Next Up

I'm not done sewing for other people yet, even though my stash is calling to me from its newly organized home. I snagged some of this Armani shirting from Michael's Fabrics last month with a shirt for DH in mind.

I read a bunch of reviews on patternreview.com and settled on this Kwik Sew pattern, 2777. It's a standard dress shirt with double yoke, separate front band, short or long sleeve with placket, and collar and separate stand.

I started tracing off the pattern last weekend and quickly got bogged down, I'm trying to follow David Page Coffin's methods in his Shirtmaking book. (This is an excellent book that I have checked out of the library more times than I can count, I need to purchase it.) First I flat-measured one of DH's shirts that fits him well and compared those to the Kwik Sew. I had to trace in between 2 and sometimes 3 sizes to get it close to fitting. Once I had all the pieces traced out, I turned my attention to the seam allowances. Kwik Sew uses 1/4" for everything, and since I was planning to use flat-felled seams I opened up the Coffin book just to check how much I need to do them. I just about fell over when I saw the diagram, he uses a range from 1/8" to 7/8" and everything in between, not just for the seams to be flat-felled but ALL OF THEM. I started trimming and adding, trying to keep track of which ones are where since my traced pieces started with 1/4" allowances. Sewing is supposed to be fun, right? I got about halfway through and ran out of steam, drinking beer seemed like a much better idea at the time. My goal is to have a muslin by the end of this weekend.

My only plans so far are for tomorrow afternoon, I'm meeting the lovely ladies from the sewing group for a get together at one of their homes. Unfortunately I don't have anything to show off due to my lack of productivity last weekend. Maybe this little meetup is what I need to get motivated.