How To: Comfy, Loose T-Shirt & Shorts Lounge Set

Since March'20, I've made too many versions of this set to even count.. In black jersey, lilac french terry, a more pajama-esque version in cotton... After tons of requests I finally got around to documenting a tutorial! I wanted to change this one up a bit, so did exposed seam details all over.. But you could of course just keep it simple with regular seams.

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.

TOOLS:

Cozy fabric (I used a knit I found at a secondhand store), 1.6 m, 1.2m wide piece | Scissors | Thread & Sewing machine | Elastic to go around your waist

SHORTS

I. First cut my shorts pieces - I'm EU36/US4 normally, but with pregnancy been focusing on elasticated styles I can also wear afterwards. These measurements get you a really loose fitting, high waisted pair, easily going up to EU40/US8.

II. Started by pinning the center/crotch seams together, right sides facing, and sewing those. Also finished the front piece sides with my serger (you can zig-zag as well):

III. For the sides, I wanted to create an exposed seam, so pinned the sides together like so (back piece on top, overlapping with the front piece side)..

.. And top-stitched a couple rows to secure. Then trimmed the excess with my scissors, and had this.

IV. Onto the waistline. I first folded it down once on the reverse (about 1 cm), and then again, creating a fold just a bit wider than my elastic. Sewed around, leaving a gap for the elastic, inserted it with a safety pin, sewed ends together, and closed the stitch gap (yeah, I forgot to take photos.. but you can see the exact same process in more detail here and here - In that first link there's also my method for how to pin the elastic in place so it's evenly distributed before sewing). Then I marked my top-stitching spots (I did 3 stitches) with pins, and sewed around..

.. Stretching the fabric out as I went.

My ready top-stitched waistline:

To finish the shorts, I did a simple double-fold at the hems.

TOP

V. Cut top pieces (same sizing logic as with the shorts).

VI. First I used the same method as with the shorts sides seams, to do the top shoulders & sides.

VII. Then sewed my sleeve underseams..

.. And pinned the sleeves in their spots, right sides facing, to sew all around.

So I had this..

.. And after pressing seam allowances towards the top, I top-stitched on right side.

VIII. I decided to add the exposed detail to the sleeve hems as well, by cutting a strip of fabric the same width as the side seam, sewing it into a loop, and pinning on the sleeve:

Sewed around..

.. And flipped it over itself, pressing & top-stitching again. Trimmed excess to create a similar look I had on the shoulders & side seams.

IX. Then the neckline. When doing neckline bands on stretchy fabric, I usually cut the neckband about 90% of the total circumference of the neckline. In this case my neckline was 77 cm, so I cut the neckline strip to 70 cm, 3.5 cm wide.

To prep, I first marked the quarters on the neckline, starting from one of the shoulder seams. Did the same on the neckline strip, which I had sewn into a loop.

Then pinned the strip along the neckline, right side of strip to reverse of top, first alining the quarters (pink pins) and then adding pins all around, stretching the neckline strip just enough to match nicely with the curve of the neckline.