The 5 Best Garment Patterns to Sew as Gifts

When you sew a gift for someone during the holidays, you’re making them something special and gifting your time and attention. And if you sew them a garment, they’ll think about you each time they wear it!

It can be hard to find the time to make gifts in this busy season, so in this video, Sarai and Haley share the 5 best garment patterns to sew as gifts. You’ll find all these patterns in the Seamwork catalog.

The Almada Robe

You wear a robe to decompress, relax, and feel comfy—what a great thing to gift to someone you care about.

The Almada robe has a unique cocoon silhouette. It feels really luxe sewn in double gauze or rayon, but you could even make it in a knit for an extra comfortable robe. No matter what, whoever you make it for will feel so loved whenever they wear it.

Ideas for gifting a custom robe:

• Add some special details, like ladder lace trim.


• Here are some tips for sewing with delicate fabrics.


• Finish with a vintage-inspired hem stitch.

The Bud Shacket

Shackets are trendy, but they’ve also been around forever, so this is a gift that could actually last someone a lifetime.

The Bud shacket is great to make for someone else because it’s designed to be oversized. This means it’s easy to wear and easy to fit. It’s also gender inclusive! So it’s designed for everyone.

Bud works with a bunch of fun, easy-to-sew fabrics, like linen, flannel, and denim, which you might already have in your stash.

Ideas for gifting a custom shacket:

• While this project might seem like a challenge to sew, we have a step-by-step sewalong you can follow.


• This tutorial shows you how to create a fun felt patch to add a graphic detail to the back of this shacket.


• Add some contrasting topstitching to the pockets, plackets, collar, and cuffs.

The Hansie Tee

If you’re looking for a unique gift, try making a woven top. The Hansie tee is a total wardrobe staple, and the perfect blank canvas for fun fabrics and creative pattern hacks. Best of all, it's an easy project that's perfect for beginners. So if you’re sewing gifts for the first time, Hansie is a great pattern.

Ideas for gifting a custom woven tee:

• If you need a little bit of help with this pattern, we also have a step-by-step sewalong that you can follow.


• Add a graphic pop of color to a blank textile with this block-printing tutorial.


• Experiment with decorative machine stitching.

The Alex Apron

The Alex apron gives you an excuse to really show off your fabric. You can pick a fun print or go super utilitarian and sew it in denim or waxed canvas.

Since you have total control over the garment, add some personalized details, like a color-blocked or embroidered pocket.

This is also a very beginner-friendly project, so if it’s your first year making gifts, it’s a great starter project.

Ideas for gifting a custom apron:

• To protect your apron against spills, wax the fabric!


• Since you cut an apron from a large piece of fabric, try screen printing a repeat geometric design on your fabric before cutting it out.


• With a few extra steps, you can even make it reversible.

The Ryan T-shirt

Who doesn’t wear T-shirts? Plus, the Ryan tee is gender inclusive, so it’s for everyone. T-shirts are easy to sew (especially if you batch sew them), and they don’t take up a ton of yardage. You can customize them with an iron-on decal, some embroidery, or a fun contrasting pocket.

We have a sewalong called, and we’ll show you how to change the neckline to anything you might want, like a boat neck or scoop neck. We’ll link to that sewalong below!