hey bro!
Woooh! I’m so excited to finally hand this over! My brother had a big BIG birthday… and my sister-in-law made the brilliant suggestion that he would like a shirt made by me for his birthday. Well, oh my goodness, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself!! anyway, I spent LOADS of time and LOADS of love and care into making this perfect, and it is. Ta da!
looks like a dress, doesn’t it? Gotta admit, I WAS a little tempted to steal it …
I know that sounds funny… I mean, wouldn’t I pour loads of love and care into making shirts for my husband and two sons too? well of course I do. Buuuut,and here’s the thing… my brother’s shirt is going to be handled, worn, laundered, ironed and generally available for up close and personal inspection by either him or my sister-in-law. They are both the biggest sweeties on the planet…. however! I quaked with fear at the thought of someone else checking out my sewing …* imagines to self, my brother and sister-in-law with a magnifying glass going over each and every stitch* By “someone else” I mean someone who isn’t my own husband or children obviously, who basically have no choice but to lump it, hehe.
And yeah, this really is a VIB (Very Important Birthday). and so I just really wanted for this shirt to be PERFECT.
Pattern! I used my new mens’ shirt pattern Burda 6874, graded to fit David, plus I made his extra long as per the shirt whose size I was going off. My sister-in-law had secretly given me a well-fitting shirt of his that I could measure off to custom-fit his shirt … David is a 6’4″ champion swimmer, and built like one too… did I ever mention he has swum the Rottnest Channel swim solo?! Yep!! Well, merely to say that I needed to substantially re-grade my pattern to fit him. I didn’t have David himself to check the fit off of, so I was pretty terrified how it was going to go, luckily the fit is absolutely spot on! *pheeeew!!!
Fabric; a really nice deep indigo cotton/linen with a permanently scrunchy texture to it, I went big guns and bought this from Calico House, because well, it IS a special birthday. The red buttons are from Fabulous Fabrics.
But enough boring chit-chat… how about some gratuitous detail shots #shirtporn #oooyouknowyouwantit
buttondown collar
it took me three goes to get the second of these buttonholes the same as the first!
sleeve placket. contrasting red cotton for the cuff and yoke facings, topstitched in a way that a tiny sliver peeked out on the right side
fully flat-felled seams throughout
sorry for collar picture overload.. I was just so thrilled at how nice it turned out!
I was once asked what the inside of these side seam gusset/insert thingies looks like … Folding the inner edges all around made them pretty bulky so I cut away all seam allowances of “hidden” edges ie. those of the underside of the gusset and the turned under edge of the shirt hem, tucked them inside the upper gusset edge and topstitched them all down… thus considerably reducing bulk here
Yay! I was SO HAPPY to see him wearing it!
Also… recently I mentioned that I had made a dress for Cassie? well here ’tis!
Pattern; the Sudley by Megan Nielsen patterns, I gathered up the sleeve hems with skinny elastic, like I had done for my own Sudley blouse, at her request. All seams are French seams, dress is fully lined with the lining cut as an extended bodice. Very realistic silk-like poly from Spotlight, lining also from Spotlight.
To be honest, halfway through making it I felt like this was a dress that couldn’t possibly be saved… but fortunately once it was on her it suddenly looked adorable. And she loves it! Despite that very serious facial expression!
No no no! I’m not about to be a granny yet… this is just a pose that made us both roar with laughter! Demonstrating the… um, capacity of this design.
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