Oh the hours I’ve spent searching for lace appliques on Etsy! I love love love lace appliques, and today I’m showing you how to make your own lace applique shirt.
There’s lots of choose your own adventure moments here: if you start with a t-shirt from your closet, you’ve got a great lace refashion project. If you’re in this camp, looking for a quick way to decorate your own shirt, feel free to skip ahead to where we sew on the lace.
For my other hardcore DIY peeps, I’ll be showing you how to make the tee, and then embellish your tee with the lace applique. This is keeping with my raglan tee series, and this variation requires no pattern hacking! And I’m showing you a different t-shirt neck binding technique than in the sew your own raglan post.
Whatever path you choose, you’re going to love the focal point the lace adds to your tee. It’s a great quick win!
Sew a lace applique shirt
Where to find lace appliques
Other supplies for your lace applique shirt
Sewing the t-shirt
Cut out the pieces
First, cut out your t-shirt pieces. You’ll need a front, a back, 2 sleeves and a neck binding piece.
Next, press up the hems on the sleeves, front, and back. On my pattern, I’m using a 3/4″ hem.
Sew the sleeves to the front
Now we need to sew the front sleeve seams. Pin the front to the front part of the sleeve right sides together.
Stitch the seam. I’m using a 3/8″ seam allowance, but use whatever your pattern calls for. You can either use a serger or a sewing machine fitted with a stretch or ballpoint needle.
Pin and sew the second sleeve to the front.
Press the seams towards the body.
Sew the right sleeve to the back
Next pin the right sleeve to the back, right sides together. Stitch the seam, and press it towards the body.
See how the neckline is now open? That’s what we want. Don’t sew the left sleeve to the back! What comes next is one of my favorite ways to sew on the neck binding. It might be one of the easiest to get nice and clean.
Sewing the neck binding
Pinning the binding
Take your neck binding and fold it in half long ways. Press the fold.
Now unfold it and pin the right side of the binding to the wrong side of the neckline. Stretch the binding slightly as you’re pinning it. Be sure to stretch only the binding and not the t-shirt body.
The binding needs to be slightly shorter than the neck so that it sits close to the body when you wear it. The general wisdom tells you to measure the neckline edge and subtract 10-15% for the neck binding length. In reality, some jerseys need more cut off.
As you’re pinning and stretching the binding, if it feels like your jersey is stretchier, you might have extra leftover. No worries. Just let the extra hang off the end of the neckline. We’ll check it in the next step to get it just right.
Baste and stitch the binding
Next use a long basting stitch to sew the binding to the neckline. It’s a good idea to sew it with a smaller seam allowance than what the pattern calls for here. For example, I’m sewing mine with a 3/8″ seam allowance, so baste at 1/4″.
Look at the neckline on the right side. Are there puckers? If yes, you stretched it too much. In this case, take out the basting stitch, repin a little looser. On the opposite end, does the binding look like it’s standing away from the neck? If yes, take out the basting, and repin, stretching the neck binding a little more.
When you’re satisfied with your neck, stitch the binding to the neckline.
Finishing the neck binding
First press the neck seam towards the binding. Now, fold the raw edge of the binding towards the seam so that they meet. Press the fold.
Wrap the pressed edge of the binding so that it covers the stitching line on the right side of the t-shirt.
Pin the binding in place or hand baste it. To finish this step, sew the binding to the t-shirt close to that pressed edge. I used my coverstitch here, but you can also use your sewing machine with a narrow zigzag (0.5mm width, 2.5mm length). Take out any basting stitches if you used them. Also cut off any extra binding if you had extra.
Sew the left sleeve seam
Finally on to the left sleeve seam! Match the left sleeve seam to the back piece, right sides together and pin.
Next, sew the left sleeve seam. This will make the seam in the neck binding at the same time. It’s a good idea to baste that intersection where the top and the bottom of the neck binding meets before you stitch the seam.
Stitch from the bottom of the neck binding up to the top edge at an angle with a narrow zigzag, backstitching when you start and finish. This will look like a tiny number 7. This extra stitching will help keep the seam flat so it doesn’t bother your neck. We’re almost done with the tee!
Sew the side seams
Last seams to sew! Fold the t-shirt right sides together, matching the underarm of the sleeve and front and backs together.
Sew the side seams and underarm seam in one long seam. If you like, baste the intersection of the underarm first so it’s just right. Press the seams.
Hem up your t-shirt
To finish off the t-shirt, fold your hems that you pressed earlier to the wrong side.
Stitch the sleeve hems and the bottom hem. Again, I’m using my coverstitch. If you don’t have a coverstitch, use a stretch double needle and a narrow zigzag. Now the t-shirt is finished, and it’s time to add the lace applique.
Elizabeth Farr is the writer behind the Elizabeth Made This blog where she shares helpful sewing tips, step by step sewing tutorials and videos to help you explore your creativity through sewing. She has written sewing Eguides and patterns, been a featured teacher at Rebecca Page’s Sewing Summit and Jennifer Maker’s Holiday Maker Fest and her work has appeared in Seamwork and Altered Couture magazines. She also created a line of refashioned garments for SEWN Denver. When her sewing machine isn’t humming, she’s playing and teaching violin, and hanging around a good strategic board game with her husband and 4 kids.