Hot iron, short sleeves, bad shirt

My apparel construction class began work on our shirt this week. I have made shirts before, so I expected to have no problems with this project. As my classmates were still working on collars and front plackets all I had left was cuffs, buttonholes, and hem. My plan was to have the shirt finished by now so I could spend the weekend and the last week of class studying and working on other projects. My optimism was foolish, but at least I have time to make another shirt.

I ran into two problems. My fabric is a polyester/cotton blend, and my iron was too hot. The heat setting was fine for pressing the fabric flat and pressing open seam allowances, but my front plackets became horribly distorted. If the crinkled plackets were the only problem I might have been able to turn in this shirt, but I ran into a bigger problem with the sleeves. Instead of making a muslin for the shirt we just did a tissue fit. I thought my sleeves were long enough. They weren’t. This problem could be fixed with huge cuffs, but then the shirt would look silly.

I need a greige goods shirt to wear for my final project presentation in my fashion industry class, but I did not plan to have that shirt finished by the time my apparel construction shirt is due. Now I will have to use the same shirt for both classes. So the shirt I made with fashion fabric is my muslin, and the shirt I will make with muslin is my finished product. At least I am getting a lot of experience making shirts.

I finished my shirt

Today was my final day of class for the semester. I took my final exam and finished my shirt. We did not make buttonholes or attach the buttons. First semester students are not trusted with the buttonholer. I will use my home machine for the buttons and holes. There was no pattern piece showing where the holes should go, but I think I can figure it out.

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.

One ugly shirt and what I learned from it

I continued work on my tailored shirt in class today. That shirt is not the ugly one; the ugly shirt is the one I made at home this past weekend. My shirt for class will be beautiful. I will get to the ugly shirt soon, but first a few words about today's class. I attached a pocket and finished the two front pieces. I also had time to take my serger threading test. Students must thread a four thread serger to pass the class. I threaded the serger. My instructor's lesson about serger threading made me think the process would be difficult, but the moment I got my hands into the serger's guts I realized that threading it is easy. Just follow the color coded threading guide and there is nothing to worry about. I have not yet threaded a five thread serger, but I expect it will be no more difficult than the four thread one.

This past week I tried to make a tailored shirt at home. My goal was to gain experience and pick up a few tricks that will make the shirt for class a little easier. i did not expect my first attempt to turn out too well, but I have to start somewhere. The shirt is no good, but while making it I learned a lot. I will make at least one more shirt each week. As long as each one is better than the last I will call it a success.

I was going to use muslin for my first shirt, but at Walmart I found a print for three cents per yard more than the muslin. It is polyester, and the print is horribly ugly, but I had not worked with prints or polyester before so the fabric presented me with two more things to learn from this project.

What was good

Buttons and button holes - I still want to learn how to use the industrial buttonholer, but using my home machine was a lot easier than expected.

Pocket - this was the first pocket of this type I have made. All the edgestitching we have done in class this semester has paid off.

Shoulder and sleeve seams - Attaching the sleeves was easier than expected, and I am pleased with the seam finishes.

What was bad
The collar - This was my first collar, and I did not do a good job with it. I made a few mistakes as I attached the collar. The pattern was confusing, but I accept the full blame for the problems. My next one will be better.

Sleeve and bottom hems - The hems did not turn out well. I know I can do better.

The loop - The pattern called for this loop. I made it well, but I do not like it. I think this loop is a silly way to fasten the top button. My future shirts will have buttonholes rather than loops.

Pattern pieces - I began work by transferring the pattern from pattern paper to oak tag. I then used my oak tag pattern to trace the pieces on fabric. With each step there is a slight margin of error. As I pinned together the pieces of fabric I found my notches did not always line up perfectly. Precision is necessary.

What I learned
Buttons and buttonholes - These were the first buttonholes I made with my current sewing machine. With other machines I found making buttonholes a very difficult process, but this time it was easy. It was the first time I used a buttonhole presser foot. I do not know why I did not learn how to use a buttonhole foot in my seventh grade home economics class. As I was reading my machine's user manual to learn how to use the buttonhole foot I discovered that I also have a presser foot for attaching buttons. I did not know that I could use a cheap home machine to attach buttons; I have always sewn on buttons by hand. It was much easier with the machine, and the machine did it better than I can do by hand. The lesson: read your machine's user manual.

Polyester - Ironing shrinks polyester. It shrinks as I press seams, and it shrinks a lot more as I attach fusible interfacing. If I iron over a pin I will leave a burn mark in the fabric. Removing stitching from polyester can be difficult. Tearing or stretching the fabric while removing stitching is easy. The lesson: do not use polyester if other materials are available.

General stuff - Making this shirt helped me understand how tailored shirts are constructed. Knowing that I already made one shirt, even a bod one, gave a boost to my confidence as I worked on the shirt in class today. Some of the other students were nervous about attaching their pockets, but I knew I could do it because I attached a pocket yesterday. The lesson: sew a lot. Then sew some more. Practice, practice, practice. Experience counts.

The shirt begins

I began work on my tailored shirt today. There will be no more new lessons this semester. This shirt is my final project and I must have it finished by December 8. It seems like a lot of time, but I only get to work on it for a few hours each Tuesday. My pattern pieces are all cut out so there is nothing I do on this shirt at home. I may make a practice shirt or two at home though. I will not be able to submit those shirts for grading, but the experience will help me with the one I make in class.

I sewed four darts and attached the yoke to the back today. Darts are simple, the yoke was just a simple seam, and there is nothing particularly complicated about a tailored shirt, but this is the first semester of my first year as an apparel design student so cut me some slack. In a year or two a tailored shirt will be the sort of simple project I will make to pass time on a Sunday afternoon, but for now this is a big and exciting project.

The sewing was easy today, but there was a little excitement too. I thought I had cut all the pieces last week, but it turns out I missed a few. I began class by cutting out the remaining pieces. After I finished sewing he darts i realized that I was not sure if I used the large or medium pattern last week. I had sewn darts on one piece cut last week and two pieces cut today. I ran around the room collecting pattern pieces to check my sizes. If I used the wrong size pieces today I would have had to redo my work, but fortunately my pieces were all the same size. It was just good luck that I did not have to redo my the pieces, but I learned an important lesson from this: I must pay attention to what I do, and I must keep a record of what I have done for projects that take more than one day.

Despite my progress on the shirt and the happy ending to the day's excitement, class ended on a sad note. I asked my instructor when we would learn how to use the buttonholer, ans she told me that we will not. She explained that the machine is expensive, difficult to use, and easy to damage. She added that in the past students have caused the machine to require thousands of dollars of repairs. First semester students are no longer permitted to use the machine. After we finish our shirts our instructor will add the holes. I was looking forward to learning how to use the machine. I want to know how to use as many different machines as possible, but I have a second reason for wanting to know how to use this particular machine. I do not like making buttonholes on my home machine. Before the end of the semester I wanted to use the industrial buttonholer to make a few hundred holes to hake home with me so that any time I need a hole I would have one available. I still need to work out a few details of this plan, but I want to eventually complement my jar of buttons with a matching jar of holes.