How to sew a long sleeve girls boho shirt without a pattern

In this step by step tutorial, I will show you how you can easily make a pattern from one of your daughter’s t-shirts and turn it into an adorable girls boho shirt. You can also use a basic t-shirt pattern if you already have one.

Something I’ve really been wanting for my oldest daughter are some basic, pretty tops. Ones that could be worn on their own with pants, or as undershirts for sleeveless dresses. Even though it seemed like I was seeing them everywhere, once I was ready to buy them it seemed like I couldn’t find them anywhere. I’m not sure what’s up with that, but I really wanted those shirts, and I also love sewing, so I decided to make her some.

This method is great because it’s so affordable and easy. It’s also a great project if you’re intimidated to start sewing with knits, seeing as the amount of fabric and time is small.

To get started, gather your supplies:

• Sewing machine
• Serger (optional)
• Knit fabric
• Matching thread
• Clips or pins (I love clips for knits, seeing as it’s easy to poke holes in knit fabric with pins)
• Scissors
• Seam ripper
• Wrapping or packaging paper, or scrap paper taped together
• Two different colored pens for making your pattern
• A shirt to make a pattern from. I chose a shirt that fits my daughter well and doesn’t have a button for the neck opening.

Creating the paper pattern

Step 1 – Fold your shirt in half and lay it along the edge of your paper, then unfold.

Trace all along the edges, leaving no seam allowance at this point. For the curved armhole, use a pin to poke all along it. When you remove the shirt, you will have a dotted curve that you can then connect.

Do the same for the sleeve, laying the folded edge (not the seam) along the edge of the paper.

Step 2 – Now you can add in your seam allowances with a different colored pen. I’m using a seam allowance of 1/2 inch, but if you don’t have a serger, you might want to use 1/4 so that you don’t have to trim them. You don’t need a seam allowance on the neck opening, and I didn’t mark the hem allowances because I knew I would be using this pattern for different styles, but usually I would. Make sure to mark the fold so you don’t forget!

Cutting out your pattern pieces

Step 3 – Fold your fabric along the grainline. I folded twice, so that I could cut the front and back at the same time, and both arms at the same time. Below you’ll see the modifications I made.

Step 4 – For the body I simply added a hem allowance of 3/4 inch. You also need to make the front neck a little lower than the back (I marked where mine should be on the pattern, but I just eyeball about 1 inch lower most the time).

Step 5 – For the arms, I set the sleeve edge in about 1 inch from the folded edge (for the blue shirt I did 1 1/2 and I really liked the extra fulness), giving about 2 inches of extra width to each sleeve at the top. I cut straight down from the underarm so that there would be lots of fulness at the wrist. It’s unnecessary to add a hem allowance because these sleeves will have binding.

Step 6 – For all of your pieces, make helpful little notches for lining up later (as pictured) The notches can be 1/4 inch, except on the neck and neck binding, they need to be just under 1/4 inch. In case it’s confusing in the picture, you will be notching the neck at center front and center back.

Cutting out the neck and wrist binding

The binding is also pictured above. It needs to be cut on the grainline, with the direction of most stretch going ACROSS the pieces.

Step 7 – To calculate the neck binding width, measure all around the neck 1/4 inch from the edge (this will be the stitching line). Don’t measure the shoulder seam allowances. Then use this formula:

Neck circumference x 0.85 + 1 (Here is my math: 15 inches x 0.85 = 12.75 + 1 = 13.75, so 13 3/4 inches). The length is 1 1/4 inches.

Step 8 – The wrist binding length will be 2 inches. You can use this chart to determine the width:

• 12-24 months: 5 7/8 inches
• 2T: 6 inches
• 3T: 6 1/4 inches
• 4T: 6 3/8 inches
• 5T: 6 1/2 inches
• 6: 6 3/4 inches
• 7: 7 1/8 inches
• 8: 7 1/4 inches
• 9: 7 3/8 inches
• 10: 7 1/2 inches
• 11: 7 5/8 inches
• 12: 7 3/4 inches

Sewing knits with a regular sewing machine

Here are some tips if you don’t have a serger.

It will be easier if you make all of your seam allowances only 1/4 inch rather than 1/2. Otherwise you will have to trim your seam allowances after sewing.

Practice on some of the scraps from this project before actually sewing your top!

First, reduce the presser foot pressure slightly if you can (refer to your machine’s manual for this). My machine doesn’t have adjustable foot pressure, so I use a walking foot instead, which makes a huge difference in the pressure. My machine came with a walking foot, but I also previously bought this set of sewing feet which comes with one.

Next, reduce the needle tension slightly. For my machine, I set it to 3 (normal is 4).

Now you can sew the seam with a narrow zigzag stitch or the lightning bolt stitch if your machine has it (1/4 inch from the edge).

OPTIONAL: Zigzag along the very edge of your seam (I use stich length 2.5, width 5). This isn’t completely necessary, but it will make for neater and stronger seams.

Let’s sew our girls boho shirt!

For all seams, use the serger or sewing machine with a STRETCH STITCH. Otherwise your seams will pop when the shirt is stretched!

Neck binding

Step 9 – Sew your shoulder seams.

Step 10 – Sew the short ends of your neck binding together, right sides together. Trim the seam allowance.

Step 11 – We are going to attach the binding to the neck. Pin or clip the binding to the INSIDE of the shirt. You will have the right side of the binding to the wrong side of the shirt. Match notches at center front and center back. The quarter notches on the binding are just for reference, but they won’t match up with the shoulder seams.You will need to stretch the binding slightly.

Sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I use my sewing machine for this part, even though I have a serger.

Step 12 – Fold the binding towards the right side of the shirt, 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch and pin or clip in place. You will basically be wrapping it around to the right side of the shirt. The seam allowance of the shirt will not be folded down.

Sew from the right side of the shirt, as close to the edge of the binding as possible without going off.

On to the sleeves!

Step 13 – Now we will sew our gathering stitches. I always use the longest stitch length (5 on my machine) and turn the tension way down to about a 2. Then I sew on the right side. Make sure not to backstitch! Usually I sew two parallel lines of stitches, but for this white shirt I didn’t have a lot of time and just sewed one line at 5/8 inch and it worked out just fine.

You will be sewing along the top between the two notches, and along the entire bottom.

Attaching the sleeves to the wrist binding

Step 14 – Attach the wrist binding to the sleeves, right sides together, matching up the center notches. Pull the bobbin threads to gather so that the sleeves match the binding.

Sew 1/2 inch from the edge.

Attaching the sleeves to the body of the girls boho shirt

Step 15 – Now you can attach the sleeves to the body, right sides together. I first match the center notches to the shoulder seams, then go from the under arm to where I notched the sleeves (there are no notches on the body, just match everything up without stretching either piece). Then pull the bobbin threads of your gathering stitches so that the length matches up with the shoulders. Sew, keeping the sleeves on top so that you can see that the gathers look good, and keeping an eye underneath to make sure no folds are getting sewn into the seam.

Step 16 – Next, pin or clip all the way from the hem of the body to the end of the arm binding. Make sure the underarm seams match up, and that the seam allowance of the binding is pointed down, towards the end of the arm, and matches up. Sew.

Hemming the wrist binding and bottom of the shirt

Step 17 – Now we need to hem the binding. Fold in by 1/2 inch and then another 1/2 inch towards the wrong side and pin. You can either top stitch, making sure to catch the underside, or you can edge stitch from the inside.

Either way, have the shirt turned so that the sewing foot is inside the tube of the arm. It’s just easiest to do it this way for tiny little openings. Like this:

Step 18 – Now turn up the hem by 3/4 inch and sew, and you are all done!

I honestly love these shirts so much! The fit is perfect and I just find the gathered arms and binding to be so beautiful, but still basic. I was actually a bit skeptical as to whether it was worth it to make these or not, but they were so quick and just what I wanted that I know I will be making lots more!

Is this something you would make? I would love to know in the comments if you do! And be sure to let me know if you have any questions 🙂 If you’re looking for more kids sewing inspiration, check out my other kids tutorials here!