The Banyan is my go to pattern for kid's knit T-shirts - for school tees, for up-cycling and also for pyjamas. I have tried other T-shirt patterns but this is the one I come back to over and over.* I think in my time I would have made it easily fifteen times. Maybe twenty.
What I like about it is that it is a little looser - which means more growing room and more comfortable for the small people. And because I sew my knits without an overlocker the looser fit means less broken seams and a nicer finish. It is also super quick. All in all it probably takes an hour or two. And if you can make more than one at a time I think you can do it quicker.
So the details. It is a pattern by Figgy's which is available as a pdf download from Stitch56. There are actually two different shapes. A boys shape which is looser and a girls shape which is more fitted with a different neckline and what I think is called a handkerchief hem. You can see some beautiful versions by sewers on Pinterest here. ** I adore the striped girls versions. They are next on my list.
The bit that I really really love about the Banyan is the neckline. In both the boy's and the girl's pattern, it has a lovely shape. However, my favourite thing is that I LOVE how simple it is to put on the neck band AND the total lack of fiddly-ness. Having to fiddle with a curly knit fabric to do a neckline is one of my least favourite things to do when sewing. This technique makes it super simple.
I love this pattern so much that I asked Sophie to teach it at The Craft Sessions 2013***. You can see what was made in her class in the photos below. All of those fabrics were recycled from tees from the op shop. Sophie has also made a bunch of them for her small boys which you can find on her blog.
Not the best photo - but fabulous garments!
I LOVE the fact that it looks wonderful with a combination of fabrics all thrown together which means that you can use small bits and pieces (I would call them scraps if I wasn't writing at ridiculous o'clock after being out with girlfriends for a glass of wine....my apologies!)
I did the same thing on the horse tee below. I took a tee that had holes in the arm, that belonged to my partner, and used the existing pattern for the front of the small boys tee. Can I tell you how happy he was that he got a new T-shirt out of a T-shirt that used to be his dad's? This is a winner all round.
Over the years, I have learnt to wherever possible make the front of the tee a dark colour. The grubbiness of small kids when eating and playing has meant the end to many a light coloured garment. By making the front piece dark I think I get an extra six months out of them before they become too feral to wear.
While I love the girls shape I often tone it down a little to make it less flappy and more practical. A version of this can be seen below in yellow - still flappy but not so much. I know literally nothing about pattern adjustment. I just wing it and redraw lines. It often works out. In the yellow version I just redrew the wings to make them less wingy. I then smoothed the curve on the bottom. It is a little wonky but she is happy. I was attempting to do the half up and half down thing inspired by Brienne but I accidentally cut off the back bit....ridiculous but true.
I have included photos of this last pink T-shirt to show you the joy of winging it and the use of the lovely Banyan neckline finish. I found this tee a month ago. Cut out and half made. I have no idea why I abandoned it - it may have been because I wasn't sure what to do with the back. I couldn't look it up because I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the pattern is. It definitely isn't a Banyan. Once I figured out that it would go over her head even if there wasn't an opening, I attached the Banyan neckline finish, then I literally just sewed the two pieces together. Dodgy but such a sweet top. Dodgy can equal joy!
Have you used the Banyan? Or is your go-to something else. I would love to hear.
Have a great long weekend.
Felicia x
*I have tried the Flashback Skinny Tee by Made by Rae - which I really like but hasn't become my basic. Again - I liked it but it hasn't become my basic tee.
** When the pattern was first released it came with some pants. So some of the pictures on that pinterest search are the pants.
***She is back teaching this year!!
So I wrote last week a post asking “Is my making fast fashion?”. And then I did a video on Instagram discussing similar topics in a slightly different way. And as always, you lovely humans have helped me clarify some of my thinking with your thoughtful, clever commentary.
And while I think there is so much more to discuss, here are four key possibly-more-meta ideas that have come up for me out of those conversations.
In using the quote last week that suggested that there was no single answer, and suggesting that this was freeing, I really did mean that we should sit in the grey. Not that the lack of “an” answer to this question should mean we get to ignore the question but rather that the lack of “an” answer means that we need to keep asking bigger more beautiful questions. And keep asking them.
Is my making fast fashion?
Am I living my values or merely thinking them?
And how can I make those two things a little more aligned in this moment?
These are my big beautiful questions.
Yours might be different.
And importantly this leads to point 2.