New pattern: the Plantain t-shirt

Written by Eléonore
January 6 2014 | Pattern News, Plantain

Hello, there! I hope everyone is well and back on their feet after celebrating the New Year, because here at Deer & Doe we’ve been working at full speed on a new pattern… And you know what? It’s free! (Oh, yes!)

It’s been a while (actually, ever since I started Deer & Doe) that I’ve wanted to offer a free pattern (read why at the end of the post). It took me more than a year to carry out this project, but the Plantain t-shirt was finally born!

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I’ve wanted to sew my own simple t-shirts for a long time, with a pattern to use infinite times, with many possible variations. After trying a few patterns (free or for-pay), I was still unsatisfied: the existing designs never really suited my body shape… So I decided to work, in parallel with my other patterns, on this “perfect t-shirt” side project. And that’s how Plantain was born 🙂

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Plantain is a t-shirt fitted at the shoulders that flares out at the hips for a loose but elegant effect.  It has a nice, low neckline, and includes three sleeve variations: short, ¾ length and long, with elbow patches. It’s ideal for cocooning on cold winter days, worn alone inside the house, or layered to face the cold outside!

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Plantain is to be made in a knit with a stretch percentage between 40% and 50% (you’ll find a way to determine this percentage in the pattern instructions). The two versions you see here are made in two suuuper soft organic cotton jerseys, from the lovely shop Les Trouvailles d’Amandine. You can also make it in fleece, but in that case you’ll need to go up one size.

I know some of you have never sewn with knits, and are a little afraid to try out this new technique, so I included in the instructions a mini tutorial on sewing with knits: I promise it’s not difficult, even if you only have a simple sewing machine (the two t-shirts here are made without a serger and without a twin needle!).

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How does it work?

The pattern is downloaded in the form of a ZIP file, that you open by double clicking (for older versions of Windows, you might need to install a program like Winzip to open the file).  The zip includes three files:

  • The bilingual pattern to print: Deer_and_Doe_Plantain_Patron.pdf
  • Instructions in French: Deer_and_Doe_Plantain_Instructions_FR.pdf
  • Instructions in English: Deer_and_Doe_Plantain_Instructions_EN.pdf

Open the pattern file and print it, then assemble it following the instructions at the beginning of the document. Refer to the English instructions file for the size chart, the list of supplies and the construction steps 🙂

Download the pattern

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Why a free pattern?

As I said at the beginning of this post, I’ve wanted to offer a free pattern for a long time. First of all, to thank you all for your support, for your kind words and for your energy that helps recharging my batteries since the beginning. And also because I wanted to present Deer&Doe to a larger audience, especially to those who might be afraid of delays in international delivery (living in Australia or in the US) or of the price of a printed pattern.

From time to time, I receive messages asking me if Deer&Doe patterns will be eventually available in PDF, a format becoming more and more popular that allows to get patterns quickly and at a low cost. Instead of offering you pay-for PDFs that would be a sub product of already existing patterns, I decided to make available this little pattern for free, hoping that you’ll like it – and maybe it will tempt you to take the plunge and try printed patterns, who knows?

But be mindful, free pattern doesn’t mean cheap pattern! Even though this is a simpler design that needs less pieces, it received as much care as all our others products: detailed instructions and testing in all sizes. And, as always, that little D&D touch 🙂

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I hope you’ll have fun making your Plantain. Don’t forget to share your finished projects and your variations on the Flickr group or on Instagram (using the hashtag #deeranddoe)!

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