As you may have seen on Instagram, this t-shirt came about after I fell in love with a jumper Noel was wearing on Bake Off. Alas this is the only photo I could find of him wearing it!

Picture from Channel 4

His was from Lazy Oaf but sold out, and I generally avoid buying clothes these days. I wanted to create my own but thought I’d get more wear out of a t-shirt than a jumper as we’re (allegedly) heading into Summer.

Picture from Lazy Oaf

I bought the pink stripe jersey from Like Sew Amazing, and I had some black and white Happy Fabric heat transfer vinyl left from my Luna Christmas jumper.

 Click the photo to go to my Instagram post for more details

I wanted the tee to have a boxy casual fit to avoid any stretching around the vinyl. I was tempted by the Tilly and the Buttons Nora pattern, but as I’m trying to save my pennies, I opted for the French Navy Stellan tee: a free download.

I haven’t made a French Navy pattern before, so I whipped up a wearable toile while waiting for my jersey to arrive. I used some leftovers pieces of sky blue cotton jersey from Sew Me Sunshine, but I had to shorten it to fit the pieces on my fabric. I also ended up cutting a little too much off the sleeves!

Click the photo to go to my Instagram post for more details

The Stellan pattern recommends using a 6mm (1/4”) seam allowance which my machine really struggled with, and I switched to 1cm which worked much better. I initially basted my neck band with a 6mm seam allowance but it didn’t lie completely flat and looked much better when I re-sewed it with a 1cm seam allowance.

I made the following pattern alterations to my pink stripe version:

• I used a 1cm seam allowance
• I trimmed the neckband seam allowance and top stitched it in place using a twin needle, rather than doing the neckband reinforcement strip
• I shortened the sleeves by 7cm
• I extended and levelled the hem, using the hip of the Tilly and the Buttons Freya pattern as a template

The changes I made were due to my body type and personal preferences, not because I think there is anything “wrong” with the pattern. I can’t begin to imagine the enormous amount of work that goes into a designing a sewing pattern and I think it’s incredibly generous to give that work away for free.

Next I cut my Happy Fabric vinyl pieces. I wasn’t a fan of the nose on Noel’s jumper so stuck to eyes and cut:

• 2 x 5cm ovals in black HappyFlex
• 2 x 4cm ovals with 2cm ovals cut out of one side in white HappyFlex
• I used a holepunch to cut two 7mm white circles from white HappyFlex for the “shine” in each pupil

I added one of my "me made" labels, kindly gifted to me by Dutch Label Shop

I cut all my vinyl by hand. If you are lucky enough to have a Cricut or Silhouette you could use this to do the hard work for you, however, I quite like the hand drawn/cartoon quality that my hand cut vinyls give. I took the time to carefully place my vinyls and check they were central/straight and ironed them on as per the HappyFabric instructions, remembering to peel off the carrier between each layer. HappyFlex can be layered, although note that textured vinyls such as HappyGlitter and HappyFlock will not last as long if layered.

If you’ve been inspired to get crafty, why not enter your creations into Happy Fabric’s #MakeItMayDay competition? There’s lots of wonderful prizes up for grabs, including a £20 voucher for my shop!

Click the photo to go to their Instagram post for more details 

This post isn’t sponsored and does not contain affiliate links. I am sponsoring Happy Fabric’s giveaway, but was not asked to create and share a project with their products.

Loving this secret pyjamas outfit with my Joan Trousers