Stitch a waistcoat t-shirt

1. Download the relevant templates. Trace the waistcoat section and bow tie onto paper and cut them out. Trim the bow tie from navy polka dot fabric and cover the back with fusible webbing. Cut out two 20cm x 40cm rectangles of red fabric, pin and machine stitch the pieces together. Press the seam open. Fold the fabric in half down the centre seam, pin the waistcoat template to the fabric, aligning up to the centre seam, and cut out the shape. Fold a piece of fusible webbing in half. Pin the waistcoat template to the webbing and cut the shape out, then iron to the back of the polka dot fabric.

2. To make the handkerchief, cut out a triangle of navy polka dot fabric and cover the back with fusible webbing. Fold over and press down a 1cm hem on the two longest sides of the triangle. Cut out a 6.6cm x 8.5cm rectangle of red polka dot fabric and iron onto the back of a rectangle of fusible webbing. Fold over and press down a 1cm hem on two short sides and one long side. On the remaining long side, stitch on a length of coordinating ribbon and fold the ends to the back of the fabric.

3. Peel off the backing paper from the waistcoat and position on the front of the T-shirt. Place a handkerchief over the fabric and iron to fix. Position the handkerchief towards the top of the waistcoat, place the pocket on top and iron to attach as before. Cut out a rough outline of the waistcoat from interfacing, taking it up the neckline, and iron to the inside front of the shirt. Machine stitch around the outline of the waistcoat, pocket and handkerchief in white thread. Position the bow tie at the neckline, press to fix into place and machine stitch around the shape using red thread. Sew buttons down the front to finish.

Add tie and braces

1. Download the templates, then print them out. Carefully trace the tie pieces onto paper and cut them out. Pin to blue fabric and cut out the tie and knot, ensuring it’s centred along the middle line of the dots. Pin the template for the knot to fusible webbing and cut out the piece. Iron onto the back of the fabric knot section. Fold over a 1cm hem all the way around the shape and press to fix into place, taking care not to iron the adhesive on the back of the fabric. In the same way, pin the template for the tie motif to fusible webbing, cut the shape out and iron onto the back of the fabric tie section, fold over a 1cm hem, leaving the shortest edge, and iron down to fix as above.

2. Pin the template for the tie section to interfacing and cut out the shape, making it 1cm smaller all the way around. Place the interfacing on the reverse of the tie section and iron to fix. Using white thread, machine stitch around the tie shape.

3. Cut a strip of green fabric measuring 3cm wide by the length of the T-shirt and iron onto a strip of fusible webbing. Cut a length of ribbon, measuring the length of the green fabric, and cover the back with a strip of fusible webbing. Peel off the backing paper and position down the centre of the green fabric. Iron into place to fix and machine sew down the sides of the ribbon using straight stitch in white thread. Make the other strip in the same way.

4. Lay the tie piece into position down the centre of the T-shirt, peel off the backing paper from the knot section and place on top of the tie, lay a handkerchief over the pieces and iron to fix into place. Attach the strips either side of the motif in the same way.

5. Cut two 3cm strips of interfacing and iron to the inside of the shirt so they correspond to the strips on the front. Cut out a rectangle slightly bigger than the knot and iron to the inside of the shirt. Using straight stitch, sew around the shape of the knot incorporating the top of the tie as well. Work a zig zag stitch along the edges of the strips and sew large decorative buttons on to finish.