Challenging Ourselves Takes Us to The Next Level in our art!
My husband’s finished dress shirt!
Welcome Fashionistas!
I am so excited that you stopped by again! Life has been busy since right before Christmas. Yes, I know that was several months ago…Nonetheless, I am back on track and working daily in my studio. I am either working on client work or building my wardrobe and skills, which I will share here.
I enjoy challenging myself and feel it’s the spice of life to keep learning! If you haven’t read my bio, please stop over there and read it; it will provide some insight. I am excited because I finally updated it a short time ago.
So, I’m curious whether you like to challenge yourself. Do you participate in any challenges on social media? Well, I have been challenging myself these last few months and am finally ready to share what I have been working on with all of you. So, here we go...
My challenge for the last six months or more. Yes, yes, you read that correctly; six months, I started making my husband, JD, a dress shirt. The photos above and below are of the dress shirt. It has pushed me but also given me more confidence than I could have even imagined. To provide you with a little bit of history, I have made a variety of items for each of my children, to home decor to costumes, so this should not have been a big deal. However, I wanted this to look custom-made for him. When I put tailoring/sewing to the side for several years in the early 2000s for personal reasons, many things happened in the sewing community while I was away. I have been working to get caught up until now. I feel fully back and ready to grow big time.
So, last Fall, I asked my husband if he would like me to make him a dress shirt. I explained that it was totally ok if he ended up not being happy with the shirt once it was done. I wanted to challenge myself beyond anything I had done for several years. He was excited, to say the least. I asked him to pick out his favorite dress shirt from his closet and let me copy it. The method I used was a combination from these two books, Patterns from Finished Clothes by Tracy Doyle and Copy Creations by Kari Newell. These two books are equally good and gave me the information I needed.
I made the pattern and measured it twice before going on with cutting out the pieces. Then, it was time to move on to the next step. This is where David Page Coffin’s 1st book on Shirt Making came into play. I also referenced a few other books, but David Page Coffin’s was seriously the best reference. Here is a list of the other books if you are interested in looking at them.
* Shirtmaking Developing Skills For Fine Sewing by David Page Coffin
* Modern Men’s Tailoring, A Basic Guide to Pattern Drafting by Sven Jungclaus
* The Shirtmaking Workbook by David Page Coffin
I had also referred to YouTube a couple of times. In fact, the placket pattern and tutorial I used is by Angela Kane Sewing Part 1 and 2. It explains everything and walks you step by step through the process of getting an excellent sleeve placket. I would highly recommend it to everyone to check out. One of the essential things I learned through making this dress shirt was to make samples for new challenging techniques until you are happy with the look. This will save you ripping time and stress and your lovely fabric in the long run. I wasn’t using expensive fabric for this wearable muslin/sample shirt, but you may be for your project.
The challenging cuff.
The sleeve placket that I learned from Angela Kane on YouTube. If you want to learn about plackets I highly suggest her YouTube.
Fun detail for the inside of his dress shirt cuff.
All seams are enclosed and clean. There is the fun yoke detail.
Making bias tape helped me with the curved hem detail. My thought was to make the inside as nice as the outside just like ready to wear dress shirts.
I wish this project took me a week or so, but that would be a lie. My husband was so patient with me to go at my own pace, which would have been classified as a turtle. Usually, this is different from how I work. However, I wanted to learn all I could. I would encourage everyone to try something new and step out of your comfort zone, improving your skills to share with the world. I hope I have inspired and encouraged you to try a new technique today. I can’t wait to see what you are working on. Please share in the comments!
Happy Sewing!
Patricia