Flannel Ruby Top

This fabric has been sitting in my stash for a while. I originally purchased it to go with my funky green pants (see here). However, after making several flannel button down shirts, I didn’t think I needed any more and wanted to have some other designs in my closet. After sewing button down shirts, I figured making a long-sleeved version of the Made By Rae Ruby Top would be super easy and it was. Here are the pattern hacks for this shirt.

I cut out the following pieces: 2 front yoke, on the bias fold; 2 back yoke, on the bias fold; 1 front on the fold; 1 back on the fold; 2 long sleeves (from the Washi Expansion Pack). The reason I cut the yoke on the bias is so I didn’t have to worry about trying to line up plaids that were never going to properly line up. I love plaids, but they come off the bolt warped and skewed, so lining anything up is nearly impossible. I also love the detail of having the yoke on the bias. With the extra yoke pieces and sleeves, I needed 2 1/2 to 3 yards of fabric.

First, I sewed both sets of the yoke. I sewed the front yoke to back yoke at the shoulders and then pressed the seams open. One yoke is going to be the outward facing yoke and the other is going to be the lining. With right sides together, I sewed the outer and lining together around the neck opening making sure to line up center front and back and the shoulder seams. Then I clipped into the curves so when I flipped to encase the seams, the neck opening pressed flat. When you create a lining like this, you don’t need to finish your seams as they will be hidden away.

Second, I gathered the front and back pieces according to the instructions. I used my serger to finish the edges of some of my pieces, the sides and bottom of my front and back pieces. I didn’t serge the top edge of the front and back pieces because it will be hidden under the yoke lining, but also because I didn’t want the extra bulk. I also used the serger to finish around the entire sleeve.

Third, I sewed the front to the front outer yoke only and the back to the back outer yoke only. The lining yoke was left untouched and free. Then I pressed the seams towards the yoke.

Per instructions, I gathered the shoulders of the sleeves and then sewed the sleeves into the garment. Because I did a forward shoulder adjustment to my yoke pieces, I had to center my gathers forward as well. Note, it looks really stupid if you have a forward shoulder adjustment on your shirt and NOT your sleeves. This next step was the trickiest part and lucky there’s already a whole video on how to attach the lining to the sleeves  (see here). With practice, this burrito roll method is really easy. I find if I don’t try to attach the end 2 – 3 inches initially it makes the whole process easier. When you un-burrito roll your shirt, you can always go back and properly sew the lining to the sleeve those last 2-3 inches. The benefit of using this method is you can also pre-fold under your lining that is going to conceal the yoke and body seam.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/whatscookindoc/33048736914/in/album-72157679052508943/

At this point, you’re almost done. I sewed the side seams, sewed the bottom hem, and finally gathered the arm hole with an encased elastic band. The last step (which for me has turned therapeutic) is hand stitch the yoke lining to hide the yoke and body seam. You use a felling stitch to stitch the yoke lining down.

I was dubious how flannel would look with this type of shirt, but wow am I impressed. The first time I sewed this pattern was with 100% quilting cotton. Because of the stiffness, the shirt tends to be “puffier” and doesn’t drap very well. Luckily though, because I did my original fitting with this less forgiving fabric, this flannel the shirt isn’t as tight and has the perfect amount of ease.