Seersucker shirts

It's been a bit of a hiatus. I had germs and then end of semester and house visits. Anyway, I decided to tell my husband about the shirt I was going to make for him so there's no big secret (except for the fact that I bought a second length of seersucker so he will end up with two shirts). Shhh.

I made that second short sleeved shirt in yellow and it turned out as cute at the pink one. I have even worn the pink one twice and washed it!

And there they are.

My husband wants a long sleeved seersucker shirt because he read in a bicycling magazine that that's what one wears when the sun is hot and in danger of burning you. Okay. So I was lucky to finally find some thin cotton seersucker on sale and I bought two lengths of it. The first, shown here, is mainly white with an uneven stripe. I even got too much and was able to cut out a sleeveless little blouse for myself, using a NEW Vogue pattern I also got on sale.

I have made his shirt pattern (McCall's 9579) on several occasions so it's pretty routine. The Vogue pattern (2634) is not at all complicated so I don't think I should run into any snags along the way. It has front bands that are merely the long edge of the front turned under twice - the same construction as my husband's shirt. I also like the fact that both shirts have proper two piece collars. I find that I can't do up the one piece collar at the neck without it looking odd.

[And there's my new ironing board cover that I made while the dog was in kennels!]
His collar is cut following the lengthwise grain, like most collars. I decided this first time on the Vogue pattern that I would follow the instructions and make my collar with the stripes running across it instead of down its length and see what issues I have later. It might even be cute, who knows.

As usual, I interface both sides of the collar and press open the seam on the inside before turning the collar and doing any topstitching. I also interfaced both sides of HIS collar band but decided not to do that on mine, partly because the instructions don't call for it and partly because I was running out of interfacing.

His shirt has a yoke on the back and although it is not a great photo, I am showing the fact that I don't bother to trim the seam allowances on the yoke before assembling the back. I don't think the bulk needs to be trimmed and I also think it makes for a neater look to have all the 5/8 seam allowances lined up. When you trim, you can get a little uneven here and there.

To get the stripes on the pocket lined up exactly, I waited until I had cut out all the pieces and then, with what I had left, I lined up the leftover fabric, right side up, with where the pocket was going to go on the front of the left side of his shirt. Then I cut out the pocket using pinking shears and once it was sewed on, it looks pretty professional.