I’ve been meaning to make Mal a button-up shirt for a while. I even bought the fabric months ago at Stitch and it’s been sitting on my shelf taunting me. We recently bought fabric for two more, so it was time to finally tackle it!
This pattern is awesome, much like the other Thread Theory pattern I tried (the Finlayson). The pattern has such nice details and the instructions are great. I also think her block is perfect for Mal aside from arm length.
I used an old bed sheet for a muslin. I knew I’d have to lengthen the sleeves, but wasn’t sure how much so I just made a size S with no modifications. It came out pretty good until I got to the collar. The fabric around the neck had stretched so much that the collar stand was well over 1″ smaller than the neck! I held all my traced pieces back up to the pattern and everything was spot on, so it was definitely a fabric stretching issue. It fit pretty well throughout though, so I decided to just call it good enough and move onto the real fabric since it only cost $5/yard.
I lengthened the sleeve pattern pieces 1.25″, and then moved onto cutting. This is my first project with vertical stripes, and it made cutting things out SO easy. I ended up using the bonus short sleeve add-on, so I actually only used slightly over 1 yard of this 60″ wide fabric. Which means I have almost 2 yards left. What am I going to do with it?? I actually hate this fabric for me, so it might become PJ pants.
I followed the Fairfield sew-along on the Thread Theory blog, and without needing to do sleeve plackets or cuffs, I got most of the shirt done in an afternoon. It was my first time doing a button placket like this, flat fell seams, and the burrito method for the yoke. All came out great thanks to the instructions and photos. I did a bias cut pocket, and made the stripes horizontal for the yoke.
When it was time to hem the sleeves, I folded them up to see where Mal wanted them to hit, and it turns out the cuff looked awesome, so I just stitched it in place.
For the next one, I think I might add a little room to the back hip, it seems just a bit snug there. Otherwise, unless Mal wants a more relaxed shirt, I don’t think I have any changes to make.
I’m glad I love this pattern so much since I have two more in the works. In fact, I’m in button-up mode and decided to switch my plans for some voile I have and make a button-up for myself too. ALL BUTTON-UPS ALL THE TIME.
