There were a lot of first for me with this shirt. I never before made a sleeve with a placket and cuff, and the yoke and collar stand were new to me too. The sides of the shirt were closed with a French seam, and that also was a first for me. The yoke was easy and turned out quite well. The collar could be better, but I think I did a decent job with it. I made the French seam two weeks ago, and at the time I thought it went well, but toda I found a problem. In one of the armpits part of the seam allowance protrudes through the seam. With a little time it would be a simple problem to fix, but I had no time left.
I found the sleeve plackets and cuffs to be the most difficult part of the project. The first placket (left) took a lot of time, but I was happy with the result. My second placket was great, or at least it appeared to be great until I discovered I had sewn it on backwards. Placket number three (right) was not too good, and I had no time for a fourth attempt. The placket problems were overshadowed by the cuffs. With both cuffs there are problems where the cuff meets the plackets, and I am not happy with the pleats.
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Despite all the problems, I am very pleased with my shirt. I learned a lot. My next shirt will be a lot better. My goal was to learn how to make a shirt, not to make a great one. I will need a lot more experience making shirts before I can make great ones, but I think I am off to a good start.
I suppose I should have mentioned this earlier. Although I am a man the shirt I made is for women. There were no men’s shirt patterns in class. This was not a case of sexism. We had men’s patterns for the t-shirts, but for the tailored shirt we had to make a women’s shirt so that the project would include darts. A men’s shirt may have two knife pleats or one inverted box pleat on the back, but it has no darts. Women’s shirts have darts in the front and back and pleats in the sleeves. Darts are a little more difficult to make than the pleats on the back of a men’s shirt, so a women’s shirt is more challenging and requires more skills than a men’s shirt. I think I did a very good job on the darts. My pleats were well constructed, but if I had more time I would have adjusted the placement of one of them.
ReplyDeleteI am in the process of packing up everything I own in preparation for my move to WI, but after I am settled in my new apartment I will start making men’s long sleeve tailored shirts.