Kimono Shirt - TUTORIAL

A few weeks ago I shared with you the shirt that I made for myself.  I am FINALLY getting around to making a tutorial.  Sorry... it's wedding season.  What can I say?

You will need a couple of yards of a nice knit fabric.

With your fabric folded in half make sure the stretch of the fabric is up and down to you.  As shown in the picture above. 

Now fold your fabric in half one more time with the stretch still going up and down.

Find a t-shirt that fits you well and fold it in half.  Then lay it on top of your fabric.

Cut out the neckline.  I made mine the same on the front and back (pretty 80's!), but you don't have to.

Decide where you want the bottom waist band to start and mark it on your t-shirt.  I did this by putting the t-shirt on and placing a pin where I wanted it.  Then I marked on the fabric.  Refer to the above picture and below picture.

Now decide how wide you want your arm holes.  Keep them pretty wide!  Then make a slanted line just past the mark you made for your waist band will start.

Now pin two layers together.  We are NOT sewing all four layers, just two!!!

Sew your two layers together right over your marked line.

Now cut the excess fabric off, leaving a 1/4 seam.

Do the same thing on the other side.

Now cut off the excess fabric about a 1/2 inch below the mark you made for your waist band placement.

Now you are going to cut out your waist band.  I made mine about 13 inches wide.  For the length, measure your waist and subtract 2 inches.  

Make sure your stretch is going right to left for the waist band.

Fold the fabric in half and sew along this seam.

Turn your fabric right side out and fold it in half as shown above.

Take your waist band and put it over your shirt bottom.  You should have 3 layers of fabric now.  Pin it in place. The waist band should be smaller than the shirt. So, you will have to ease this together.  Sew it on!

Once you're done with the waist band, you should have this.

For the arm holes cut a strip that is a 1/2 inch longer than the circumference of your arm hole and 3 inches wide.  Now sew this the same way you did your waist band.  

Sew the short sides together.  Turn it right side out and fold in half wrong sides together.  

Sew it on your arm hole with right sides together

Run the seam through a server or do a zig zag stitch.

The neckline is the same thing, but instead of sewing the short sides together first, I folded them over each other like bias tape (refer to the above photo).

Now top stitch just below the seams on your arm holes and neckline.  This will keep the fabric from flipping the wrong way.

And.... you're done! 

I love the simplicity of this shirt.  Enjoy!