Take a jaunt with me through the virtual cornucopia of current and ever-emerging ladies junior T shirt styles. Now taking the world by storm: 1.) Baby Doll Tops, and 2.) Raglan /Baseball Tees. These two featured style-pairs will introduce this article series for any and all who are maybe still reservedly, yet gingerly and cautiously, beginning to take shopping excursions into the "girl-cut" fashion experience…



Baby Doll Styles

This is your staple girly fashion tee. Think opposite of baggy/grunge. In fact, picture in your mind yesterday's unisex shirt with parallel lines, boxy cut and wide-band crew-- you're pretty much seeing a guy's undershirt, right? Now trim down the sleeve and crew hems to more delicate and unobtrusive wisps. At the same time scale down the overall cut and taper the side seams to follow the curves of the female form.

Besides the "girly" cut, this style is also big on comfort, most usually weighing in between a 5-6 oz. fine gauge combed cotton fabric yield, in a stretchy 1x1 baby rib weave. You find them in both long and short sleeve varieties making them a year-round favorite. Another choice usually presents with the short sleeve options: regular or "cap sleeve" (cut high and a bit diagonal to show off more of the shoulders).

I recommend moving up at least one size in this style. Not only will you gain more freedom of movement, you'll also enjoy the advantage of the more generously scooped neckline in the larger sizes. While not as deeply plunging as the virtual "scoop- neck" style, baby dolls generally do "out-scoop" traditional, generic T shirt cuts, particularly in size large and up. Design/printers (like me) love the wide array of color choices this style offers since it gives them a spectrum of "canvasses" for their designs.

Raglan/Baseball Styles

Taking its inspiration from the athletic baseball style shirt, this ladies version is anything but manly! The same quality fabric weight and softness as the above style also holds for the raglans. However, the tail, or vertical length, is usually longer than the baby doll specs. The raglan type sleeve hole is cut at a diagonal up to the neck and many ladies find this more comfortable and less binding in the armpits. The crew and sleeves are one color while the shirt body is a different, contrasting color--the combinations yield an array of choices wide and varied.

The short sleeve styles are almost always in the "cap sleeve" variety described above, while the long sleeve cooler weather option is a traditional ¾ length sleeve. This customary baseball-style ¾ sleeve "hugs" the arm (which is quite different from the guy's version, that flounces.) Design/printers take delight in the way color contrasts in this style can be coordinated with our prints; its fun to carefully mix inks so that screen prints match these sleeve shades.

Both of these quality styles are figure flattering as well as super soft and comfy; you'll doubtless enjoy wearing them. New styles are continually emerging in this market niche and it's an exciting challenge just to keep up. In future articles I'll cover another 2 styles in the family of girl-cut fashions-- for now, so long and happy shopping!