My absolute favourite t-shirt pattern is Grainline Studios’s Lark Tee. Their patterns are straight forward and so professionally drafted.
So far, I’ve made short and long sleeve versions with a crew neck. I have a thing with crew necks as I like how necklaces look with them and I also like how they look and feel under sweaters and vests.
All of mine were sewn using a 4-thread overlock for the seams and a coverstitch to hem the sleeves and bodice. If you’ve already cut out your pattern (including having made any adjustments) and your fabric is already prewashed, then it is a very quick make. I can make one in an hour and a half.
Now, I tend to buy 2m of merino fabric to make a short and long sleeve version in one go. It does require a bit of Tetris pattern placement on the fabric, but overall it’s very efficient and I know I have one for summer and one for winter, ready to go.
Short-sleeve Linen Lark Tee
Here is a navy one which I made in a linen jersey from Maai Design Fabrics. I love how light this fabric is, which is perfect for summer. I modified the short sleeve piece to be longer.
[linen lark tee pic]
Short-sleeve Cotton Jersey Lark Tee
Below is a heavier weight fabric in an organic cotton jersey. It might have been a See you at Six fabric? The longer style of short sleeve was made by shortening the long sleeve pattern piece.
And then there are all my merino versions…
Merino Wool Lark Tees
Merino tops are something I wear every single day in winter. I always buy merino fabric from The Fabric Store as it’s such high quality and they have the widest range of colours. You just can’t get that range of colours in read-to-wear merino tops.
The teal blue one above was the first one I made. I kind of knew the long sleeve would be too short for me, as I found this to be the case with the Grainline Studio Linden Sweatshirt, but I didn’t bother to lengthen it. I wore it once before I ripped the hems off the sleeves to add a cuff for extra length. I used the cuff pattern piece from the Linden Sweatshirt as it matched the pattern perfectly – I’m guessing because they’re similarly drafted being from the same brand.
On this ivory coloured one, I added 2″ to the length of the sleeve. It may have been a smidge too much length….
On the black one, I reduced the extra sleeve length to 1.75″ and they’re perfect. Third time’s a charm, right?
Most of them are made as per the pattern for the neckline. But I finally ventured out and used my coverstitch knit binding attachment. Talk about a professional finish! 😍
As I’ve been wearing these merino tops for a few years now… I’ve just started noticing a lot of wear at the armscye and I have a theory… but this will have to wait for another time.
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