What’s better than a quick, fun tee sew? A quick fun tee with no hemming! Lol! I love the Tara top, and love the comfy fit. I thought adding a band around the bottom hem, and cuffs to the sleeves would up the comfy factor, and make it so much quicker to sew to. Let me share how I figured the dimensions to cut, and show you how easy this makes it to sew. It also gives you another look you can get from this pattern.

First, cut and construct your top following the steps in the tutorial. Before you hem your sleeves, or bottom edge, lay your top on a flat area. Measure the bottom edge of your top from one side seam to the other. And also measure the bottom of your sleeve, flat. Here’s the simple math. Take the number you measured, double it, and multiply by .9. Take the number you just got from that and add 1″ for seam allowance (1/2″ on each end). For example, here’s what mine measured. The bottom edge of my shirt was 15″ across. Doubled, that’s 30. Multiplied by .9 is 27. And add 1″ equals 28″.

15 x 2 = 30 / 30 x .9 = 27 / 27 + 1 = 28

Here’s my calculations for my sleeve cuffs:

3 x 2 = 6 / 6 x .9 = 5.4 / 5.4 + 1 = 6.4 (rounded to 6.5)

Cut one band for the bottom hem of your shirt, and two cuffs for your sleeves. The dimensions will be 4″ x the number you just calculated. If you’re making a Mama Tara, cut your cuffs 6″ instead of 4″ tall. You will want to make sure the greatest amount of stretch is going around the body. Now that you have these pieces cut, fold them in half, widthwise, wrong sides together, and sew them on the raw edge with a 1/2″ seam allowance. Repeat for all three pieces. Then you will fold them in half, lengthwise, wrong sides together, creating your cuff!

To attach them, place a cuff, right sides together with your shirt sleeve or bottom edge of your shirt, matching the seam of your cuff to one of the seams on your shirt, and matching quarter points of your cuff and shirt, clip or pin in place. Sew them on with 1/2″ seam allowance, stretching the cuff slightly to fit the shirt. When you’re finished, Flip it right side out, and give it a good press!

You have now completed your top!

 

Then I got extra excited about making an off the shoulder Tara with bands. You can not get any simpler, or cuter than this! Pick up your patterns here: Mama Tara and Tara, and don’t forget to show off what you’re making from these patterns in our pattern group!

Happy sewing, friends!