Men's Shirt Sew-Along Progress

Lookee, lookee — actual current photos from my sewing room!

I started out my sewing day by tracing the pattern.



Then cutting out the "muslin." I'm using a green oxford fabric (a blend I think, judging by the seam puckers I'm seeing) instead of actual muslin. I've had this stuff forEVER, paid very little for it, and it's just time it moved out of the stash.

I really need some more pattern weights and I might actually remember to pick up some big washers at Lowe's or Home Depot one day. Until then, I pull out my scissors basket and use those. This pattern fits on less than 2 yds of this fabric. I still have enough for another one. Why is it that some fabrics just won't go away?



I don't usually make detailed muslins but I haven't ever sewn a men's long-sleeved dress shirt so I decided that I would use this one to learn and practice techniques. Specifically, sleeve plackets. These are my first set of sleeves for the day (yes, first). The fabric is the same front and back so I used my usual cheater method of marking the wrong sides with tape.



And then I faithfully followed Kwik Sew's directions in the pattern. Bad decision. And surprising, since KS patterns usually have good methods. This is not a real under placket. It's a crappy cheater method, and it looks it.



The top placket isn't much better.



Before I continued, I scrapped these and went looking for a better, more attractive method. I pulled out David Coffin's shirt book and immediately was reacquainted with the reasons it collects dust on my bookshelf. There is a lot of good information in the book, but it's not something you would have by your project as a reference while sewing. It's a more in-depth read than that and it's put together in a weird order to me. The video is much better, but I don't have a VCR anymore so my copy is pretty much trash now.

I knew there was a relatively easy continuous placket method out there somewhere. I thought I had seen it in one of Nancy Zieman's books, but maybe not because I couldn't easily put my hands on it. Enter Google.

Lucky for me, Summerset's Pin & Needles blog was one of the first Google hits and her tutorial is perfect! I had new sleeves and plackets cut and sewn within an hour.

Isn't this better?



And the under placket (is there a better term?) looks a thousand times better.



After the plackets were done, I sewed the cuff pieces together, took pics and stopped for the day. I'm hoping to finish the muslin tomorrow, if the collar and stand don't give me fits. It's been a while since I've done one and I'm out of practice.

Who else is joining Peter's Sew-Along?