Children's Houston Henley

Houston Henley

Difficulty Level = Beginner 

The Houston Henley is a classic yet stylish everyday top, with optional short or long sleeves. It is slim fit through the body, with slightly dropped shoulders. The crew neck is created with a fold over neckband and finished with a wide front placket.  And finally, the curved hem gives the Henley a beautiful finish.

Our Facebook group is a great place to get help, share your tips and creations! We are a friendly bunch, and we love to help and see what you have made.

Please read the full instructions before getting started.

Wash, dry, and press your fabric before starting your project. A bit of prep now prevents shrinking and means your garment will stay the same size you made it.

Never leave a child or baby unattended or allow to sleep in a garment made from one of our patterns with ties, snaps, buttons, or anything they could remove, choke on, or get caught on. Always use caution if you are unsure. We love our patterns, but we love your bundles of joy more!

Size Range

12mo - 12yrs

Size Chart

This pattern is drafted to the sizes listed below. If your child is between sizes, choose the larger size and adjust the pattern to remove the extra width/height to achieve the intended fit.

Finished Measurements (Inches)

The Houston Henley is a slim fitting shirt.

• Measure, measure, measure – Please measure your model and check their measurements against BOTH the size chart and the finished garment measurements. Sizes vary country to country and the sizing may match what you’re expecting, or it may not. To ensure you get the best fit, please use the size you fall into on our size chart, rather than the size you’ve worn in ready to wear clothing.
• Picking your size – Take fresh measurements for your model’s chest, waist, hips and height and compare to the measurements chart above. When you print, make sure you’re including the layers for each of these sizes.
• Grading – Our child’s patterns have been graded to work proportionally with a growing child. However, every child is different, so we have a few suggestions to help achieve a great fitting garment:
  • If your model falls between sizes, you will start with the size bracket with the correct chest measurement. This will give a better upper body fit.
  • If your child falls into different size brackets for chest and waist, draw a smooth curve from the chest out to the correct size bracket for the waistline.
  • If your child falls into a different size for height, use the bodice length for that height size bracket, keeping to the size your child best fits into for chest measurements. Blend the two patterns together so the armhole height, top and bottom of the bodice and skirt pieces use the size bracket from their height measurement.
• To ensure you get the best fit, sew a muslin first. This is how I would recommend you muslin this tee:
  • Use an inexpensive knit fabric similar in weight to the final fabric you plan to use.
  • Cut out all pieces. Label each with tailors chalk or a fabric pen 
  • Baste these together using a ⅜ inch seam allowance
  • Try on. If you are happy with the fit, continue to your final garment.
  • If you feel the fit needs adjusting for your personal shape, turn the muslin inside out and try on again. Adjust the seams with pins until you are happy. 
  • Trim your new seam allowances to ⅜ inch and pull out your basting stitches.
  • Use these bits of fabric as your pattern pieces instead of the original pattern pieces. Continue on to sewing your final garment.
  • Make sure to keep your adjusted pattern pieces…. It’s like having a tailor-made garment so they’re a valuable addition to your pattern library in case you wish to make more!
• If you get stuck with fitting, see our favorite resources on our Pinterest Sewing Fitting Advice board.

• Your fabric needs to be a 2-way stretch/knit fabric. It can be any weight; however, the best results and fit will be achieved by using a light or medium weight fabric such as cotton jersey, cotton lycra, cotton rib, double brushed poly, rayon spandex, bamboo spandex, modal etc.
• Your fabric will need to have at least 30% stretch to get the fit as it’s designed. To check how much stretch your fabric has, take a piece of fabric and pull along its stretch. i.e. A 2-inch piece of fabric (unstretched) should be able to be stretched to 2.6 inches.
• The stretch recovery of your fabric is just as important as the stretch percentage. This will ensure your shirt maintains its shape and fit for as long as possible and doesn’t become baggy. To test the stretch recovery (elasticity), simply check that when you stretch your piece of fabric it returns to its original size. 
• Generally, knit/stretch fabrics are heavier than wovens. You may find you need to hem your garment slightly higher if it stretches out in length while wearing it.

Fabric Requirements 60inch / 150cm wide fabric (in YARDS)

* If you are using a narrower fabric, a directional print or a fabric with nap you may need more.
** Make sure to wash, dry and press all fabrics before cutting out in case they shrink.

You will also need:

• 3x ½ inch wide Buttons/Snaps
• Mid-Weight Knit Woven Interfacing – approximately ¼ yard will be sufficient for all sizes
• OPTIONAL – Iron-on Fusible Tape – approximately ¼ yard will be sufficient for all sizes
• OPTIONAL ⅜ wide – Clear Elastic to stabilize the shoulder seams – approximately ¼ yard will be sufficient for all sizes 
• Thread to match

Tools needed are sewing machine, pins or clips, and scissors. Optional serger/overlocker.

Settings

The pattern is a separate download. Choose either the US letter paper, A4 paper, or A0 paper size based on the printer you wish to use. If you are in the US or Canada then your printer will likely use US letter paper. Other regions normally use A4 paper. Some people prefer to print their patterns at a print shop: A0 is best in this case.

Print at 100%.

On the second page, you will find a 1-inch and a 3-inch square test box. Print this page first, on its own, and measure these squares.

Once you are happy that the test box is accurate, print the rest of the pattern pages.

Please follow this video for information and assistance on assembling this pattern.

Also, please note that some Rebecca Page patterns and projects also come with cut files and a printable design page which you can use to plan your project if you wish. These are provided in a separate section below to avoid any confusion!

Cut each of the pieces according to the directions on the pattern piece. Seam allowances are all included so just cut them as is.

Cutting Charts – All pattern pieces are included, however if you prefer to cut using a cutting chart, the dimensions for the rectangular pieces are below: 

Cutting Checklist: 

• Front – cut 1 on fold
• Back – cut 1 on fold
• Neckband – cut 1 on fold
• Sleeve – cut 2 on fold
• Top Placket – Fabric cut 2, Interfacing cut 2
• Bottom Placket – Fabric cut 1 on fold, Interfacing cut 1 on fold
• Front Interfacing – cut 1

NOTE – To cut fabric on the fold, fold your fabric over parallel to the selvage edges. Align the pattern piece so it is on the fold of the fabric. Cut around the edges, leaving the fold. If you have folded your fabric correctly the fold will be parallel to the two edges of the fabric that are finished. The raw edges (e.g. the ones you could pick at and threads would come off) will be at a right angle to your fold.

Tips for Sewing with Knit Fabrics

Using a serger is not a necessity to sew with knit fabrics! Here are a few tips to get the best results on a regular sewing machine:

• Use a ball point needle of a size appropriate to your fabric when working with knits – The ball point needle has a slightly rounded tip and will prevent from damaging the fibre. Use ball point pins or clips and, if you can’t, use regular pins into the seam allowance and you should be just fine.
• Use a stretch stitch – You can use either a short and narrow zigzag or a stretch stitch (lightning bolt stitch) for construction. Test on a scrap of fabric to find which stitch and tension settings work best for you. You don’t want the fabric to pucker under your stitches.
• Your machine might have many fancy stretch stitches and you are welcome to play with them, but often the basic zigzag or stretch stitch are just right.
• Use a walking foot – Using a walking-foot is not a necessity but it is highly recommended when working on a stretchy knit. The walking-foot helps to prevent one layer of fabric from stretching out while sewing. Both layers of fabrics are fed at the same time under your needle.
• Reduce your presser foot tension – Some machines will allow you to change your presser foot tension. Check your manual to see how to reduce your presser foot tension. Reducing tension will prevent your fabric from stretching while it goes through the machine.
• Use a ball point twin-needle (double needle) for top stitching – Using a twin-needle will give you a regular double line of straight stitches on the right side and a short and stretchy zigzag on the wrong side. Alternately, if you don’t own a twin needle, you can use a medium size zigzag stitch for hemming and topstitching. I like to lengthen my stitch a little when top stitching with the twin needle. Test on a scrap of fabric to find what works best for you.
• Finishing the seams – Because knits don’t fray, it isn’t strictly necessary to finish your seams. That being said, you will achieve a more polished and durable look if you do an overcasting or zigzag stitch on your raw edges.

Here is an example of some of the stitches you could use.

From left to right: Ballpoint twin-needle, narrow zigzag, stretch stitch (lightning bolt), overcasting

⅜ inch seam allowance included – Top stitching ⅛ inch – Basting ¼ inch – Hem – ½ inch 

Preparation – 

1. INTERFACING – Apply interfacing to Top and Bottom Placket pieces, and along the Placket markings on the wrong side of the Front.
2. PATTERN MARKINGS – Transfer pattern markings to fabric.
3. PLACKET CUT LINES –  Cut the Placket cut line on the Front and the horizontal cut line.

Sewing –

1. SHOULDER SEAMS – Stitch Front and Back at the shoulder seams, right sides together. Press. 
2. PLACKET – Stitch the Top Plackets right sides together. Press seam open. Press memory hem on both long edges. Repeat memory hems with Bottom Placket. Press in half. Open the Top Placket and match to the neck with the wrong side to the right side of the shirt, baste. Repeat with the bottom Placket. Fold the Neckband in half lengthwise, pin to neckline. Fold Plackets over Neckband, stitch, turn, topstitch. Align both Plackets with pattern markings. Topstitch top Placket along long edge on the shirt side of the Placket. Move the bottom Placket to wrong side of the Front, then repeat for the other Placket. Finish bottom of the bottom Placket. Fold bottom of the top Placket ½ inch. Align Plackets, stitch 1.5 by 1-inch rectangle on bottom folded edge. Stitch Buttonholes.
3. SLEEVES – Stitch Sleeve to Shirt, right sides together. Press. 
4. MEMORY HEM – Fold bottom of Sleeve ½ inch to wrong side, press. Repeat for the other Sleeve, Front and Back.
5. SIDE SEAMS – Place Front to Back right sides together along side seams stitch. Repeat on the other side. 
6. HEM – Refold memory hem, topstitch close to raw edge. Repeat for both Sleeves. 

Congratulations, your Houston Henley is done. Enjoy! 

We would love to hear how you got on and see photos of your finished project!

Join us at our Facebook Group, tag us on Instagram, or use the hashtag #rphoustonhenley.

Thank you for using a Rebecca Page pattern.

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