How to make a V-Neck Tee

Hi everyone... I'm taking a break from the jeans for a minute to post a long over-due tutorial... How to make a V-Neck version of the Tee!  I'm really excited about it because I've also discovered that because the V cutout leave very little fabric in the Center Front Piece, you can use a coordinating woven fabric on the bias without any fitting adjustments.  First I'll show you how to adjust the pattern piece to make a V, then I'll show you how I combined woven fabric with a knit for a really cool new version of the Tee!

BTW my lovely husband traded my camera way for a "bigger, better" model... Well, I'm learning how to use this one... I apologize in advance for the pics. (Let's see how many colors of white I can make the pattern paper! ...it's shocking, really.)... As you can see above, I've trace the center front bodice piece of the Tee pattern (on yellowish looking paper :). 

We want the point of the V to end at the horizontal seam where the lower front is attached to the upper front pieces.  So, mark 1/4" above the edge of the pattern at the lower center line.  (If you want to finish the edge of the V, give yourself another 1/4" allowance!)  I'm going to make a self facing for my first V-neck Tee, so I'm going to end the point of my V 1/2" from the bottom edge of the pattern piece (1/4" for the facing seam allowance and 1/4" to sew it to the lower front piece.)

Using a grid ruler, mark 1" from the shoulder seam along the original neckline.  Align a horizontal line on the ruler with the shoulder seam and then measure down 1".  Mark that the position along the neckline.  Repeat this on the other side of the neckline.  This will allow us to draw our V straight!

Now use the grid ruler to draw a straight line from the 1" mark at the shoulder to the center mark.  Repeat to draw the other side of the V-Neck.

Here's what our V-Neck looks like so far.... You can leave it like this, or use a French Curve to add a soft curve to the straight line.

Add a slight curve along one side of V...

Then fold the pattern piece in half and use a tracing wheel and tracing transfer paper to add the identical curve to the other side of the V.

Here's what my "softly curved" V-neck looks like now.  ...

You know how V-necks can gap away from your neckline?  They stretch out of shape because the cut edge of the V is on the bias of the fabric.  We're going to "contour" the neckline so that it doesn't gap. Essentially, what we're going to do is pleat out a 1/4" along each side of the V to take out excess fabric. Then we'll have a nice crisp V shape to our neckline that will lay close to the body.  To determine where to pleat out the fabric, we're going to draw a line from the apex to the edge of the V.   This is very simple to do. 

The first step is to cut the V out.  Then position the side front and lower front next to the center front, matching notches.

See how I've arranged the side front and lower front pattern pieces together with the center front... I marked the apex on the lower bodice. 

Now, I'm going to draw a straight line from the apex to approximately the center of the edge along one side of the V-neckline.   That's the line I'm going to slash and overlap 1/4".

I only have to mark one side of the V because I'm going to fold the pattern piece in half and slash both sides of the V at one time.  Use a pair of sharp paper scissors or a rotary cutter and ruler to slash the line through the edge of the V to within 1/8" of the lower edge of the pattern piece.  Unfold the pattern piece and overlap each slash 1/4". Tape in place. 

After taping the overlapped paper in place, I folded the pattern piece in half again and trued-up the uneven edge of the V-neckline.  By folding the pattern in half, I'm able to trim both the left and right edges of the V at the same time so that they are uniform!

Now the new V-neck pattern piece is ready to use. 

I cut two V-neck pieces out of a printed cotton batiste that coordinates with my rayon knit fabric.  Then I positioned them right sides together and sewed the inside of the V using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Then I understitched the facing to the two seam allowances (to encourage it to turn to the wrong side nicely.)  Finally I pressed the facing to the wrong side.

Now I have a V-neckline with a neat finished edge.  All the other edges are still raw.  Everything is matching up exactly, so I'm not going to take the time to baste them together... but if they were misbehaving, I would baste them together so they didn't slip around!

Then I cut the rest of the Tee out of my rayon knit.  I used the serger to do the rest of the construction.

Because I don't love it when the design isn't continued to the back view, I use a thin bias strip of the woven fabric to finish the back neckline before I joined the shoulder seams.

Yay, I can't wait to make an all-knit version.... I love it!  If anyone has questions about how to draft this new neckline...please shoot me any email!  Enjoy