Throwback to My First Indie Pattern – Union St Tee

I know that I’m a broken record when it comes to this pattern, but I thought since it was Hey June…June (haha) I would share about my first time making the Union St Tee, because it’s a story that I don’t think a lot of people here know. My first time making the Union St Tee by Hey June was almost SIX years ago! That sounds kinda crazy when I think about it.

When I first started sewing, in the summer of 2015, I was very inspired by bloggers who were making patterns from their own clothes. They made it look so easy! When, in fact, it was NOT. I had many failed attempts and just really wonky looking clothes because that method is the roulette of sewing.

One day, I got an email from Allie Olson (who founded Indiesew, now Allie Olson Patterns) asking if I wanted to try an indie pattern from her website and write a blog post. I am forever grateful that she sent that email, because I was able to find the sewing community and the oh-so-lovely indie patterns that made my life so much easier.

I was trying so hard to just make a basic t-shirt at the time, so I went with the Union St Tee, and I obviously felt daring, because I went with the v-veck version. By some miracle, I actually did it! By that same miracle – I didn’t have any problems making it, and it fit so much better than anything I had made up to that point. I didn’t use the best fabric, and I forgot to lengthen it, so it didn’t get worn very much. But I’m still amazed at how well I did as a beginner! Adrianna’s instructions are *chef’s kiss*. Here are a couple of throwback photos from my very first collaboration with Indiesew.

I do remember trying to make the same shirt again with a very thin, flimsy fabric a few months later, and I got super frustrated with the fabric. So, I’m glad I am past that phase in life and found fabrics that don’t make me want to swear. Haha.

I made this most recent Union St Tee with the boyfriend wash solids from The Fabric Snob. It’s a fabric that I highlight in My Favorite Knit Fabrics for T-Shirts blog post. There are SO many different colors of this fabric, and it is such a nice drape and great recovery. It’s also the least expensive of the fabrics in the post, but it’s still quality fabric. This is the color “Frank”, and I also made a shirt for Dallas in the same color+fabric.

No one asked me to write this blog post — I just thought it would be fun to look back at one of my first successful makes and show these old photos alongside my most recent Union St Tee since it’s the same pattern and similar in color to the original, but made with much better fabric, and a good length, just the way I like it!

Happy t-shirt sewing!