Tracing a favorite tee

Remember this fabric?

I purchased it a couple of months ago and the moment I saw a photo of it I envisioned what it would become:  a v-neck vest/shell based on a favorite sleeveless tee that I purchased at Chico’s some years ago.

I love this Chico’s tee, it fits well, the V-neck is very flattering and the cut lies very nicely against my neckline.  It is a little lower than most tees, low enough that I can also wear it as a vest with a blouse or button-down shirt, but not so low that it shows too much skin for everyday wear.

As you can see in this photo, the neckline is somewhat interesting:  The front piece extends over the shoulders and form a back yoke with an angled v-shaped opening at the back of the neck.

Although I love this top, I never really thought about how this was made until I decided to copy it.  I knew it had a back yoke and opened at a v in the back, but I suppose I didn’t think much about it until I was preparing to copy the pattern.

So how do you copy something like this if you don’t want to cut apart the shirt to use as a pattern?  I still wear this top and I would really prefer not to cut it up and have to resew it.  But it is just a tiny bit more complicated than folding it half and tracing the outline, which would probably work for a standard tank with shoulder seams.

When I really looked at the top, aside from noticing that there was no shoulder seam (duh!) I noticed that the top is cut with a double layer in front and a single layer in the back, below the yoke.  I also noticed that the extended shoulder/back yoke piece is cut on the straight of grain with the front, but when the yoke piece is seamed at the center back they are pulled around on the bias, which is probably what accounts for the  way this top seems to hug the shoulders in such a nice way.

So how to trace this?  This is what I did, it is not the only way, and it is probably not even the best way, but it usually works pretty well for me.

Often, on  a simple shape like a tank or sleeveless shell, one might trace only half the pattern figuring that the piece will be cut on the fold.  Tracing off half the pattern makes it more likely that the side seams will match.  On this piece however, I would have to flip it to line trace the back shoulder extensions and I thought that working with the extra layers of a folded top might lead to further inaccuracies.

Since I have a seam, and it is hard to trace off an accurate copy of a seam, I  began by putting pins in the seam line.  Inserting pins into the edges and side seams will also give you a nice, well-differentiated line for tracing as well.

Next I spread the garment out very carefully on my table, making sure that the grain line was straight and that the garment was not stretched or pulled out of shape in any way.  I was careful to keep it as straight and even as possible.

Then I put my tracing material over the top of the garment and used tailor’s chalk to make a rubbing of the seam lines which had all been marked with pins.  There are several ways to do this, some people prefer pencils, feeling they get a finer line.   For me, since I have the pins in place, I get a very clear mark where the pins were positioned, so even if there are other chalk marks on my paper, I can still tell exactly where the seam was positioned.

There are many options for tracing paper.  You can trace the garment directly onto muslin, cut it out and sew it up and you have a test garment.  Or you can use pattern paper.  I used "soil-separator" paper that I bought at Lowe’s some years ago when it was being discussed on one of the sewing boards.  I don’t really like it for pattern paper as you can’t see markings on it, although it is sheer and good for tracing, and you can also sew it up like fabric.

If you are using something sheer like soil separator-paper be careful what you use for rubbing as certain things can bleed through the very sheer soil separator paper and mark the garment.  This is OK if the marker is washable and the garment is one you own, but I would not recommend this for a borrowed garment for example.

When I traced this garment I first traced the front, and marked the fold lines at the shoulders, then I flipped the garment, making sure I lined each of the back shoulders up with the corresponding fold lines.  I also checked the grain line of the fabric to make sure I had positioned it on-grain, then I traced each shoulder extension.

Once I had a rough copy of my garment on the soil-separator paper I could copy it to pattern paper.  This is the nice part about the soil separator paper.

First I laid a sheet of pattern paper out on the table.  Then I put my soil-separator paper rubbing on top of the pattern paper.  I made sure I could see all the proper lines and understood where I would be tracing, as there were a few wider and rough areas of my rubbing. 

Then I simply took a washable Crayola marker and traced the lines on the soil-separator paper with the marker.  The ink from the marker soaked through the soil separator paper, marking the  pattern paper as well, much easier than tracing.  I use a washable marker because I am incapable of doing this without getting it all over myself, the cutting table, and anything else that might happen to be in the way.  After I have traced over all the lines on the soil-separator paper, I remove it and copy over the lines on the pattern paper to be sure they were all clear.

Now I have a first draft of my pattern.  It is not yet finished.  The lines on this pattern would represent the seam lines — the seam allowances have not yet been added.  I also need to  check the pattern pieces to make sure that everything is correct. 

To do this I must make sure that all seams that will be joined together are the same length — for example matching the neck extension seams to the top back seam that will form the yoke and making sure that the front and back side seams
are the same length.  It is also a good idea with a pattern like this, which is a full front, to ascertain that the pattern is actually balanced from side to side by folding it and making sure that the right and left sides are mirror images of each other.

Once everything has been checked and I am sure that all the pieces are correct and properly aligned, I am ready to cut the fabric.