The Brindille & Twig Lap Neck Tee is advertised as a wardrobe staple. Featuring an envelope neck, it’s especially suited to young babies, yet the pattern goes up to 2-3T so is ideal for large headed toddlers as well. I was drawn to this as I wanted to make matching outfits for a newborn and two year old. For this review, I have made the long sleeved version in age 0-3 months. Let’s see how I got on:
What I Loved
- The PDF pattern is seamless and really easy to stick together. It also comes with layers so you only need to print the size you need.
- Step by step instructions come with the pattern making it really easy to understand. Brindille and Twig also include a guide in all of their patterns for new sewists explaining what all the different sewing terms mean, which is really useful.
- This t-shirt can either be made with long or short sleeves.
- Sizes premature to 9-12 months only require half a metre of fabric. This makes it a great pattern for scrap busting.
- You’ll learn two different techniques for binding.
What Wasn’t So Great
- The binding on the arms was incredibly tricky on the 0-3 months size. I think if I make this again, I’ll make traditional cuffs.
Final Verdict
The Brindille & Twig Lap Neck Tee is definitely a wardrobe staple, but the envelope neck does mean that these take longer to make than traditional t-shirts. Because of this, I think I’ll stick to making this purely in the small baby sizes and use an easier pattern once baby’s neck is stronger. That said, while it did take me quite a while to do the binding on this top, the pattern isn’t difficult and could easily be completed by a beginner. Also, this is possibly a better choice than the Pick n Mix Tee pattern if you purely want to make an envelope neck t-shirt due to the price.
The Lap Neck Tee can be made in sizes Preemie to 2-3T and requires a light to medium weight jersey. You can also use ribbing for the binding if you wish. The sample photo for this pattern on the B&T website uses contrasting colours and I think it looks really nice. The PDF version of the Brindille & Twig Lap Neck Tee can be purchased from their website for $7.50.
