After many months in the making, I’m super pleased to announce the arrival of my first printed pattern – but not as you’re expecting!
The Tessellate Tee pattern is a collaboration with Love Sewing magazine for a stylish teeshirt pattern which can work for either casualwear or activewear, depending on your fabric. The geometric seamlines continue on the back, and you can either choose to colourblock the pieces with three different fabrics (as shown in the magazine), or sew it all up in one fabric, or even just use two fabrics to accentuate the middle triangle or diagonal line.
Photos courtesy of Love Sewing magazine
Looking for your perfect long sleeved teeshirt for these cold winter days? The Tessellate Tee has a banded neckline and generous ease in the waist and hips, plus flattering geometric seaming on both the front and back making this top ideal for colourblocking. It can be made in a variety of stretch jersey fabrics, such as cotton jersey, wool jersey, ponte roma, sweatshirting, French terry, or supplex lycra with at least 20% crosswise stretch. 1cm (3/8in) seam allowances and 2cm (3/4in) hem and sleeve hem allowances are included.
This pattern is only available in Issue 23 of Love Sewing magazine, and is included in the printed supplement sheets with fully illustrated instructions printed in the magazine itself.
How to buy
If you’re in the UK, Love Sewing magazine is widely stocked at WH Smiths and most of the bigger supermarkets. If you live outside the UK or prefer online ordering, you can buy issue 23 here direct from the publishers, or alternatively, you can buy issue 23 from Newsstand (while it’s the current issue) may work out cheaper for some shipping destinations.
Love Sewing have posted the Size Guide & more model photos here, though if you’ve sewn my patterns before then you’ll probably already be familiar with my sizing (there’s no change here, though the top has a little more ease through the waist and hips than my XYT Workout Top or VNA Top patterns).
The Add On Pack!
Annnnnnd, if a colourblocked long-sleeved teeshirt isn’t enough for you, then you can make your tee even more workout-friendly with my Tessellate Tee Add-On Pack which is available to buy for only $2.99 (about £2)! This is less than the cost of a coffee (or a pint!) and the small pieces mean there aren’t very many pattern pages to print either.
This expansion pack for the Tessellate Workout Tee pattern allows you to add thumb cuffs onto the sleeves (without any hand sewing!), a hood with a special opening for your ponytail, and a zippered back pocket – perfect for cycling and hiking. Choose to add just one, or even all three onto your Tessellate Tee!
I should also add that the thumb cuffs have been designed so that they also work with my Surf to Summit (Ladies) Top pattern, and vice-versa with the hand mitts included there, so you can add the thumb cuffs onto your Surf to Summit Top, or add hand mitts onto your Tessellate Tee.
I’ve also included instructions on omitting the ponytail opening from the hood for all your short-haired ladies – it’s a really easy alteration and cuts out a few sewing steps, too!
I’ve compiled just some of the many samples I’ve sewn below so you can see the variety of styles you can make from this one pattern – don’t worry, I’ll be posting more garment photos of these once I’ve recovered from this awful head cold I’ve picked up!
This really is a versatile pattern, not only in how you can colourblock it, or the variety of fabrics you can use (everything from heavy sweatshirting and french terry to cotton jersey to lycra to refashioned DriFit tech tees!), but also in the activities it’s useful for based on what you add onto it.
This pattern has been a long time in the making and I hope you are as excited to see it in print as I am!