Burda 6874–Shirt for my son

It’s taken longer then I intended as the coat project came in between. It’s done though and I finished my first men’s shirt. It wasn’t complicated, just a bit different on some places. I’m not completely satisfied with the collar with stand, even after I took off the first stand and re-did it. It’s not visible in the pictures but it could be better.

The pattern is wonderful, everything matches perfectly and the size (taken from neckline measurement) is quite good. It’s what I expect from Burda and they do not disappoint.

I don’t have pictures of my son wearing the shirt. In the meantime he has found a job and having photos taken with his mother’s shirt is not a priority (which I understand).
There is some work to be done on the fit in the shoulder area. Something in the line of forward shoulder adjustment. But my son is satisfied with this first one and there will be more to follow.

I highly recommend Pam Erny’s tutorial for the sleeve placket, she explains it so clearly: Shirt sleeve placket. Her way makes it easy to use another fabric for the under placket and is beautifully finished on the inside too.
For chevron stripes this one is superb.

Definitely oversized on my dressform:

 

I had to use white as accent colour. The original fabric yardage would have suited for a shirt for me, but was not enough for this shirt.

To finish this blog post: my coat sewing is continuing. I was so inspired I started another one last week. A sneak peak…

First steps

Thank you for your kind comments on my posts last week, it feels good to be back again. And a special thank you for those of you who gave suggestions or links to information on making a men’s shirt. Very helpful.

A side note on comments: I can’t reply to individual comments on my computer, somehow that’s only possible viewing my blog on my phone (must be browser specific). As I prefer working/typing on my computer, I don’t often reply to individual comments. Just know that I read and love them all).

Isn’t it strange, that somehow making a men’s shirt felt a bit intimidating? Like Nancy said, I’ve made a lot of shirts for myself. Also I”m not scared of (more) difficult projects and still a men’s shirt sounded like unknown territory. It isn’t actually. Once I was busy with cutting out the pattern pieces, sewing the yoke to the back it’s the same. The technique for sewing the sleeves and the side seams are a bit different, but other then that it’s about finding/using the right interfacing for the collar (heavier than a women’s shirt).

Working with a striped fabric is not new to me and I can get very ocd about matching stripes. Did a good job here I think.

I did the chevron stripes in the way Pam Erny describes it here. Don’t know how I did not think of her tutorials, as they are so good and she’s a professional shirt-maker.

For the other pattern pieces I roughly matched the stripes, cut around the pattern pieces (to which I added seam allowances this time) and then matched the stripes for each individual piece before cutting at the seam allowances.

As you can see the fabric of the two layers shifted a little before the final cutting. A bit more time but for me a necessary step.

Unselfish sewing

Could also have the title “venturing into new territory”.

Recently my son was looking for a shirt to wear to an interview, he has a few but more often he takes one of my husband/his father. The fit is not perfect, as my son has broad shoulders and is taller but in general my husbands’ shirts are nicer quality. In a weak moment I offered him to make a shirt. Perhaps I’ll regret the offer later on. I’ve never sewn for my husband, he’s very satisfied with the fit of rtw and always said not to bother. To be honest, I was happy with that. Now I like the idea to venture into new sewing territory. For the moment I’ve decided on a pattern and found suitable fabric in my collection.

The pattern will be Burda 6874, an envelope pattern. The fabric a good quality cotton, in my collection for I guess 10 years or more.

I washed the fabric, traced the pattern and am almost ready to start sewing. I’ve been reading parts of David Page Coffin’s book (lots of information but so difficult to read) and want to read a bit more on construction as I want to make it a real classic shirt.

Tips and information links very welcome!