Learn how to make a pattern of your favorite t-shirt to make again and again. Using your favorite t-shirt to make a pattern is a great way to learn about clothing construction. Karen will show you how to trace a favorite t-shirt to create your own pattern, which you can then use to construct replicate a shirt that already fits into many different fabrications. You can even use it as a basis for custom garments.  You should have some sewing experience for this class. In this class, you will learn to:

• Work with knit fabrics

• Trace tee for pattern

• Create a pattern on Swedish tracing paper

• Construct a tee-shirt, including shoulder seams, sleeve seam, side seams, replicate the neckline, sew the hems

• Use your new pattern to help understand fitting

• Apply what you learn to other knit garments

Karen LePage is happiest crafting in community. She has taught garment sewing and hosted crafty meetups since 2008 and has been making clothes since she received her first sewing machine at 5 years old.  She has contributed projects and articles to sewing magazines and online publications, filmed instructional videos for Interweave, lectured at conferences, collaborated with fabric designers, and led garment-focused sewing retreats. She’s a technical consultant for patternmaking, illustrations, and grading as well as a custom garment maker, but teaching is her favorite. Books include: Sewing for Boys: 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe  and  Alison Glass Sew Essentials Series: Woven Essentials and Knit Essentials

Karen’s teaching style is compassionate and encouraging, bringing kindness to otherwise intimidating concepts. Basically, she’s a Sewing Fairy Godmother.