I made was Concord and I love it! Now I would like to make another one but longer, lets say near to the knees with the idea to wear it as with leggings. What’s the best way to do it? TIA- Susana

    1. Hi Susana, that’s great to hear! Here’s a tutorial that shows you how: https://blog.cashmerette.com/2016/05/concord-t-shirt-dress.html

  2. Dani C says:

    When you are hemming tshirts, especially those with curved hemlines, there is a danger of “hem creep” which gives a distinctive diagonal mini-folds look. This happens because you start at one point, and then turn up and pin, continuing around the hem. Inadvertently you will pull the hem tighter than the shirt, and this pulls the hem off grain. The worst part of this is you will end up with an unattractive fold or overlap of fabric inside, when you come back to the starting point.

    The key is a segmenting the hem. Turn up and pin at the side seams, CF and CB, creating 4 sections. Find the midpoint between one side seam and CF and pin that up, then repeat for the other 3 sections. Continue like this, picking the midpoint between two pins, turning up the hem so that its parallel with the edge and pinning up. This way you keep the hem straight, you ease any fullness in small sections, and keep the hem even. I use clips rather than pins for hemming, as this method can see you stabbing yourself, as you move backwards and forwards around the hem.

Let me know what you think!