The Perfect Shirt

I appreciate the comments on the gold silk. I really want to make some sort of shirt with it but not an entire "shirt dress". The comment about a tunic length got me to thinking about all the shirt patterns I have used of the years and those that I have bought but never used.

When I started making shirts (as opposed to blouses) for myself, I used one pattern exclusively. It wasn't a true shirt like a tailored man's shirt but it was good enough to make many (dare I say dozens) of shirts over the years. It's the McCall's 8053 on the right. It has a proper two piece collar and nice long shirt tails, for when we used to tuck our shirts into our skirt or pants. It doesn't have a separate band on the front, for both buttons and buttonholes. Instead, it does what many of the women's shirt patterns do and that is, fold over the front into a facing, which flares out at the top and has to be ironed down with each washing. It is also very wide and boxy and goes straight down, with no darts.

On the other side of the photo above is Simplicity 9210. This is what I've been using lately (and for some years) to make what I call the "camp shirt" (or I suppose you could call it a bowling shirt). It has a one piece, spread collar. I like the two piece collar because it looks more formal or dressy and can take a tie (I sometimes, used to - rarely - wear ties). The camp shirt also has the facings. It is square but it does have bust darts to give it a little shape. And the bottom is hemmed straight across with vents at the bottom for ease of movement.

The next pattern on the right is Simplicity 9877. I started making this very fitted shirt when I started leaving my shirt tails untucked. Despite the cowgirl motif in the main photo, I have used this pattern successfully for quite a few cotton/Lycra shirts and I wear them a LOT. It has a one piece collar that has the shape of a two piece. That means when undone, it sort of looks like a two piece but it doesn't do up (at the very top) square enough to wear a tie. It has separate bands on the front that are interfaced and topstitched and look more like a tailored man's shirt. It also, despite it being so fitted, allows my arms to move. (That sounds strange but I went through a couple of patterns which were sized correctly but for some reason, I couldn't stretch my arms out in front of me.) I have made a few of these shirts with vertical stripes and they work, even with the deep darts in front. But for the gold silk, I didn't want the stripes to be interrupted like that.

On the left is McCall's 5630 which I have never used. I bought it because it is billed as "perfect fit" and it has a two piece collar, front bands and a slight shirttail hem. But it has body darts and I am not convinced I want to use those for the gold silk (because of the stripes in the fabric but also, I think the finished look should be a little loose).

Next is Vogue 2634 which I had to have because those women just look so lanky and elegant. I can be elegant (given the right circumstances) but I'll never be lanky. It has a very long, tunic length option, a two piece collar but no front bands.

Finally, we have a pattern that is very 80s but which I love in spite of its shoulder pads, gathered sleeves and tucks. Of course, it is very Vogue and so the photos look so elegant. I only had one shirt made from it and it didn't have the shoulder pads and I never made the cool neck cummerbund and I really got it for the neck detail. Because I like to wear ties. Plus, it has a French cuff option and one of these days, I'm going to wear cufflinks too. [I just like the look of a tie and cufflinks and I can get away with it because I'm pretty small and fairly feminine (how's that for non-commitment and lack of superlatives?)].

What's next for me is to compare pattern pieces to determine why some patterns restrict my arms (I didn't include those patterns above because, in my opinion, they don't work). Then I want to combine the best parts of the patterns that do work, to make a shirt that will be "the perfect shirt". It will have a two piece collar, front bands, hopefully no darts (I'll allow bust darts if I have to) and be loose-ish but not boxy. For the gold silk, I would like a long body but a straight hem, so I can wear it out like a tunic but tuck it in if I want. I will make the first prototype of this perfect shirt using some piece of some fabric I have squirreled away over the years and if it works, the gold silk will be next. I've been mulling over this puzzle for ages. It's very much like the mulling I do when I try to come up with what will be for me, the perfect bicycle. But that's another story.

Cotton shirt

I decided to make up one of the cottons - the stripe with a little bit of Lycra in it. It is such a pleasure to sew with fine fabric. This stuff makes itself, really, especially as I have made the pattern quite a few times. The last time I made it was the peach shirt but there are better pictures back last January when I made it in some candy striped cotton. It is Simplicity 9877.

I cut each piece out singly so I could make sure the stripes matched and were straight up and down. Also, it is an uneven stripe (just in the thin purple lines) so I wanted the stripes to be the same for the sleeves and fronts.

Stupidly, with all this matching, I forgot to line up the stripes at the shoulder seams! Ack.

Anyway, I think it will be fine - who would notice but you and me?

Seersucker shirt

I've gone from this:

... to this today:

I used to have such a mental block about collars and even though I've been sewing the band facings on by machine for a long time, I still get that "I don't want to do the next step" feeling when it comes to collars. Never mind - they are easy now.

First I sew the collar band to the WRONG side of the body of the shirt. Then I fold up the edge of the facing and pin it carefully over the stitching line I just made on the RIGHT side of the shirt.

Here's a close-up of one end of the collar band as pinned. It's a little loose looking but once I get it under the sewing machine needle and the needle stuck through all layers to hold it down, I can tweak it a tiny bit here and there and then sew it down.

Here is the finished collar band. In the front is the INSIDE of the band and the collar band end behind the other one shows what the band looks like on the outside. You might have to go to Flickr and see them large to get the detail. What I like about this method is that the band never comes apart as it sometimes did with hand stitching. Plus it's nice and tight and flat and if you want, you can put on more rows of topstitching.

It's so easy to match pocket stripes. Just make marks where the pocket is supposed to go on the shirt (I am pointing to a small pink chalk mark in this photo). Then get a piece of fabric where the stripes line up with the shirt (making sure it is slightly larger than the pocket area). Pin the pocket piece on to the piece of matching fabric, making sure the stitching lines match up and then cut it out. As it turns out, I didn't put a flap on this pocket but the pocket itself was done the same way.

Here's another look at a sleeve flat fell. You can also sort of tell here that this seersucker is quite thin and soft compared to that other one I made that was stiff - and still is after several washings. Anyway, I sewed the sleeve on and then trimmed the part of the seam allowance that belonged to the body of the shirt, allowing me to fold over the seam allowance that belongs to the sleeve. Of course, you have to iron the seam allowances toward the body of the shirt first.

Then I just run along the fold with the zipper foot, taking the pins out as I go.

From the right side of the shirt, you can see it makes a nice finish. And you can see the topstitching where I finished the yoke. Almost done.