Shannon: Picking a Shirt Pattern
Getting started with shirtmaking can be intimidating! You might have questions around choosing the right pattern, fitting it to your body, choosing fabric, and getting all the fiddly details just right. This month at SewQueer, we’re going to try to answer your questions with a series of posts from seasoned shirtmakers and our first-ever SewQueer Symposium, where our blog contributors will answer all your burning questions about shirtmaking.
To kick off the month, I wanted to begin at the beginning: how to choose your shirt pattern. Picking the right pattern will give you the best foundation for creating the perfectly-fitted shirt of your dreams. However, most of us won’t fit into a pattern straight from the envelope – especially if our bodies and gender presentations don’t align with mainstream expectations. While this blog post won’t be able to cover all the possible pattern adjustments you might need to make, it will hopefully help you choose a pattern that will minimize the number of adjustments you need.
A person wearing a grey button-front shirt with large chest pockets.
The Elbe Textiles Sanders Button-Up is a flat front shirt with a two-part collar and inseam chest pockets (chest sizes 34–52”).
First, what do we mean by shirts in this context? For shirtmaking month, we’re specifically looking at collared shirts with some kind of button front, which developed predominantly within European fashion traditions. However, many of the discussions at hand this month are applicable to many styles of top as well!
A person wearing a cream long-sleeved collared shirt with a longer back.
The Grainline Archer Shirt comes in standard and ruffle-back styles (chest sizes 32–44”). The ruffle detail is unusual, but if the shirt doesn’t come in your size, you’d probably be better off hacking a pattern that does than trying to fit the Archer to your body.
When choosing any pattern, there are two major factors at play: fit and style. In the SewQueer Instagram Live discussion with Leila of Muna and Broad, Leila suggested that choosing patterns for fit first and style second is usually the better option, and that’s the same line of reasoning I’ll use here. This is because fit adjustments are often harder and more complex to do than style adjustments. For trans and gender nonconforming folks, this can suck; finding a well-fitting pattern might require using one that is gendered for your assigned sex because of the ways fashion continues to reinforce the gender binary. I see you and recognize the suckage!
A person wearing a blue plaid shirt with a band collar, holding an ax over one shoulder.
Here, I wear an Elbe Textiles Cornell Shirt (chest sizes 32–56”), which I like because it works well for me no matter how my chest is shaped using different types of bras, bralettes, or binders.
For this post, I’m going to talk about the shape of your body, particularly your chest, as a guide for choosing a fit. I’ll use the word “breast” as a non-gendered term to describe the fullness and shaping of chest tissue and to differentiate from chests without that fullness. I want to reinforce that your body doesn’t determine your gender! Along with this, I’ll also talk about types of undergarments that might change the shape of your chest, such as bras, binders, or prosthetic breasts. Whatever you wear under your clothes to make you feel good is awesome.
When it comes to shirt patterns, there are three basic fit categories I’ll be using here. Anything else, including style of sleeve, collar, cuffs, button band, yokes, etc., falls under the category of style for our purposes.
A line drawing of a collared shirt with a flat front and chest pocket.
The Thread Theory Fairfield Button-Up is a classic flat-front shirt pattern (chest sizes 36”–46”).
Flat front: typically associated with “men’s” shirts, this style includes a single piece for the front that does not have any shaping for breasts such as darts. This style may be closely fitted or oversized.
Options include:
Thread Theory Fairfield (chests 36–46”)
Sew Sew Def Gosling (chests 34–44”)
Elbe Textiles Sanders (chests 34–52”)
Elbe Textiles Cornell (chests 34–56”)
Freesewing Simon (generated to your measurements)
Colette Negroni (chests 30–52”)
Muna and Broad Waikerie (chests 40–64”)
Grainline Archer (chests 32–44”)
A line drawing of a collared shirt with chest darts.
The Seamwork Rachel Shirt is a classic collared shirt with a darted front (chest sizes 33–54”)
Darted front: typically associated with “women’s” shirts, this style includes a single dart going into the side seam to accommodate breasts. This style is most often used for smaller breasts as for larger chests the dart can get quite large.
Options include:
Seamwork Rachel (chests 33–54”)
Seamwork Natalie (chests 33–54”)
Freesewing Simone (generated to your measurements)
Burda 6327 (chests 34–44”)
Gertie for Simplicity 9295 (chests 32–48”)
Muna and Broad Tarawi Shirt (chests 38”–66”)
A line drawing of a collared shirt with two curvy front shaping seams.
The Cashmerette Harrison Shirt uses two sets of shaped seams in the front to closely fit breasts, particularly larger breasts (chest sizes 37–62”)
Seamed front: typically associated with “women’s” shirts, this style uses a shaped vertical seam from the shoulder or armscye to accommodate breasts. This seam is often also called a “princess seam.” This style can create a closely-fitted shape on breasts of all sizes and may also be used to emphasize the curves of a body.
Options:
Cashmerette Harrison (chests 37–62”)
Tilly and the Buttons Rosa (chests 30–44”)
Vogue 9029 (chests 32–47”)
Lekala 4974 (generated to your measurements)
For shirtmaking, the fit of the upper chest and shoulders is the most important place to start. This will determine how your collar fits, how the shoulders sit, and where the sleeve head falls. If this fits (or is close to fitting), then you can make changes to fit your chest, stomach, hips, and arms.
Choose your own adventure…
So, how do you pick the fit you want? Well, this depends on your body shape, how you present your body shape (such as using undergarments to change the shape of your chest), and what effect you wish to have. It’s a bit of a choose your own adventure! Below, I’ve listed out the different paths you might choose.
Start with your existing body and its chest shape. Then we’ll determine how you might or might not manipulate that shape through undergarments. Finally we’ll think about what vibe you’re most interested in and match you with one of the three types of shirt fits listed above.
A. Lower, softer:
I have breasts or fullness in my chest tissue and I let them hang free or wear a soft bra or bralette with minimal lift; or
I do not have breasts or full chest tissue and wear soft, low prosthetic breasts or padded bralettes
B. Higher, rounder:
I have breasts or fullness in my chest tissue and I wear a bralette or underwire bra with lift; or
I do not have breasts or full chest tissue and wear higher, rounder prosthetic breasts or padded bras
C. Flatter, smoother:
I have breasts or fullness in my chest tissue and I wear a binder to flatten and minimize and there is a greater than 1” difference between my high chest (measured below the armpits) and my full chest (measured at the widest part) when wearing my binder; or
I have had top surgery or mastectomies and have fullness in my chest or around my scar tissue that creates a greater than 1” difference between my high chest and full chest in my everyday life (including if the difference remains when wearing binders or compression tops)
D. Flatter, smoother, mark 2:
I do not have breasts or full chest tissue (including post top surgery) and I do not wear any undergarments that change the shape of my chest; or
I have breasts or fullness in my chest (including fullness remaining post top surgery) and I wear a binder to flatten and minimize and the difference between my high chest and full chest is 1” or less
Awesome. Now, what effect are you interested in getting from the body of your shirt?
Close-fitting and emphasizing my chest and torso: You’ll probably do best with a seamed front pattern. Seamed fronts can get the most closely-fitting shape as they shape the whole vertical length of the garment.
Some shaping for my chest, but not closely fitted in the torso: You’ll probably like a darted front pattern. Darted fronts offer extra volume for the breast tissue but can hang more loosely or straight below the chest.
No shaping for my chest: you’ll probably prefer a flat front pattern. Flat fronts do not have any extra three-dimensional volume for breasts. Shaping for the rest of the body can often occur in the side seam.
A person wearing a collared shirt with a print of drawn mushrooms.
These days, I mostly wear soft bralettes that only offer a small amount of lift to my large breasts. I find flat front shirts like the Muna and Broad Waikerie, shown here, to work well for this (chest sizes 40–64”). Otherwise, I will lower the apex points for a darted or seamed front.
A1: Most shaped-seam garments are intended for bodies wearing modern underwire bras, which lift and round the breast tissue. Thus, you might need to adjust the “bust apex” lower – this is the point where the fullest part of the breast sits.
A2: As with A1, you might need to lower the dart so that the tip of it points to the fullest part of your bust. You may adjust the angle of the dart to change the visual effect, as well. Darts direct the eyes, so if they point down, the breasts seem lower, if they point up, the breasts seem higher.
A3: You probably want a flat front pattern. However, your breast tissue might still strain the buttons in the middle if the pattern is drafted for a body without breasts. To fix this, you’ll want to add some width across the fullest part of your chest. You might be able to simply add to the side seams for a smaller sized breast. Otherwise, later in the month, we’ll have a tutorial showing how to achieve a flat-front with breast tissue accommodation by doing a modified “full bust adjustment” and removing the resulting dart.
A person wearing a floral button-front shirt and magenta trousers.
When I’m wearing an underwire bra, I feel super amazing in the Cashmerette Harrison Shirt, which has shaped seams that offer a curvy fit for larger breasts (chest sizes 37–62”).
B1: A shaped-seam garment is probably intended for your style of chest! Shirts with very curvy or even more than one shaping seam in the front will do the best job of conforming to and emphasizing larger breasts.
B2: You can play around with the length and angle of the dart to manipulate the visual effect you’d like. For larger breasts, breaking the dart up into two smaller darts can sometimes make them easier to handle.
B3: You might like a boxier or oversized style of flat front shirt, particularly one that has been drafted for or tested on bodies with breasts. To adjust a more closely-fitting shirt for your body, stay tuned for our tutorial later in the month!
A person wearing a popover collared shirt in a pale green color.
My partner, Morgan, has had top surgery and favors flat-front shirts with popover collars, like this one I made for them. I adapted the collar and popover button placket details from the Closet Core Patterns Kalle Shirt (chest sizes 31–60”) and added them to the Colette Negroni flat-front shirt (chest sizes 30–52”). I’d used the Negroni before for them and it fit well, so this allowed me to just change up style details without re-fitting!
C1: You might look for patterns with shaped seams that come from the shoulder, which can subtly shape the front of a garment to conform to your chest. Or, you might find shaped seams that come from low in the armscye, almost in the underarm. These can offer side shaping which can bring the garment closer to your waist and stomach. Either style can be modified to have a straight or flared shape at the hips.
C2: A darted front can give you some extra space so there’s no button straining. A binder often lowers the widest point of the bust. Particularly if your pattern is created with someone wearing an underwire bra in mind, you’ll likely want to lower the bust dart. Shortening the legs of the dart a bit so that the tip hits further out on your chest can make it less noticeable.
C3: A flat front style can fall straight over your body without conforming to any breast tissue. As with A3, you might wish to add some width at the widest part of your chest, either at the side seams or using our upcoming tutorial.
D1: As with C1, you might look for patterns with shaped seams that come from the shoulder or deep in the armscye. They can also be used to shape the belly and hips of a shirt if your chest is flat but the rest of your body isn’t. If your chest is quite flat, shaping seams in the back and side can also create a more fitted look.
D2: While you may not have chest tissue to fill out the space created by a dart, you might wish to use narrow darts to create certain visual effects. You can change the length, direction, and location of darts to guide the eye and visually shape the body, if so desired.
D3: Most flat front patterns are intended for bodies with flat chests, so you might have good luck with one of those. Adjusting to fit the belly and hips might be your next goal, if your lower torso is wider than your chest. Look out for a future post on ways to add width to the hips of a shirt without changing the chest!
I hope these tips help you decide which type of fit with which to start. Over on the SewQueer Instagram, we’ve spent plenty of time brainstorming good shirt patterns for different kinds of bodies – hit up the #SewQueeries tag to see past discussions!
Happy shirtmaking!
Shannon (she/her) is a queer sewist and art historian, living and teaching in the midwest. She shares her own sewing, mushroom farming, and dollhouse making on Instagram at @rare.device and is the founder of SewQueer.
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