White Linen Shirt

After promising my dear husband that I would make him another handmade shirt months ago, I have finally delivered.

Last March, my ever patient husband took me on a fabric shopping trip during a visit to Sydney. I got to visit Tessuti at Surry Hills which was amazing...such beautiful fabrics. I could have spent hours there, but this was only a quick trip. I did manage to purchase a couple of pieces of lovely 100% linen and one of them has been made into this shirt.

I based this shirt on McCalls 6044 which I have made twice before here and here. You can find all the construction details and pattern alterations in these previous posts so I won't go over them in detail again here.

For this version, I only added one pocket at Greg's request. This simplified things as I didn't have to worry about matching the placement to the other side. Also, using a solid colour meant no pattern matching. This shirt was probably a lot easier to sew than my first two versions because of this and the fabric was a dream to press and sew.

I followed The Classic Tailored Shirt by Pam Howard on Craftsy, as I did with my previous shirts. This is a great resource and I can't recommend this class enough. I added a tower placket that is not included in the pattern using this tutorial. I love this detail on a man's shirt. Greg loves wearing his sleeves rolled up so I lengthened the tower placket to make it easier for him to roll up the sleeves.

I had all intentions of sewing button holes and buttons on this shirt, but I couldn't find any buttons I was happy with locally. Greg is a big fan of press studs and I had these "Snaps" from Snapsource in the stash. At first I didn't like the idea of using snaps on a linen shirt but after some convincing from Greg, the idea grew on me. These ones are called white marble and I think they go quite nicely with the casual rumpled vibe of the linen fabric.

There is something so satisfying in sewing a man's shirt. I love the neat finish that flat felled seams produce, both on the outside and the inside. I spent a couple of weeks sewing this shirt in short bursts in the evenings after work and I managed to get it finished just in time for his birthday. I gave it a wash to remove the pink pencil marks so it was presentable for the occasion, but to my horror the interfaced areas went all bubbly and crinkled looking. I thought it was ruined, but after getting over the initial disappointment I have decided it doesn't look too bad with the wrinkly nature of the linen and it is wearable. Greg didn't seem concerned about it.

I have learned my lesson though. No more cheap and nasty interfacing for me. I have explored Fashion Sewing Supply and their interfacing products online. Has any one else in Australia bought interfacing from this supplier? I would appreciate any feedback or any suggestions for a more local suppler of decent interfacing. It is so heart breaking to have all your hard work ruined by inferior products.

I couldn't get a smile out of him for these photos. We were out in our front garden and he was worried someone might see him. Oh the trials and tribulations of getting photos for the blog. He did love his new shirt though, and I get a lot of pleasure seeing him wear it.

Happy sewing.

The Christmas Shirt (aka McCalls 6044 take 2)

I made my dear partner another shirt, this one for Christmas. I used McCalls 6044 as previously blogged about in The Birthday Shirt. I used all the previous alterations to the pattern, but in addition to those I also lengthened the sleeves by 6cm.

Sleeves actually fit those long arms this time.

This is a lovely soft 100% cotton shirting purchased from Spotlight. I actually used the wrong side of the fabric as the right side because the blue lines were a little more subtle and just looked better.

Front

Back

Pockets and Pearl Snaps

I cut the pockets on the bias to add some visual interest. This made them a little tricky to sew. I had to be very careful not to stretch the fabric and distort the pocket shape. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. 

Back yoke also cut on the bias.

All the seams have been flat felled. I love this technique in a man's shirt. It's really not that hard to do and results in such a lovely neat finish, inside and out.

Tower Placket

As in The Birthday Shirt I replaced the continuous placket with a tower placket, but I lengthened this one to make rolling the sleeves up a little easier. I cut the tower placket on the bias and to avoid distorting the fabric, I fused a very lightweight interfacing to it. This worked beautifully and I was very pleased with the result. It hardly added any stiffness to the placket so it hasn't effected function at all.

Close up of shirt details

Instead of buttons, I used pearl snaps (press studs), a request from my partner. These came from snapsource.com and I applied them with my Snap Setter tool also purchased from the same supplier. I can't recommend this company enough. The snaps are really good quality and the Snapsetter Tool is very easy to use. Tip: don't attempt to apply snaps after 10pm or you may experience some abuse heated discussion from other members of your household. I speak from experience.

He's smiling...I think he likes it.

I have found sewing men's shirts very satisfying. It's fairly easy to achieve a good fit as they have less curves than women and they just turn out so well...just like a bought one, only better.

On a different note, I have joined Sarah from Goodbye Valentino in a Ready To Wear fast for 2014. That means I have given up buying Ready-to-Wear clothing from January 1 2014 – December 31, 2014 one year in favour of making my clothes. 

What constitutes a RTW fast? Refraining from buying ALL outerwear, dresses, tops, pants, shorts, sweaters, coats, exercise clothes, jeans and bathing suits. Shoes, socks and underwear are permitted 


Happy Sewing

Button Up Shirt for Me

After my foray into sewing for others "The Birthday Shirt" and "The Madeline Dress", I have gone back to selfish sewing and made myself a button up shirt. This is a make I have had on my list for quite a while now, but haven't quite had the confidence to start.

I used the Archer Shirt Pattern from Grainline Studio. I was inspired by so many other Archers out there in blog land. Check these out Pinterest, Google, Flickr. So many shirts for inspiration. I chose to make View A. The pattern has a collar and separate collar band, a back yoke, a pleat in the centre back, a separate button band, pockets, long sleeves, angled cuffs and a continuous cuff placket.

I chose a lovely sheer cotton/poly voile in white which I purchased online from The Remnant Warehouse and it is still available. I love this fabric. Although it is very lightweight, it was easy to sew and pressed beautifully and it feels very soft and floaty to wear.

Although I did follow the Archer Sew Along which was great, I still found myself referring back to the Craftsy Class "The Classic Tailored Shirt". This class had so much more detailed instruction and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone new to sewing button up shirts.

Front view (worn with a white tank top underneath for modesty)

Side View (Notice the huge sleeves)

Back view

I sewed a straight size 12 which was the correct size for my bust measurement. This shirt is loose fitting, but the sleeve proportions are ridiculous. I have long arms yet these sleeves are way too long and full and the cuff circumference was huge. No wonder so many reviewers had said they used a smaller sleeve size.

Oh dear, sleeves are too long.

Angled cuff detail

Back yoke and pleat

I sewed the seams on my sewing machine (note this pattern has 1/2 inch seam allowances) and then overlocked the seam allowances together with my overlocker, pressed to one side and then top stitched. This gives the look of flat felled seams without all the work. I did consider doing french seams, but with the 1/2 inch seam allowances, and french seams being a new technique for me, I chickened out.

Front detail and close up of fabric.

After reading Art Attack's blog about one of her Archer's, she inspired me to try "snaps" instead of buttons. I ordered the Snapsetter tool and snaps from SnapSource.com. I was very impressed with this company. The website is very easy to navigate and place an order. It took two weeks exactly from placing the order to receiving the order on my doorstep (that's USA to regional Australia). So this is the first garment I have tried them on and I am very happy with the result.

I'm sure I will be sewing more Archer's down the track.


Happy Sewing