HACK || Short Sleeve Bing Shirtigan || By Linda

April 11, 2021

 I love year-round wardrobe staple patterns - pattern's that can be used through any season! But sometimes, patterns are designed with a certain season in mind. This was the case when I designed the Bing Shirtigan, I envisioned a late fall/winter/early spring layering cardigan, mixing woven and knit fabrics. But what about summer? Well, here's where pattern hacking comes in! Linda hacked our Bing Shirtigan pattern into a sleeveless breezy summer-worthy version. In this blogpost she explains how she achieved this quick and easy hack!

You can read more about Linda's handmade business and other inspiring makes on her Instagram account @relaxmmode

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Hi there! 

I am Linda! It's been over a year since I first made a Bing Shirtigan for my oldest son. A shirtigan, a combination of a blouse with a cardigan, which makes a super cool piece of clothing! I was very happy to be part of the test team and I got to work full of enthusiasm, and 2 cool Bing's were the result! 
 

Bing Hack Idea

I had a hack idea in my head, right from the release of the pattern: this is an ideal summer pattern, finally I no longer have to struggle with the collar on the summer blouses, and I could simply put on a nice baseball collar; which is one of the options of the Bing pattern. One “problem”, the Bing pattern is based on long sleeves, so I already felt a hack coming! Not a big hack, but one that you can really enjoy! I made the Bing with short sleeves, so it is the ideal shirtigan for the summer! 
 

So, let’s get Started! 
You need the following supplies:

• The Bing Shirtigan pattern
• Scissors 
• pencil 
• Fabric 

 
Adjusting the Pattern – Short sleeve 

Step 1 -  I started with printing, cutting and pasting all the pattern pieces. For the sleeves I chose to leave the front and back sleeves together and use pattern piece 5. This is also the easiest way to adjust the sleeve length, because you only need to adjust 1 pattern piece. 

Step 2 - Next you need to determine the sleeve length of the short sleeve. You can measure the length of the short sleeve of another pattern (for example the Rowan Tee), from the armpit to the bottom of the sleeve. In my case, size 122 had a sleeve length of 7.5 cm. On the Bing Sirtigan sleeve pattern piece, I measured 7,5cm from the armpit down and drew a horizontal line from there. This is the top line in the picture above. 

Now that you have determined the new length of your short sleeve pattern piece, it is important to add hem allowance. I chose to finish the short sleeve with a hem, so I added a 2 cm hem allowance. This is the bottom line in the picture above. Tape some paper behind the hem allowance at the side seams.
 

Step 3 - Fold the bottom of your sleeve pattern piece up over the upper line.

Step 4 - Cut away the excess paper at the side seams, by following the sleeve side seam. 

Step 5 - Fold the bottom part of the sleeve back down. Your hem allowance is slightly flared and will fit nicely into the sleeve. Next, you cut the pattern piece over the bottom line. 
 

Cutting the fabric 

After that the next step - cutting the fabric! I found out soon that I had to split the short sleeve pattern piece into a front & back sleeve part, because of my fabric print.  If I'd used the one-piece sleeve, my sharks would swim upside down on the front ...

 
So I ended up cutting the pattern piece in half, taking into account when cutting my fabric that 1 cm of seam allowance had to be added along the cut edge.
If you have a plain fabric or a print that can also be done upside down, you don't have to cut that sleeve in half of course 😉. 
 
And sew!  

After that you can continue making the shirtigan, as described in the pattern. I took the pattern pieces for the non-stretch fabric out of a piece of cotton that had been waiting in my closet for a long time for the right project. I thought the drops on my woven fabric mixed nicely with the sharks on the knit fabric that I chose for the sleeves. For the chest pockets, I chose to make the pockets from the shark fabric as well, and the flaps from the cotton fabric. You can play with this, and I love to do that 😉.
 

My son Xem decided which direction the sharks should swim on the chest pockets and he recommended the cosiest option: they should swim towards each other 😊. 

Finished! 
I am super satisfied with this summery Bing, ready for the warmer spring days! Despite the fact that it is still a bit chilly in the Netherlands, the Bing doesn’t go out anymore. He likes to wear it, and secretly I think there will be more to come 😉. 

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Thank you Linda, for inspiring us with this easy and quick hack! If you make your own shortsleeved Bing Shirtigan, make sure to tag @relaxmmode and @misusupatterns - we'd love to see your version!

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