Shirts

Dressmaking or Shirtmaking

Posted on Jul 18, 2013 | 4 comments

So I have traversed back and forth across  a bridge that connects two arts in the sewing world, dressmaking and shirtmaking and the question is… which do I prefer to make?  I’ll have to say it’s a hands down… BOTH!  Each satisfies my creative passion and both help me to develop more skills to stuff in my “tool box”.  Not to mention that it’s just awesomely cool to also know how to make mens clothes!

In the last several weeks, I have been hard at work (when I’m not elsewhere like Blues Festivals, smacking pucks around at the rink or working in my yard trying to keep my herbs, vegetables and flowers alive through this ongoing hot spell) designing a shirt pattern for my loveable beer connoisseur and sewing a glamor dress for my adorable pencil.  Today I am going to share these tales with you!  Sorry about the length.  I know blog articles should be short, sweet, to-the-point, and not novels!  However, if you meet me in person, the first thing you will learn is that I love to talk to people.  Yes, I am a social butterfly 🙂

I’ll start my tale with the glamor dress.  The pattern is McCall’s 6561.

McCall’s 6561

I’ve made this dress before in white embroidered cotton and lined it with cotton silk.  It has a 10 piece bodice that I had to totally re-design for my daughter because she was smaller than a 4 but a bit bustier.  There is a post here at Sewlikeinparis, Pattern Review McCalls 6561 with more details and pictures but in short, while it’s not horribly difficult, it is a bit time consuming to make.

The fabric I used this time is shimmer satin in black and royal blue.

The pattern provides instructions for which pieces of the bodice should be cut from the fabric or the contrast fabric but we ditched those and my daughter marked the muslin bodice with her desired color scheme.  This is the bodice front finished.

And the view of the back…

The dress has two gathered skirts, the instructions tell you to attach one to the bodice and one to the bodice lining.  My daughter didn’t like the feel of the two separate skirts so I attached both to the main bodice this time.  I didn’t sew the side seam and put in the zipper until after I had sewn both skirts to the bodice.  There was a lot of basting going on.

Next,  I installed the zipper first, then sewed the side seams.  To be on the safe side, I decided that before going any further, I would make the straps and attach them so my daughter could try it on.  OOOOh, it seemed a bit too snug for my liking but she felt it would be just fine.  With hesitation, I went ahead and applied the lining and did the finish work.

This is the bottom of the dress with the layered skirts, one being a little longer than the other.

So yesterday was the official photoshoot for the McCall’s 6561 glamor dress but guess what?  My pretty little pencil…

had at some point very recently, turned into a fine point Sharpie!

Yep, you got it… the glamor dress did not fit! Not even close!  Because of this, there are no pictures to share this gorgeous little number with you because there is NO body that can fit into it.  I had to go downstairs for a drink… of water, and when I went back to my room I found the dress hanging on my closet door frame.  This is a nonverbal form of communication that as a mother I have learned to understand.  My daughter is saying, “if you want me to wear this dress, you can fix it if you want, but I don’t want it in my closet taking up space if I can’t wear it.”   I love my lovely fine point Sharpie very much and so believe it or not, there will be no more words and I will return to the fabric store in search of more matching fabric for a new bodice.  I will see this experience as an opportunity for me to get better at alterations! (even though I really HATE altering anything!)

So, I bet you are wondering how the shirtmaking went huh?  It too was quite an adventure.  I have designed a final pattern which is a melting pot of three patterns, a draping, and a number of additional features that I discovered after studying one of my son’s better well-made RTW (ready-to-wear) shirts.  It was after 3 muslins, an official attempt at shirt #1 which was an epic fail and my son’s fading hope that he would ever get a shirt when my bull headed determination saved the day and I finally figured it out!  The next day after the celebration 🙂 , my son and I went to the fabric store and he chose this fabric.

It is 100% cotton plaid and the pale yellow is broadcloth which will be the contrasting neck stand (band).  I think my son has figured out the magnitude of his good fortune because he picked out some additional fabric as well for his next shirt!

Cutting shirt pieces out in plaid fabric, I think, is an art of its own!  The 1st shirt that was a bomb took me all day to cut out because of the matching game I was trying to play with all the horizontal and vertical lines.  It wasn’t too long before I figured out that the more pieces you had, the harder it was to match things up!  Therefore, I devised a method through my pattern design that made things much easier.  I  drafted two separate pattern pieces, one for the right front and one for the left front.  Each piece includes enough yardage at center front that will fold over itself several layers, creating an interfaced placket for the buttons and buttonholes.  Mind you, folding over the right side that holds the buttons is pretty easy, but it was the left side that holds the buttonholes where I got a bit creative.  Ultimately you fold the center fabric edge backwards,  right side to right side, then forwards and then under 3/8 inch, allowing for a 1/8 inch overhang of the left side over the right side when lapped and wide enough for 1/4 inch top-stitching along both edges.  And on another note, if sewing on only one pocket, that goes on the left and good luck with that matching!  Argh!!!!!

So many details… and this is only the beginning.  I find myself feeling a little overwhelmed right now explaining since it was just yesterday when I finished the shirt.  Maybe we’ll just look at some more pictures for now.  Pictures that I could take!

This is the collar and neck stand.

I don’t have any specialized shirtmaking tools yet… like a point presser clapper for collar edges but I was satisfied with what I did.  Holy crap!  Just realized when looking at this picture that I didn’t top-stitch the collar yet!  I am going to have to sneak it out of my son’s room and do that ASAP!

Pockets are not really traditional in high quality mens shirts but… with sportier shirts they are considered okay.  I found it a bit challenging to match up all the lines so I decided to try first with one pocket.  And… with an attempt to show off, I decided to go with a rounded bottom and while I didn’t do half bad, I think I am in need of some more practice!

Closer view of pocket…

I like the knife pleats I used in this one but with the next shirt, I am going to do box pleats instead which are done exactly at center point below the yoke and see which my son likes better.   I also felled the seams on the inside around the armscyes.  That was a dangerous time during the sewing of this shirt!  That’s all I am going to say about that.

Speaking of felling seams… because the author of  “Shirtmaking”, David Page Coffin recommended doing them using a foot rather than by  hand, I heeded his advice and went and purchased one for my sewing machine.

I’ve concluded that if I did nothing but flat-fell seams every time I sewed, then I might eventually become a master flat felled seam sewer when using my felling foot!  However, because I am really hating that damn foot right now, I don’t have much hope!

Ahem…. I did eventually succeed at flat-felling the side seams using the felling foot (It’s almost time to raid the wine rack!)  I sewed the wrong sides of the shirt together and then flat felled the seam allowance.  I will re-visit flat-felling for you in another post and explain it more in detail when I am over it!

Finally, you have to hem the shirt using a rolled hem.   I did NOT use a foot for this (even though I have one).  I have a technique that works well for me and so I stayed with it.

Step 1:

First – I fold up the hem 5/8″ and pin.

Step 2:

Next, I press, just setting the iron flat against the edge of the folded hem, going slowly and doing it section by section.

Step 3:

I fold the fabric over and under with the edge touching the inside bottom of the fold and pin again.

After step 3, I sew a 1/4″ seam along the bottom, then press again and this is the final look.

Of course, as a thoughtful addition I sewed on an extra button!

So the grand finale, my son with a hind sight view!

Being that he is sort of bashful, after some coercion and a bit of bribery,  I got him to sit on a stool and smile!

To get this cheezy grin, he was thinking of his older brother who in a few hours will be off to a rally race competition in California.   My son, Dylan, is a rally race driver with a passion for rally racing like I do for sewing… and obviously a personality that makes Jared smile!

Salute!  Jessica

Shirtmaking Part 2

Posted on Jun 17, 2013 | 0 comments

So… as you may have already figured out, the shirtmaking continues and it’s quite Da Bomb!  (slang for excellent 🙂 )  My son is eager for me to make shirts for him so he has been very cooperative and so far, patient.  Hopefully our recent live draping will help get me to the point where I have a working pattern so I can get busy and be a shirtmaker!   You are wondering how the live draping went huh?  Well that’s what I am about to talk about but first I need to bring you up to speed.

Like I said in my last article, I made a muslin using the McCall’s 6044 pattern.

MCALL’S 6044

When I had my son try it on, he was swimming in fabric.  So…while stewing on what to do, I perused the internets and stumbled across “Drafting The Men’s Shirt Block” on the  BurdaStyle.com forum website.  It was provided by gedwoods, a Canadian scientist who has a passion for sewing.  It took me a bit but I was able to figure out the instructions and drafted a decent pattern.  For giggles, I laid the McCall’s 6044  pattern pieces on it and they were quite close.  Too close, so I didn’t see any point in repeating history by making another epic fail muslin.  At this point I was sort of at a loss, so I threw in the towel that day and went to the library with my son.

My spirits however, were lifted on that library excursion.  I FOUND the book “Shirtmaking” by David Page Coffin.  I could kiss that man!  He shared so many words of wisdom in that book and even provided instructions on how to drape a live person!  I had a hallelujah moment!  I just recently finished taking some draping classes, and while not a master draper as of yet, I could easily see how draping a real person could be so beneficial.  I would just have to go easy on the pinning!

Mr. Coffin gives a list of things needed for his draping method that of course requires muslin, of which I was fresh out of, so this meant a trip to the fabric store.  While there, I thought I would check out the Simplicity patterns since they were 5 for $5.00.  Guess what?!!  They had a mens shirt pattern (also for ladies) and so I picked it up as well.

This new pattern comes in medium, large and extra large which was another OMG moment because it turns out that my son’s shoulder width is about medium, even though his neck is an extra large.  We were both pretty surprised by this discovery.

Mr. Coffin’s draping method starts with first fitting the yoke on your subject.  He feels the yoke is a basic element of a shirt and so feels it’s an important starting point.  The McCall’s 6044 pattern did not have a yoke that you sewed onto a back piece section to make a whole back piece, but rather a decorative western yoke that you sew on the full back.   However, the Simplicity 2741 pattern did have the actual yoke so I opted for using it as my jump off point.   In the picture below, the back of the shirts show the yoke that I am talking about.  In the diagrams, just below the yoke are knife pleats.  Another version is the box pleat where the same ease of fabric is pleated exactly at center point.

So it was last night, after I prepared my front, back and yoke that the draping commenced.   Oh yeah!  Almost forgot.  There was  also another item on the supply list.  The bribe!

So with all my supplies gathered up, yesterday evening my son and I headed for the kitchen.   The place a guy doesn’t mind being stuck in for a while.  I think a kitchen is sort of like a man cave in that you can find comfort in the food and beverages located there!

Step 1:  We started with the yoke of course!

See (above) how the yoke was too wide.   The left side is still hanging down over the shoulder but on the right I have already pinned in a pleat which I will do for the left side too.  This is not really the proper way to do this but I didn’t want to leave my son sitting and waiting and take the risk of losing him as my model.  I pinned out the length as you can see on the right.

I simply made a 1/4″ pleat on each side making a total of 1″ that I removed from the width of the yoke.

Also, when cutting out the muslin yoke, I allowed for 5/8″ seam allowance on all sides except for the neck which was 3/4″.  As I smoothed the fabric down from the center point, working outwards towards the shoulder ridges, I clipped down the allowance around the neck one section at a time, being careful not to clip below the actual seam line.  As you clip, you can see where the fabric begins to relax and smooth out.  Eventually I ended up with what you see.  Here is the yoke at the proper width and positioned in place with pins…

All ready for step 2:  Draping the front

So to do this, you have to prepare a piece of muslin that is the half the circumference of the fullest part of the body (chest or waist) plus several inches extra on each side and the length desired plus about 3 inches.  Next, fold the fabric exactly in half lengthwise and draw a center line starting at the neck and drawing downwards. (The author gives so many details that sometimes I think the directions get a little confusing.  I am trying to share with you as much as I can about how you do this, but some of it, while not really hard, is just hard to explain.  You need to actually see it being done)  Anyways, I drew the line the full length of the muslin piece.  This line is not only your center-front but also your grainline or point of reference.  When you are pinning it to the front yoke sections, that line should always stay perpendicular to the floor when your model is standing.  Mine actually sat a lot!  He sort of had to though because I am 5″3″ and he is 6″3″.

Mind you the neck I found to be a bit tricky.  I am still not sure what Mr. Coffin was telling me to do.  You are suppose to use your thumb and forefinger to measure the distance around the front half of the neck and then apply that measurement minus 1/2 inch for drawing your neckline.  I sort of winged it.  The important thing here is that you will need to draw a small u- shape or more of  a half circle at the neck position, but the fabric needs to fit as snug as the model will allow!  My son was feeling like he was wearing a bag and wouldn’t let me take pictures of his face and neck.  I get it though and I won’t fault him.

Next, you want to pin the front fabric piece at the center front line you drew, to the model’s center front TIGHT t-shirt that you have conned them into wearing for this wonderful experience!  A second pin should be placed as well at center waist holding the fabric to the t-shirt.

So here is the front piece pinned to the right front of the yoke.  I started by taking that corner on that side of the fabric and lifting it to remove drooping and smoothed it up over the yoke front, making sure the grainline was perpendicular to the floor.  While doing this I had to snip the neckline a bit just like I did in the back of the yoke to get the results I wanted.  Notice next to the green straight pin on the right that I marked his shoulder ridge.  I did this just because I wanted it as a reference point for any reason I may need it for!

When you have finished fitting the front on both sides, you need to mark at the point where the yoke seam meets the front from neckline to the armscye ends with dots or dashes.   Also make sure to crossmark at the armscye ends.  I also marked as best I could, the center front armhole (armscye) point (where the center screw is in a dressform) and the underarm point where it meets the side-seams.

Step 3:  Draping the back

Now you need to cut or tear a piece of fabric that is the other half of the full circumference of the widest point of  the body (chest or waist)  plus several inches extra on each side that you will also mark with a center line like you did for the front.  You don’t need to worry about building in pleats at this point in time.  Those can be added later when drafting the final pattern.   The center line has to stay plumb or perpendicular just like with the front, only this time it should be a bit easier because you are only fitting to the bottom of the back yoke.  Start by pinning the fabric at the marked center line to the center back yoke seam line with about a 1 inch over-lap.  Also pin the fabric at the level of the back waist to that tight t-shirt.  Then continue draping by lifting up the corners, one side at a time and  gently pulling them up and over the yoke pinning as you go.

Once you have the back piece fitted and pinned the way you like, then mark with dots or dashes or both like you did on the front yoke shoulders.  Also be sure and cross-mark at the end of the armholes (armscye).  Here again, it is helpful to mark a point at the underarm and center back armhole (armscye).  It won’t be super accurate, but at least you have a reference point.

The beauty of Mr. Coffin’s shirt draping method is that after you finish these steps, you have essentially finished with the draping.  The next step is to return to the shirt pattern of your choice and transfer the armholes (armscyes)  from the pattern to your draped shirt muslin.  He gives instructions on how to do this, but his instructions get a little murky for my understanding so I will have to leave you to it at this point.  As for the sleeves, cuffs, collar and type of front closure, there are an abundance of suggestions and tips in the book, but as a designer, you are on your own or you can fall back on a commercial pattern if you want to.  I know this doesn’t help those of you who need further directions and I am sorry about that.   You see, I am totally at the winging stage now and so I don’t want to take you off course or give bad instructions.  Actually, I didn’t know I was going to write a “how to”.  It just sort of happened!  Consequently there may be some weaknesses in my instructions so please send me an e-mail with any questions you may have and I will do my best to help you out.

My draping muslin is hanging on Elizabeth (my dress form) right now waiting for my son to get home from work so we can put it to the test!  I will give you an up-date soon along with a pattern review for McCal’s 6754 and McCall’s 6745.  But for now, I have to go make tacos for dinner.  Hmmm…wonder what kind of wine goes with tacos?

Salute!  Jessica

Shirtmaking Begins

Posted on Jun 10, 2013 | 0 comments

Sewing for my daughter is lots of fun.  Not just because I get to sew something and it happens to be for her… there is a whole lot of stuff that happens.  There is the choosing of the pattern and fabric that gives us the opportunity to spend some time together.  And then there is this communicative thing that happens between us. We talk about our likes and dislikes, our favorite colors, what trends we like and what we absolutely hate!  We talk about what looks good on her and what looks good on me.  She becomes my confidante/fashion apparel assistant adviser.  And in all of this, the mother-daughter bond is ever strong (most of the time).    So.. how do I improve the bonding power in my relationships with my sons using the sewing approach?  Easy!  By shirtmaking (hopefully).

Unless one is fortunate enough to have a shirtmaker mentor, you will be forced to start off like I did and visit your local fabric store, looking through the pattern books hoping there is a men’s pattern available.  I did find one that I thought I could live with.

McCalls 6044 I could live with him.  Hey!  I’m human.

Ahem…My shirtmaking career is going to start with my first victim, Jared, so I selected an x-large pattern size because that’s what he wears in RTW (ready-to-wear) shirts.  Now I know better than to think that this shirt is going to be an exact fit so before cutting out anything, I decided to get lots of measurements.  First of course were my son’s.  The next were from a shirt that fits him comfortably.  I measured the neck, the shoulder length, the armhole (armscye), shoulder width, chest, waist, hips and shirt length.

The pattern measurements were almost identical to the RTW shirt so I figured I would push on to making a muslin (with a little tweek of course).  I wanted a traditional yoke in the back, not a western styled one that comes with the pattern so I changed it.  The result… well the neck fit really nice, but from there, let’s just say I was pretty disappointed.   No…it was not because of my change in the yoke.  You thought you had me there huh!  These were the usual fitting issues that seem to happen every time with any pattern.  The shoulders hung almost 2 inches over the ridge points, at chest level we needed to lose about 1 to 2 inches and the armpit area was full of extra fabric.  “Awe crap” were naturally my first words.  So then I made him try on his RTW shirt and discovered almost the same problems.   I had a revelation!  Besides the fact that I am finally figuring out fitting problems and recognizing them easily, more importantly, men have become comfortable wearing crappy fitted shirts!

This is where the bonding thing was suppose to be happening between me and my son but from his perspective, I think there is a bit of confusion.  I think he is thinking, it fits him just fine so why not make the shirt and be done with it.  I on the other hand want to make him the best shirt he could ever have.  It’s a stale mate… a Mars vs Venus!  So he walked off, thinking about cars, girls, making videos, drinking a beer.. whatever guys think about, and I did the only thing I could think of… I asked the Oracle (the internets!) what she knew about shirtmaking.

I learned quite a bit during my visit to the Oracle.  There are some pretty nifty bloggers on the internets who share a wealth of information about shirtmaking.

Peter Lappin, of Malepatternboldness.blogspot.com is a very interesting gent whose blog I will continue to enjoy reading.  He talked about felling seams when shirtmaking, totally groovy information that I hadn’t even thought of!

Pamela Erny, a custom shirtmaker who shared her split cowel collar design on her blog site,  Off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com that I can’t wait to try.

Geoffrey Edwards, blog writer who posts on the BurdaStyle.com forum website under the name, gedwoods.  To my delight, one of his postings I found on the forum was “Drafting The Men’s Shirt Block”.  Interestingly, he is a Canadian scientist with such a passion for sewing that for the past five years has developed and designed a new clothing line, “g-moda“.   Last night I drafted a shirt for my son using this gentleman’s drafting instructions and it turned out quite well visibly.  The next test of course will be to make a muslin.

And last but not least, David Page Coffin, author of  “Shirtmaking”.  His book was recommended in a number of the shirtmaking blog articles I have read.

The beauty of this book discovery was that day-before-yesterday, while perusing the sewing book section in my local library not expecting to find much of anything, I stumbled across this very book!  What a wealth of information.  It’s so awesome that I have been reading it like a novel!  It’s gonna be another one of my sewing library requirements! What’s more…he walks you through his draping technique, step-by-step, in the creating of a shirt, on a real man!  You know what this means don’t you.  I have briefed Jared of my intentions and noted a rather grim look on his face.  There is no doubt in my mind that a six-pack of Newkie Brown Ale will appease his concerns and sweeten the deal!  There will be an up-date soon on my shirtmaking career including the live male draping.  Almost forgot to mention, straight pins will be involved!

Salute!  Jessica