Sew'n for my man

This is my darling husband wearing a custom made shirt! We have been married a very, very long time and when I don't know what to get him for his birthday or Christmas, I make him a shirt! I think of it as wrapping him in love.

This time I used a pattern made by my friend Janet Pray. She owns and designs for the Islander Sewing System, which makes patterns and teaches sewing using industrial techniques, meaning small seam allowances and sewing without pins. I have to confess, I did a lot of the sewing my own way and didn't follow all the instructions to the "T". I need to pin for things like collars and cuffs. These details need to be super crisp for a man's shirt to look good.

​That said, this is a good pattern no matter how you do the sewing.

I did follow the pattern layout to the "T" though and it worked really well.

My husband like artsy stuff so I chose this batik print. But it was really hard to tell the right from the wrong side, so I put small safety pins on the right side of all my cut pieces, because the color was a bit different on each side and it would bother me to death if I had to look at him wearing a shirt with the right and wrong sides of the fabric all mixed up.

This pattern, interestingly, has you use two different weights of interfacing for different parts. (SEE ... even the front placket alone uses both kinds) I like the finished product because of this. It's really stiff where it should be and less so where it's shouldn't be. And, if you are going to go to the trouble to sew a shirt like this, buy good quality interfacing. I am so grateful I heeded my own advice every time I wash this shirt. The collar, cuffs and front placket lay flat and iron well with no bubbling.

And don't forget the all important cool down after fusing anything. Don't move whatever has been fused until it is cool. That assures fusing success!

I think I did a pretty good job with all the top stitching, but if you use a busy print like this, small mistakes won't show ... ha ha.

This pattern has you edge stitch the outer side of the collar-stand to the shirt after seaming the inner side of it to the neck of the shirt the regular way. First you press back the seam allowance and stitch 1/4" from the fold THEN edge stitch it down. As you can tell, this is one of those places I needed to pin.

Another way I "cheated" is, I hand sewed each of the ends of the collar-stand in the front. I was just too afraid I would slip up with the sewing machine.

If you have any collar anxieties like I do ... this video should amuse.

We can learn factory sewing technics, but we NEED those machines!

But, back to my shirt. Here is the cuff, which I am very proud of. The design and instructions for the cuff in the pattern work very well.

You may have noticed I used a brown and black stripe for the back of the  collar and cuffs. I try to put interesting inside features when I sew ... a great use for leftover fabric and makes for a unique garment!

This stripe is what was left over from that skirt on the lower left of this pattern.

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Here is another peek into a shirt factory. It is pretty long (12 minutes), but check out the machine that sews on the pockets at around minute 5!!!

Now ... if I could have twenty specialized sewing machines in my workroom ...

No one in the world will have a shirt like this one I made for my man! 

I also love to bake my own bread and make my own jams, very satisfying.

One more "cheat" I want to share, how I do the side seams and hem. I think they look pretty good from the outside. Again, the busy prints helps.

BUT you can see on the inside I just serged the seam together and topstitched it to one side on the outside. Also for the hem, I serged and made a single fold hem. Doing a decent flatfeld seam is tedious, actually nearly impossible, with a home machine. And a rolled hem that curves up and down, like a man's tailored shirt, tends to twist, so these are my easier methods. 
No one used to know I did these things, but now you all do. 

Don't tell!!