Friday, June 28, 2019

Hey June June Giveaway and Button Back Tutorial

I hope everyone has been having a fantastic Hey June June! I know for me personally, I was basically having Hey June Made May, so it's a pretty easy extension. If you haven't seen it all over the interwebs by now, EVERY DAY in June there has been a Hey June pattern giveaway! AND there will be two grand prize winners! Daily prizes are being given away either in the HJ Facebook group, or on the participant's IG. Find my entry and giveaway in the Facebook group. Find details on the two grand prizes here (a little birdie told me there isn't too much competition to win the Trifecta category!). One of the grand prize packages includes a copy of A Sewist's Notebook!

While you can find my giveaway on Facebook, I did want to do a blog post with a quick tutorial on how I achieved my button-back hack. I have a RTW shirt that is similar and I loved being able to create my own. I started with the Union St. Tee pattern, which is by far my favorite pattern of all time. Don't believe me? Check out my saved stories on IG and you'll see me go through all 12 versions!


For this hack, you will need the back pattern piece, some tracing paper, a ruler and a pencil. If you plan on functional buttons and buttonholes (not necessary) you will also need knit interfacing.


Start with the back piece, either fully traced or freshly printed and assembled. We must first create a pattern piece for the back yoke. I chose a somewhat arbitrary line horizontally through the back, ending in the armhole.


Now you have the top yoke piece, but it needs seam allowance added to the bottom. SA on this pattern is 1/4", so add 1/4" of paper along the bottom.


Repeat this step on the other back piece, along the TOP edge.


I also changed the hemline of my shirt to be a longer, shirt tail hem. You can see on my cutting mat grid that at the lowest point (center back) it drops 3".


Lastly, you will want to widen out the center back to accommodate a folded over, cut-on placket. Starting from the regular CB fold, add 3".


Your finished bottom back piece will look like this:


Cut one back yoke piece on the fold. Cut two mirrored bottom back pieces. If you plan on interfacing, cut a piece for that as well (it will be the full 3" width of the placket by however long you need for buttons). Interface your plackets if necessary.

To assemble, fold the placket in 1" and press. Fold it again 1" and press. This will result in a back piece that is 1" wider than a regular back. Vertically topstitch at the folded edge and 1" in from the folded edge, where the red lines are below. Repeat for the other bottom back piece.


This 1" will be overlapped. Lay the two back pieces together and baste them along that 1" of overlap.

Sew the bottom back piece to the back yoke with a 1/4" seam allowance, right sides together. Your back is complete and can be assembled following the regular directions for the Union St. Tee.

Buttons can be sewn straight through the placket, or you can sew functional buttons and buttonholes. I chose to sew buttons straight through the placket. To prevent the flaps from moving around, I also topstitched again vertically on top of my previous topstitching.


I'm so pleased with my button-back Union! Leave a comment and let me know if you make one too. And don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free pattern on my Facebook post!


I paid for the Union St. Tee pattern and my opinions are my own. I was compensated with a free pattern as a thank you for hosting a Hey June June daily giveaway. I bought the Willamette and I'm sure you'll see it soon! I am a Hey June affiliate.



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