Tale of 3 Shirts

Plaid (left) for Tall Boy. Navy linen (centre)
and striped chambray (right) for Stud Muffin.

Two handsome men, three new shirts. The numbers don’t come out even, do they? In this case, my sweetie, Stud Muffin, came out the double winner, and my son, Tall Boy, got just one. I made these shirts in preparation for my One Shirt, Two Ways class a couple of weeks ago auditioning techniques to decide which ones I would include.

Perfecting my shirtmaking abilities has been an on-going project for the past few years. It began one fall when I sewed four shirts in a row and wasn’t happy with a single one. That was when I had the lightning bolt revelation:  there had to be another way of doing things. Notice I didn’t say better. As far as I know, there isn’t one BEST way of doing anything.

Continuous placket - not my fav.
The top "roof" isn't easy to make.

David Page Coffin Placket - I like!
Smooth and easy to sew

Fortunately, I like research. Armed with a shoulder-wrenching load of books and enough videos* to turn my eyeballs red, I dug for new ideas. David Page Coffin, Sandra Betzina, Mike Maldonado, Margaret Islander, Rusty Bobbin, Nancy Zieman, Ron Collins, Pam Erny, and Louise Cutting became my new best friends.

* My darling children called these sewing videos my sewing porn. Charming.

Love the fun with the stripes!

I learned. I experimented. Just when I thought I was done, more shirtmaking resources popped up (got to love the internet).  Yet another variation on a theme. I was amazed – who knew there could be so many ways to sew such a basic garment?

Buttonholes made with vintage Singer Buttnhole
attachment. Simple, perfect buttonholes
every time!

What techniques do I like? Margaret Islander made me rethink seam allowances. I love the 1-piece collar (Zieman, Collins, and Cutting). For front plackets, Nancy Zieman offers several great options. Pam Erny’s blog shows how to reshapecollars for a better fit. Rusty Bobbin has the best shirt deconstruction tutorial I’ve ever seen. David Page Coffin’s book is an all-round great resource and demystifies sleeve plackets.

Do you have any favourite shirtmaking techniques?

                - Lady T

Mishmash

Two of my uber-fans complained to me yesterday about my lack of recent posts. One I could’ve ignored, but two. Two seemed like a message from the Universe to get to work.

The problem is the work. What I’ve been working on lately is hardly noteworthy. In fact, some of it is downright embarrassingly ugly.

First up: jeans. I think I’ve got a pattern that works! It covers most of the flabby bits and shows a wee bit of shape (the wee bit I still have), so I am happy. I have to hem them and attach the waistband button, then they will be good to go. Photo coming.

Second up: doll clothes. You’d think this would be a fast and easy project. Hahaha! It’s painfully slow and rather difficult. Seam allowances must be teeny tiny to look in proportion. Finishing the raw edges is a nightmare!

Jenny, Mandy, Jenny and Mandy keeping me company
in my sewing room.

I’m making clothes for vintage Fisher Price My Friend dolls. My Friend dolls are similar to American Girl dolls, except 30 yrs older and 2” shorter.  Mandy (followed by her friends Becky, Jenny, Nicky, and Mikey) came out in the late 1970’s, just before the Cabbage Patch Kid doll crazy hit. The Cabbage Patch Kids dolls totally eclipsed the My Friend dolls and my poor beauties were discontinued soon afterwards. To me, this was a pity because My Friend dolls were the nicest dolls I’ve ever seen. They had sweet little girl faces (verses teenage tramp or alien morphed), could stand and sit on their own, and were machine washable, with stylable hair. Fisher Price even included sewing patterns with the dolls to expand their wardrobes. (Please note: I’ve never seen an American Girl doll in person, and they may be equally as lovely. But it’s hard for a Canadian to get excited about something called an American Girl doll.)

Anyhow, figuring out the world of doll clothes has been an unexpected challenge. I found a vintage McCall’s pattern for My Friends clothes on Esty, and snapped it up. But guess what? The shirt/blouse doesn’t have enough overlap for a fastener. So even doll clothes patterns have to be adjusted and fitted. Bum-mer!

Last up: shirts. I’m teaching a shirt-making class at the end of the month. It’s called One Shirt, Two Ways. Each half of the sampler shirt will be constructed using different techniques. In other words, I’m teaching two ways to do a collar, two ways to do a collar band, two ways to do cuffs.... You get the idea. To prepare, I’m sewing a shirt for my Stud Muffin, but it’s been slow going because I have to stop and write the notes and do research. There are far more than two ways to do each section, so I’m auditioning the possibilities. Picture shortly.

That’s it for now. Thanks, DD3, for the suggestion to do a mash post!

               -  Lady T