Made an Alpha Direct shirt over the weekend

[Sharon M]

I recently purchased a Brother 1034DX serger and have been practicing a bit making microfleece beanies.  This weekend I tried my hand at making a shirt, a first for me for sure.  I used the 4004 (90 gsm) alpha direct fleece fabric from Discovery Fabrics.  For a pattern, I started with the Hugo Hoodie pattern on Freesewing.org and carefully entered all of my measurements.  The size of the shirt that I made is equivalent to a women’s medium petite.

I learned a few things during this process that I thought might be helpful to others.  First, buy good quality thread.  I used the Gutermann premium serger thread.  I did some playing around with lesser quality thread and had a hard time getting the thread tension right.  With the Gutermann premium serger thread, getting the thread tension set up correctly was easy.

Secondly, use a roller cutter to cut the fabric.  It keeps the alpha direct fabric from fraying and makes the process of cutting the fabric easy and precise.

And lastly, the Hugo Hoodie pattern on the Freesewing site is adjustable for lots of variables (hip ease percentage, chest ease percentage, bicep ease percentage, etc.).  I went mostly with the stock settings based on my measurements, and the shirt came out kind of tight in the armpits, causing me to have to go through a time consuming process of adding armpit gussets.

I would recommend that you take a shirt that fits you under the armpits and measure the shirt there.  Then try a couple of tweaks to the Freesewing pattern by increasing the bicep ease percentage.  Print the pattern, measure the armpits and compare to your well fitting shirt.  I discovered that I needed to increase the bicep ease to 45% instead of the default 15% setting to get a loose fit in the armpits.

It was a fun weekend project, and I’m planning to make a shirt for my spouse and then some pants.  The alpha fabric was surprisingly easy to work with.  Total weight for the shirt is 3.55 oz.

 

 

[Sharon M]

[Stephen Seeber]

HI Sharron: Great looking shirt.  How did you modify the pattern to eliminate the hood and produce the raised collar?

[Sharon M]

Hi Stephen,

I first sewed on the sleeves and sewed up the body of the shirt.  The shirt was then laying there inside out.  I cut a strip of the alpha fabric that was about 4 and 1/2 inches tall and equal in length to the circumference of the neck opening of the shirt plus an inch for seam allowances.  I serged the strip of fabric together to make it like a short tunnel.  Then I oriented the serged seam to the back of the neck opening and serged the circular tunnel of fabric onto the neck opening.  Next, I hemmed the top of the collar on a regular sewing machine with a zigzag stitch.

Hopefully my explanation makes sense.

 

[Gumbo]

Nice work! I think you’ll love the alpha. Not so useful by itself, but oh so versatile in conjunction with a wind shirt.

[Sharon M]

Thanks Gumbo.  Do you have a wind shirt fabric preference that works well with the alpha?

[BlackHatGuy]

Nice Sharon!

[Jerry Adams]

nice looking shirt.  I don’t think I’ve made anything in one weekend.  I’ve seen one of those roller cutters somewhere around, I need to try that.

[Ken Larson]

Your skills I hope have been passed on to “yours” as they are becoming a lost art and are not being taught in school these days.

Excellent piece of sewing!!

[Gumbo]

I use an Arc’teryx Squamish, which is too heavy for some at 5 oz, but I love the fit and the fabric – soft, non-shiny, non- crinkly, quiet. It’s more robust than lighter options, and it’s CFM is meant to be ideal. But any wind shirt should work – Houdini, Tachyon, Copperfield etc.

[Sharon M]

Thanks Gumbo for sharing information on the various shell possibilities.  I purchased some Argon 90 and some uncalendared 1.0 oz. HyperD for making a couple of shell options to try out.

Thank you Stephen, rubmybelly!, Jerry and Ken for your kind words and encouragement to keep at this sewing thing.

[Jerry Adams]

interesting how you’ve attached the sleeves avoiding a seam right at the shoulder.  That seam can itch or can leak water in if the shirt is supposed to be waterproof

[todd]

Yours looks so much nicer than mine.  I like your windshirt too.

Let me say this up front: I’ve made hammocks, a couple quilts, other stuff but I’m NOT good w/a sewing machine.

I say this because DESPITE my low skill level, I found Alpha easy to work with to make a simple, one piece shirt.  Well technically it’s two pieces since I added a hood, but the main point is that the nature of the fabric makes it easy to use one piece of fabric for the body & sleeves, and it drapes nicely – even if not perfect.  Took me less than an hour including cutting the material w/my rotary cutter.  (I simply laid a shirt that fits will on top of folded fabric (so two layers), cut 1″ bigger than the pattern … Done.

I’ll post pics if you all won’t be too mean!  :) This material is amazing – extra warmth when sleeping or layered underneath windshirts or jackets.  And so light & packable.

NOTE: I messed up a couple of things due to my lack of skill, but will make another sometime.

[Gumbo]

Please share. We won’t be mean!

(Bwahaha…)

[Patrick W]

Sharon, how many yards did you use to make the shirt?

[Sharon M]

I purchased two yards and used most of it for the shirt.  There is probably enough material left over to make a couple of smaller items like mittens or hats, if I get motivated.

[Patrick W]

Thanks.  I’m 5’11”, 42″ chest so Med to Large, and was hoping I could make a hoodie with 2 yards, but based on your experience I guess it will be more like 2 1/2 yards.

[Author]

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