MPB Shirt Sew-Along — Almost There

Michael's shirt is nearly done. I only have the hem, buttonholes and buttons to do and I will get those done after I finish this post. But I had to take this break to say:

I HATE flat-felled seams!

OK, maybe "hate" is a little strong. But they bug me. A lot.

They are so fiddly to do neatly. Sure, they get better with practice (and a glue stick), as shown in my examples below. The first photo shows my squiggly seam allowance on the wrong side of the sleeve head. I *know* it will never be seen (after Peter is done inspecting my sewing, which BTW, because I'm sewing for someone else is not nearly as straight as my usual output. Figures, right?), but it still bugs me.

This is the other sleeve head, after I arbitrarily decided learned from practicing to trim a little extra from the seam allowance that is folded over. Not perfect, but much nicer. I can only imagine that if this shirt had three or four sleeves, I'd be close to perfection. ;-)

But since this particular seam is in a location that will never be seen when the shirt is worn, why bother with flat felling it? It's one thing if you have a factory with machines dedicated to flat-felling men's shirt seams, but in a home-sewing environment, serging the armhole seams and topstitching is just as good as spending all that time trimming, pressing, and wrestling seam allowances that will never be seen. And it's just as sturdy too. I mean, women have been wearing serged armholes for years now, right? ;-)

Yeah, yeah. I know there are one or two good reasons for flat-felled seams (especially the seam on a long sleeve that might be rolled up), but I'm venting so I'm not feeling generous toward those reasons right now. And the venting felt so good. :-)

Now Michael, if your missing internet has miraculously shown up again and you're reading this, don't fret. I'm still enjoying the whole process of making this shirt. Even those fussy flat-felled seams, because I learned something new.