Real Man's Shirt

I love making shirts.

I even have a shirts tab on this blog, though I've not updated it in a while. I find all the details fascinating from the button plackets on the sleeves to the double row of top-stitching on the cuff. The latter is especially fun since the double row shows on the outside, but not the inside!

I guess I qualify as a sewing nerd when it comes to shirts.

Though I've made many a shirt for myself and a few for the grandboys, I had never made a regular man's shirt until last month. My guy wanted a shirt to match one the 2 year old grandson wears. We all looked high and low for a similar shirt with no luck. The obvious solution was for me to make one for each of them.

Now I knew DH would discourage me from this project, so I kept it under wraps until Christmas. This was both good and bad. The down side to such a surprise is that I could not take his measurements. The next best thing was to use one of his many existing RTW shirts. The man loves shirts and has more than a few.

Men's patterns are not plentiful so that was a challenge too. I wanted a shirt pattern with ALL of the conventional men's details. Vogue 9220 comes pretty darned close. It has the button plackets on the sleeves and the instructions are quite clear. It has a yoke and forward shoulders. It comes in three views - standard, slim fit and formal wear.

The sizing is not conventional for men's shirts from RTW. I was really hoping it would be sized by neck size and sleeve length like DH's shirts. But I guess it makes sense that the sizes are listed by chest size, as that is a good place to start fitting.

Comparing his RTW shirt with the pattern tissue, I chose size 40, standard fit. Sleeve length was easy to adjust. The neck size seemed about right.

The fabric is a lovely cotton shirting from Gail K. With a plaid or stripe, I like cutting the top yoke in two pieces with a center back seam. This allows me to create a solid line where the yoke joins each front. It also creates a chevron in the back.

Plaids are such fun, especially on a man's shirt, because there are great places for bias.

The little guy's shirt was made with an OOP Ottobre pattern.

It was child's play compared to my guy's shirt. Some of the conventional details were missing from the pattern including the yoke and the sleeve placket. I think that's OK for a  two-year-old.

In the end my guy's shirt is too tight and the little guy's shirt is a bit large. But they were sweet to pose for the picture anyway.

By the time I remake DH's shirt, the little guy will have grown into his. Fingers crossed.

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Twice as Nice

Fear not; I'll wear this with a jacket.

A few weeks ago I took a class from Marsha McClintock of Saf-T-Pockets. As you may know, her focus is on travel garments with lots of pockets, many hidden, as well as reversable garments. In this class we made a reversable shell from her pattern Twice as Nice.

It would hard for a pattern to be easier and still worth the trouble. There is one tricky bit, but otherwise it's a straight-forward make.

It is composed of a front piece cut on the fold, a back piece cut on the fold, and an optional pocket. I did cut out the pocket but then decided to omit it.

a pocket from one of Marsha's sample tops

The top has armhole darts that are not illustrated anywhere on the outside of the pattern envelope. To me, that's a feature to be highlighted, especially in a sleeveless garment, so I am not sure why that was omitted from the drawings.

I chose fabric from stash for the class version. Both the purple and the black are cotton lawn - light enough to make a reversable shell.

The tricky bit is the clever way you attach the armholes of the two layers. The two layers are constructed as separate shirts through bust darts and shoulder seams. Then they are joined at the neckline in the usual right-sides-together method. Next the two shirts are attached in the arm holes, using a burrito method. I had seen this done with vests where the two sides of the fronts allow you to pull things through the shoulder opening, but I could not visualize it without the front openings. The geometry is counter-intuitive.

It was worth making a reversable garment just to try out the trick.

The vents and hemlines are to be joined together so I decided to leave the layers loose. I like that the other color shows.

It is a nice basic pattern and I like having those in stash to retrieve from time to time. It does not take much fabric so it's perfect for remaking an old garment.

A while back I made a tunic from this bright red linen. And then I seemed never to reach for it. Time for a remake.

This version looked most interesting in the scarecrow pose.

Following the class Marsha sent us a PDF pattern for a sleeve to add to this top. It is a short sleeve that I lengthened to 3/4 length. I did not make this one reversable. Marsha does include instructions for doing that but I am not sure I'd really like two layers on the sleeves even in a lighter fabric.

I was unable to cut either the front or the back on the fold which turns out to be a good thing. More vertical lines; more opportunity for sashiko.

It's plain. I think these will be good layering pieces and an opportunity for jewelry or scarves.

One tip: the front armscye includes clips for the dart legs, as well as a third clip for attaching the sleeve (or pocket). I managed to confuse those and only discovered it when I tried to match the sleeve notch to the garment notch. Next time I hope to watch for that.

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Another Hadley

So I went stash-diving for fabric to make the Grainline Archer shirt and came across this cotton border print from Gail K in Atlanta. It's been languishing in stash long enough now to be considered free. That's how it works. I've had it long enough to forget how much I paid for it, so it's free.

I would have used this for the Archer shirt but, alas, not enough fabric. That's another reason why I like Grainline's Hadley shirt. And the Hadley is really a nice pattern for a border print. I did not have enough to cut both sleeves from the white border, so one is solid black. As is often the case, this is actually better than it would have been if I'd had enough fabric.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a simple make so it should have gone smoothly. And it did with just one or two glitches.

The wrong side of this fabric is not noticeable until you attach the shoulders using French seams, and finish the neckline with self-fabric bias binding. Then it's real noticeable.

Also I found it relatively easy to sew the hem facing up-side-down. I swear, I'm going to go back and add some notches to the top of the facing so I don't fight that battle again.

Here's something I missed on Hadley #1: you use only the outer two notches when forming the inverted pleat in back. I am guessing I would have noticed that sooner if I had used the provided facings. This pleat is deeper and prettier, I think. To help it keep its shape, I stitched the inside fold of the pleat about 1/8" from the fold.

I made the same changes to this Hadley as the previous - bias binding for finishing the neckline and sleeve hems, cut both front and back on the fold, and I shortened the sleeves by 2" (!).

I think I like this Hadley even better than the first one, maybe because of this fabric. It's a cotton lawn and a tad sheer so I may need a cami underneath.

Next up: Grainline's Archer shirt. I have it cut out already.

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Grainline Hadley

The newest pattern from Grainline Studios is a super simple shirt pattern called the Hadley. There are two views - a sleeveless (deep) V neck version and a long-sleeved jewel neck version with a pleat in the back. I made the long-sleeved version.

Both versions feature a slight high-low arrangement with the back about 4 inches longer. The front is fairly stright but the back angles out to create an overall A-line shape.

Both versions also include lots of facings - facings for the neckline, facings for the sleeve hems, and a facing for the body hem. I cut out all the facings but, in the end, decided to bind the neckline and sleeve hems. I do like the use of a facing on the shirt hem. This is a loose fit and needs the deep facing to ground it, I think.

The binding and facing fabric is a blue and black window pane plaid with a white background, left overs from another shirt. I think it adds a little something to the overall look. Or, it may have taken it into pajama territory. The proof is in the wearing.

I cut off about 2 inches from the sleeves. This is unusual for me. I often add 1/2 inch to long-sleeved patterns. I think that maybe the idea is for it to pool at the wrist? It's hard to determine the intent from various pictures of the Hadley online. I'm assuming the model is 6 feet tall so it hits her at the wrist, but reviewers on Pattern Review have also mentioned that the sleeves are quite long.

These sleeves have an inch cut from them. After this picture I cut another inch from them.

The Hadley has a center front seam and a center back seam. Each follows the grainline. Normally I like extra vertical lines, but with this cotton print fabric, I decided to cut on the fold. I would have felt guilty about not matching the print down the center front where it would be obvious. Just kidding. I would have matched the print. But why? So that the center front seam won't be so visible? Yeah, cut it on the fold.

The sleeve is an interesting draft - far more than I expected from such a simple pattern. It has a high sleeve cap and requires much fiddling to fit into the armscye. The sleeve hem also has a graceful curve to it - something I almost never see in a pattern with such a plain sleeve. I am impressed.

I've followed the Grainline blog for a while and I also enjoy her posts on Instagram. The Archer shirt has 127 (!) reviews on Pattern Review. And they named it a Best Pattern for 2013, 2015, and 2016. I think I'll try it next.

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Stitching in New England

It's gorgeous here in New Hampshire. The leaves haven't reached their full glory but you can tell it's coming. I moved from Austin, Texas to Princeton, New Jersey back in the 80's. It was a big shock to this Texas gal, but I do have fond memories of the fall colors, especially mums like these.

The colors in my latest ensemble form a background for autumn colors. With the right jewelry or scarf or jacket this will be a favorite for me, I think. Both pieces are made with Sewing Workshop patterns - the Helix pants and the Odette top.

The Helix pants are a rayon ponte in a color I'd call caramel. Yum. I cut them out before heading north. These are such an easy make, a great basic. They are just right for sewing under less-than-ideal circumstances - away from home, no access to my stash of thread, chalk, and other supplies.

I did not have the right thread but made do. I have found that it's super important to use polyester thread on knit pants. I've tried them with cotton thread, but it's just too easy to place my foot in the wrong place and pop the side seams while slipping into them. Polyester is much stronger and better for knit pants, I think. The closest color I had on hand was a dark green which was fine for all sewing, except top-stitching. I used some matching cotton thread for the top-stitching.

I brought my sweet featherweight 222K which is relatively easy to carry on a plane and easy to tuck away when I'm not sewing. It's such a pleasure to have and to use. Almost too pretty to use. Almost. Look at that gorgeous straight stitch.

The Odette top is made from organic Alabama Chanin cotton jersey, in a brown just a shade lighter than the rayon ponte in the Helix pants. Again I see this piece as a basic, background for other pieces to shine. The Odette pattern in asymmetric in style. Almost every pattern piece is cut single-thickness. The sleeves are the only exception. Luckily I was able to cut these out prior to leaving home.

Some of the Odette pieces offered a nice place for sashiko. That was such fun. I used sashiko to secure the neckline, as well as all hems. Then I added some to the angular seams. Not sure that was a great idea but I can always remove the sashiko that crosses my belly.

Although the sewing has not been the same as it is in my home studio, it has been fun. And look what I found!

So has the season change affected your sewing?

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