t-Butylstyrene-1,4-divinylbenzene (TBS-DVB) microgels were synthesized by the arm first living anionic polymerization technique using two different solvents, heptane, a good solvent for poly(TBS) arms only and tetrahydrofuran (THF), a good solvent for both the arms and the poly(t-butylstyrene-co-4-vinylstyrene) block copolymer formed initially before crosslinking. The polymerizations were carried out using t-butyllithium as an initiator. The resulting microgels were characterised by size exclusion chromatography with an on-line multi angle laser light scattering instrument. In the polar solvent THF, much better control of the molecular weight of the microgels was observed. It is suggested that the mechanism of microgel formation is influenced by the solvent. Micelle formation is favoured in the case of heptane, which is a poor solvent for 4-vinylstyrene blocks.