Little baseball t-shirt -Frankie by Tilly and the Buttons

Today I want to show you my second make from Tilly and the Buttons book “Stretch”. It is a Frankie t-shirt pattern.

Frankie is a simple T with raglan sleeves and curved hem. There are many options and varieties to this pattern so you can make lots of different styles with it. The pattern lines allow you to have hun with color blocking and are perfect if you have leftover of fabric that are to small for bigger projects.

The instructions for this pattern are included in the book and as usual Tilly made it very transparent and easy to follow.

Pattern adjustments

You may know by now (if you follow my blog) that I fall into a size 8 for Tilly and the Buttons patterns, but I always need to adjust them and remove some lenght to accommodate my petite frame. I did not want to trace pattern pieces just to cut them and shorten, so I followed my previous process by tracing size 6 around sleeves, neckline and armhole blending to size 8 at side seams. I had done it couple of times now and it works for me, plus it is much quicker in comparison to cutting at shorten/lengthen lines.

All went well this time as well, hovewer I realized that I have too much ease under my arms so blended to size 7 instead. This gave my more desired fit and overall I am glad I followed my intuition. I still had to decrease the lenght of the bodice by 5 cm, so I cut it off at the hem following the curve. I also straighten the side seams a little to give me more room to breathe.

Fabric choice and pattern construction

I could not resist to play with colors so I chose to make my Frankie using two different fabrics. Specially for this project I purchased cotton ribbed jersey from Minerva Craft in winter white and rose pink colors , because I really like how they looked together. I was not sure which way I will go with my color blocking so I purchased 3 meters in total (2 meters white and 1 meter pink) for £3.99 per meter which is a great price- currently on sale.

It took me about 30 mins to cut out the pattern, which have only four pieces and 1 hour and 15 mins to put it all together. It is the quickest make to date for me I believe. Sewing raglan sleeves is so much easier in comparison with set in sleeves (even on a jersey fabric), and my only dilemma is that I need to learn now how to adjust them for a better fit as the hem sticks out a little bit.

There is not much else I can say about this pattern other than it is a staple and I will make more in the future.

I wore it on my recent trip to Prague and can honestly say that it is very comfortable. Fabic is soft and it holds it’s shape throughout a day. It is breathable and looks great even after being bunched up in a backpack for couple of days.

Final thoughts

Frankie is an absolute must have in your wardrobe if you are looking for a t-shirt pattern that is cosy and will be “in fashion” for yours to come. There are few variations included in the “Stretch” book, which makes this pattern also versatile. I will be making more of them in different colors as next to Agnes top it is a second most wearable top in my closet.

~ maybe I will start play baseball now??? Just kidding hahahaha~

Monika xxx