Distracted (Again)

So there I was, plugging away on sewing back together all the little squares I cut apart for the placements, when an idea popped into my head. Maybe piecing isn't so mindless after all?

What was the idea? I'm glad you asked. Does this pic give you a hint?

Now imagine it in official USMC camouflage fabric, with embroidered name tapes. Yep, I'm making a Marine Mom purse. A little hokey, yes, but kind of fun too.

I spent way too much time yesterday looking at downloadable purse patterns on Etsy before I decided I should just try my hand at my own pattern, save the purchase money, and end up with exactly what I wanted. I worked up a pattern after dinner and what you're seeing in the pic is my first muslin. I need to enlarge the bag a little so the pockets will fit better on a sharper angle. Real USMC cammie blouse pockets are set on that same angle. Why? I don't know. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I found some official fabric and I'm going to ask my son's recruiter next week if I can borrow one of his cammie blouses for a few days so I can measure things and note details. He doesn't wear cammies in his recruiter job, and I think he owes me for taking my son away, don't you? ;-)

After I make the pattern adjustments and another muslin, I'll return to the placemats either this afternoon or tomorrow. For now, they've been shifted to the ironing board awaiting their turn. Poor little squares.

In MPB Men's Shirt Sew-Along news, and I think the final chapter in this saga, here is Michael in his new shirt. You can read more details on his blog, here. He's happy. I'm happy. Life is good. And aren't these great photos? (Thanks Peter!)

MPB Shirt Sew-Along — Finis!

Only 13 days late finishing for the February Sew-Along, but who's counting — it's done. Yay! Hopefully, Michael will send me a modeled pic or two once he's got his new shirt in hand (or on body?) since my hanger shots are dismal.

The fabric is really nice. I think Michael picked a winner in terms of color and weave. It's 100% cotton and a good shirting weight. Wrinkling during sewing and handling was minimal, so it should wear very nicely.

Here's the back view. I moved the back waist darts a little more toward center, after confirmation from Peter. I also deepened them a little since Michael is very slim in his lower torso.

Here's a view of a sleeve placket. I promise, it lays flat even though this pic indicates otherwise. You can see the buttons better in this shot too. They are purple-y brown with a pearl finish. I like the purple tint as a subtle accent. I hope Michael does too.

Michael wanted the finished length about 1" shorter than the unhemmed muslin, so I cut off 1/2" and then turned up a double 1/4"-ish hem. It's probably closer to 3/8" if we were to get out a ruler.

I had an extra button, so I sewed it to the inside button band. Hopefully, it won't be needed but it's there in case. That was the only button I sewed by hand. The others were attached with my machine. Yay button-sewing foot!

For a bit of personalization and fun, I used the lettering on my machine to create a "label." You can't see it clearly in this pic, but it reads: HANKO • NYC • 2011.

I'm going to toss the shirt into the wash today to remove markings and glue stick, and then it will be in the mail tomorrow. Julia asked yesterday what kind of glue I use. For this, just a regular washable glue stick from Office Depot. (Let it dry before sewing so you don't gum up the needle. Pressing with dry iron speeds that process.) On other projects I also use Glue Pins, which is a clear washable more liquid-y glue, and/or Collins Wonder Tape. They all have a spot in my notions arsenal and are so much easier to sew over than pins. ;-)

Now I'm off to tidy up the sewing room and decide what's up next. I'm feeling a little quilty, so don't be surprised if I head in that direction for a couple of weeks.

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.

MPB Shirt Sew-Along Progress

The check pattern is probably going to wreak havoc with Blogger's resized photo previews, so if you're feeling dizzy, click on the photos to see them at actual size.

It's coming along nicely. The collar isn't really sewn on yet, though. Just a little preview to make the pic look better. ;-)

The sleeve plackets went on without a hitch, using the Nancy Zieman Express method mentioned in previous posts, which was like the RTW placket I deconstructed. I had contemplated cutting these on the bias, but decided it would be too squiggly to do without interfacing and too bulky with. They don't line up perfectly, but they're pretty darn close. Who looks at plackets anyway when a shirt is being worn?

I did cut the front placket on the bias and I think it looks good. I also pulled out the button stash last night to see if I had anything suitable for this shirt and was pleasantly surprised to find enough quantity of a good color and size. I think Michael will like them because they're a tiny notch above plain but not really flashy either.

Here's a close-up of the collar pinned in place. Tonight, I hope to get it and the stand sewn on for real.

MPB Shirt STILL Sewing-Along

While it seems our official tour guide for the MPB Men's Shirt Sew-Along went on vacation with a bunch of Ken dolls, some of us are still sewing our men's shirt projects, with or without him. Me included. So what if February is over. Yesterday, I was finally able to cut out Michael's shirt from the good fabric.

But let me back up just a second. The yellow muslin arrived in NYC the week before last. Peter pressed it, and Michael modeled. Peter and Michael think it fits well. I agree, except for …

… the back waist darts.

I think the darts are too close to the sideseams and should be moved a little more toward the center of Michael's back. And maybe deepened a hair. Peter and Michael are having a fit another fitting evaluation today and will let me know.

In the meantime, since dart placement can wait until the end, I went ahead and cut the shirt. I am cheating with plaid/check matching by using bias accents to avoid the matching altogether. This means a little extra stabilization was needed for all that bias, so I used a very light fusible on both sides of the cuffs and collar stand, interfaced the entire front button placket, and cut the inside yoke on the straight grain to stabilize the public view outside bias yoke. As I'm typing this, I just realized I forgot the sleeve plackets. Oops.

I also went back to my copy of Nancy Zieman's Sewing Express and used her Express Collar technique. The collar is now one piece, shown at the bottom of the photo below. Odd looking, isn't it?

(Don't bother clicking the above photo because it will still be blurry. My camera battery died an ugly death just as I snapped that.)

With the Express Collar technique, the seams (and thus bulk) at the points of the collar are eliminated and the undercollar is automatically on the bias with a seam in the middle. I reversed the layout, though, since I wanted the upper collar to be bias. All it meant was to lay the pattern piece 45 degrees different than the instructions. I also interfaced the whole thing, since I was using lightweight interfacing.

Next will be to actually start sewing, which I hope to do tonight.

More on Plackets, and What's Up Next

According to the USPS tracking site, Michael's muslin is being delivered today. Hopefully, he and Peter will take some pics over the weekend so we can approve the fit and I can start on the final shirt. Since Peter has already made this pattern for Michael, I'm anticipating that there won't be any issues. Fingers crossed.

Until then, I've continued deconstructing my husband's RTW shirt. Tanit-Isis left a comment on my last post asking for an inside view of the RTW placket before I ripped it apart. No problemo. ;-)

To refresh, this is the finished RTW placket from the outside, public view:

And here is what it looks like on the reverse:

The placket piece itself is 2-1/2" wide and the finished width is a hair under 1".

As you can see below, the slash for the placket is trimmed down to 1/4" seam allowances. This construction method actually differs from Sommerset's method that I linked to last post, and is instead …

… the method shown in Nancy Zieman's Sewing Express. This book comes from my mom's sewing library, but she gave it to me 8-9 years ago when I first picked up sewing as an obsession instead of a chore.

If you click on the pic below, it should open full-size. (BTW, I recommend this book for other timesavers too. It's got a lot of good tips. Not sure why mom gave it away, but I'm not complaining.)

Over the weekend, I'm hoping to get the pattern adjusted for this new-ish Butterick pattern, and maybe even get a fast muslin done. But I also have some work and household errands, so we'll see where I end up.

One Ugly Muslin To Go, Hold the Mayo

The muslin is done and on its way to The Big Apple

Complete with red and pink thread, one inside-out sleeve and placket sans cuff, and …

… one single-layer pinked cuff.

With all of those faults, this is still actually somewhat nicer than my usual muslins. Don't faint when you try it on Michael. The final shirt will be bee-you-tee-full. ;-)

An interesting side note:  I took apart one of the sleeve plackets on my husband's discarded RTW shirt. This is what it looks like before surgery.

And this is after.

Hopefully you can see that there are no stupid "Little House on the Placket" pieces here,

and instead it's just like Summerset's wonderful tutorial. Although the finished RTW placket is somewhat wider, which is easy enough to adjust if desired. I'm going to use the RTW method any time I have to do a regular sleeve placket. It's just so much faster, easier and absolutely NOT fiddly at all. A total no-brainer, if you ask me.

Picking Back Up on the MPB Shirt Sew-Along

Now that the Ren Faire costume is done and my son has come and gone, I think I owe someone a shirt. Or is that a fuzzy memory from a past dream? :-)

I've pulled out the muslin I cut out almost a month ago now. Time flies. I will have it sewn by tonight and in tomorrow's mail to NYC.

There's not much to say about it yet, as it's just a muslin. I'm mostly just documenting so Michael and Peter see that I really am progressing again. I am not sewing pretty or even completely. For instance, the yoke is single-layer and most seams won't be finished. It's for fit only, and the fabric (bright yellow pique) is awful enough that it would never do for a wearable shirt anyway.

Parting shot: As you can see, I wasn't the only one thrilled to see Tyler this weekend. Look at that tail action!

Who's On First?

I was getting tired of looking at Tuesday's dinner, so I'm guessing you were too. To change that up I've gathered some pics of what's sitting around and nearby the sewing room.

Costume supplies have been arriving daily. First up, one of the fabrics and some buttons. I ordered 20 brass-ish ("ish" because they're poly) and the Ebay seller sent them in a cute little drawstring bag that looks like it could be part of the final costume somehow. The fabric looks orange in this pic, but it's really a brilliant red and exactly what I was expecting. It ravels when you just look at it, though. Figures that I just vacuumed the floor. One more Ebay fabric to arrive, some black something locally (maybe?) and I'm thinking a white cotton sheet for the shirt, unless JoAnn's has something decent. Hahahaha. Yeah, right. I'll probably end up buying one black and one white sheet from Bed Bath & Beyond.



Next, all the patterns are here. I've been reading through the instructions at night, and I think it's going to go well. There will be some fiddly-ness but nothing seems especially difficult or outside my skill level. (I hope I don't have to eat those words later!) Muslins will be cut and sewn over the weekend and my "customer" will try them on early next week. February 26 will be here before I know it!



In MPB Men's Shirt Sew-Along news, I stole one of my husband's old dress shirts. I don't know why the buttons are showing up as green since they're white. I'm going to unstitch parts of it, just to have a look. My husband has given his OK, in case you were wondering.



I've also laid out the pattern for a muslin and will cut it hopefully later today. Yes, the fabric is a hideous bright yellow. This will be a real muslin, sans the actual muslin fabric. I.e., quick and ugly. Michael, you might want to dig out some sunglasses for this one.



The real fabric is slung over the upstairs banister still waiting for its prewash. We had a (another!) well leak last weekend, which threw a wrench into the laundry plans. But it's fixed and the fabric will go into the machine tomorrow morning.



I don't usually juggle multiple sewing projects so this should be interesting. (Cue maniacal laugh.)

Comparing Men's Shirt Patterns

I hope this doesn't make your eyes glaze over, but I thought it would be interesting to compare a new-ish men's shirt pattern with a 1980s 1979 men's shirt pattern.

Specifically, KS 3244:



And McCall's 6890:



This is Michael wearing McCall's 6890. Great fit.



Michael wearing Kwik Sew 3244. Much more ease, and too much length between shoulder and upper chest. Look at the fabric bunching up in his armpits.



Both pattern sizes used were for the same body measurements. In the comparison pics below, the KS is in white tracing paper, the McCall's is tan tissue.

The front piece. The KS has a cut-on button placket so ignore that section with the Xs. The pieces were lined up at center front. The KS has more length above the armhole, which you can see on Michael above. There is also significantly less sideseam shaping and the McCall's armhole is cut higher and a little more toward the torso. The KS shoulder is more sloping. Both patterns are about the same length from the armhole downward. (The green KS Michael is wearing is not hemmed .)



The KS neck is too big. Nice collar points, though, right? ;-)



The length difference is confirmed in the pattern pieces. The McCall's pattern has 5/8" seam allowances for the collar and stand pieces and the KS has 1/4" seam allowances, so the difference is actually a little more than it appears in the pics.





Michael in the McCall's, rear view. Lovely.



Not lovely. Way too much ease. Way. Too. Much.



The KS yoke is longer. The width is nearly the same. Note that the neck opening is also the same. The extra length on the KS neck is all in the front piece.

The McCall's has a back pleat under the yoke. I've aligned the two pieces at the actual center back. The KS is wider from mid-armhole downward. The back armholes are actually closer in length than they appear here, after accounting for the difference in the yoke length. Note the waist dart option on the McCall's.



The KS sleeve is too short. I'm pretty sure Michael doesn't have gorilla arms, so that's just odd drafting IMO.



The KS cuff is shorter, but not as much as it appears here because of different seam allowances.



The sleeve pattern has significant differences. First, the KS sleeve cap is much flatter, resulting in those folds down Michael's arm. The overall sleeve is wider at the bicep area and a few inches below. This is too much fabric on Michael. The McCall's has the elbow dart built in (green arrow), something we don't see very often in contemporary men's or women's patterns. The McCall's sleeve fits Michael much better and is just a nicer hanging sleeve overall. It's interesting to me that the more shapely sleeve fits "longer" on Michael too, even though there really isn't that much length difference between the two at first glance.



Parting Shot: This is where Dani was during the pattern comparison photo session. She was sound asleep until I came into the room with a camera. She's made herself a little nest from the comforter scrap we keep on top of the bed for the dogs.



As you can see, the bed is still unmade. She'll jump off and stand by as it gets made, and then hops right back up when I'm done. Ahh. The life of a princess.