How To: Fake Layering

One of the things that I learned in school was how to make it look like something is layered when it really isn't. This is VERY simple in my opinion. You really only need to know how to stitch straight lines. In this "How To" entry I am going to show you how to do the fake layers. We are going to go through this like we were adding to the bottom of an existing shirt. The "shirt" is going to be the angel fabric and the layering will be the solid blue.

For the demo, I just cut 2 pieces of each fabric the same size as each other. Again, Shirt = angel. Layer = blue.

Step One: Sew right sides together with whatever seam allowance you want. I use 5/8 in. Then serge the seam allowance to make it look all pretty and finished. If you don't have a serger, don't sweat it. You don't REALLY need to. I just like the finished look.

Step Two: Create the upper layer. Take your shirt and place it right side to right side with the layer. Where you want your the fold (or hem) of your shirt. Fold the shirt back up on the hem fold wrong side to wrong side. Make sure that the serged edge is up underneath the shirt part so that when we stitch it, it will be secured and out of the way.

Step Three: Stitch the edge. What I did is two straight stitches side by side to give the finished double needle look that a lot of "store bought" clothes have. I measured the first row of stitches by placing the edge of my foot on the edge of the fabric. Then the second row of stitches by placing the edge of the presser foot on the first row of stitches and sewing another straight line.

Below are two pictures of the finished product. The first is how it looks on the right side. The second is how it looks on the wrong side. I apologize for the lack of straight lines on the back. My machine made the *chunka*chunka* noise and freaked out... didn't realize my bobbin thread was running out. Anywho, the bottom is why you make sure the serged edge is folded up behind the shirt. The top/secure stitching holds it in place.

If this were a real shirt/skirt/whatever you would then hem the blue part for the finished look. But because this was focused on making the layered look I didn't bother with a bottom hem. If anyone has any questions and needs clarification on any of these steps, please feel free to message me. I will be more than happy to clear things up. Hope this gives some easy creative ideas to people to add a new dimension to an old piece of clothing.

School Project - T-Shirt

This shirt was my second school project. The pattern was for a basic t-shirt (just the black part) but I wanted to change it up a little bit. I asked my teacher if she could show me how to add the long sleeves and the bottom in pink. For the record... it was WAY easier than i ever expected it to be. Faux layers are easy.

I bought the same kind of straight up non stretch cotton as I did for the pj pants. Again, don't like the texture, but good for learning with, and another simple McCalls or Butterick pattern. All of the patterns I have used so far are McCalls or Butterick. But for the sake of consistency, I will continue to post that little bit of info :)

Adding the faux sleeves was very easy. Instead of cutting the pattern piece for the short sleeve version, I kept it long for the long sleeve version. Then, when I pinned it to cut the fabric I just folded it on the line where I would have cut it short. I cut the top sleeve section in black and the bottom section of the sleeve piece. Then I sewed the pink section to the black section. Easy peasy. After getting my two tone sleeve in one piece I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen next. The simplicity blew me away. Fold the black part down and over the pink part and top stitch to hold it all in place. Done! Faux layered sleeves! The bottom was exactly the same except I didn't use a pattern piece. It was just rectangle shaped pieces of material the length and width that I needed.

The contrast of the black and bright pink was a lot of fun to work with and I really like the overall outcome. I know you can not see it in this picture, but all the stitching (hemming and top stitching) that is on the black shirt is a bright pink thread for contrast and black thread on the pink material. I think it gives it another interesting but subtle think to keep your eyes interested.