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.

Pattern, pattern, pattern

The first time I used a store-bought pattern was in 1988 for my 7th grade home economics class. I made a jacket. The sleeves were not the same length, but for a 13 year old kid with nearly no prior sewing experience I think it was an impressive piece of work. My next use of a store-bought pattern was in 1995. I made a quilted gambeson. A few days ago I started work on my third pattern piece, a vest. The project is not going well.

I have made vests before but never with so many problems. My other vests I either designed myself or were based on simple patterns I found online, while now I am using a Simplicity pattern. This vest is more complicated than my previous ones, but my problems seem to be caused by the pattern itself and not the act of sewing. The sewing would itself would be easy if I could figure out what to do. The instructions make no sense. A picture is provided for each step, but the step 2 instructions seem to correlate with the pictures for steps 1 and 3, and it just gets worse from there. Instructions for the side and back seams are repeated in a few steps while only partial instructions are given for the bottom and neck pieces.

No doubt my lack of experience with patterns accounts for some of my woes, but I think this particular pattern deserves the lion’s share of the blame. The jacket was much more complicated than this vest but making it seemed a lot easier.

My plan was to make two copies of this vest strictly adhering to the pattern, one in muslin to learn how to make it and one with fashion fabric to wear. If I liked the general look and shape of the finished piece I would then make one or two more vests with modifications of my own design. I will finish the muslin vest, but I may then move directly to a modified design. If I ever have a finished vest that I am not ashamed of I will post a picture of it here.

Thank you for taking the time to read my long winded and self pitying rant. I will try to keep my future posts more positive. The past few days have been stressful, and I needed this chance to vent my spleen. I suppose I could start smoking, but kvetching to strangers online seems a little more productive and a lot less unhealthy.

T-shirts

My instructor began class today by returning some assignments to us and going over our mistakes. i got back my baby t-shirt, adult t-shirt, French seam, coverstitch hems, and piece of muslin with concave and convex curves that the students all called a large Peep. For the French seam and coverstitch piece I received full credit, five points each. The Peep was deemed too easy to deserve a grade. I knew my t-shirts were not perfect. I would have liked higher scores, but I cannot complain about what I received. Out of a possible 40 points I received 34 points for the baby t and 37 points for the adult t.

The baby t was the first shirt we made. Everyone in class agreed that of the two it was the more difficult one. I do not know if that is because it is smaller or because by the time we started work on the adult t we had more experience with sergers.

It took me three attempts to make the baby t. Fortunately I had finished my previous assignment early so I had time to cut out multiple copies of the pattern pieces before the class began work on the shirts. My first attempt was a dismal failure, but it provided useful experience with sergers. The shoulder seams were easy, but after multiple attempts and failures to attach a sleeve, the fabric had been trimmed too much for me to continue. I used what I had already assembled as scrap. It would have been nice to finish a shirt on my first attempt, but I was neither surprised nor upset with the outcome. I began that first shirt knowing it was just practice. By the time I gave up on it I felt I had finally figured out how to successfully attach a sleeve, and I learned a trick that proved invaluable on all my following shirts. I found it to be a lot easier to attach sleeves and neck ribbing if I used two different color fabrics. This allows me to see exactly where the two pieces of fabric are so I am able to sew the seams without any holes.

Before I began work on shirt number two the instructor made one to show the class how to do it. It took her no more than ten minutes, and she was working slowly so that she could explain each step along the way. I spent nearly 90 minutes working on my shirt. The neck ribbing was the most difficult and time consuming part, and while I managed to attach both sleeves on the first attempt without any problems the process was also quite difficult. I had not yet learned how to use the coverstitch machine, so for the bottom I did a mock coverstitch hem with the serger and a straight stitch. Unfortunately, as I was using the serger my hands slipped and I gouged a large chunk out of the shirt. I knew I would not be able to turn it in, but I finished it anyway. It was still good practice, and I was doing fine on time.

I do not know any babies, but my teddy bear was willing to model the shirt for you. It is a little big on him, but at least I do not have to worry about him outgrowing it.

Attempt Number three was a lot easier. I finished the shirt in about one hour. I knew what I needed to do, and I was sewing with a little confidence. I knew the shirt was not perfect, but I was pleased with it and I wanted to give one of my classmates time on the serger. There are 20 students in the class and only nine sergers. I lost one point because one of my shoulder seams was not perfect, one point because the neck ribbing was not perfectly centered, two points because the armpit seams did not line up perfectly, and two points because the bottom hem was not perfectly straight.

The adult t-shirt was the easiest one yet. It took me less than 45 minutes to make. The only men's pattern was for a v-neck shirt, and I do not like v-neck shirts, so I made a women's shirt. I will give it to my sister. The pattern called for the sleeves to be hemmed with the coverstitch, but I thought they would look better with a ribbed cuff. I told the instructor how I felt, and she said that as long as I could make it work I could make the sleeves however I liked. I went with the cuff. My classmates were impressed with my innovation, and the instructor gave me a perfect score for the sleeves. The total grade consisted of eight sections, each with a maximum score of five points. I lost one point for a shoulder seam and two points for the armpit seams. It did not change my final score, but I was thrilled to see that for the neck ribbing and serger use my score was five plus.

The semester is almost over. The only things left to do are make a tailored shirt, learn to use a button hole machine, and pass my serger threading test. I could have threaded a serger today, but I wanted to let my classmates who still needed to finish their t-shirts use the machines; I will do it next week. The instructor did not want us to start sewing the tailored shirt today. She will provide detailed instructions for it next week. I was able to cut out all my pattern pieces though, so I will be able to start work as soon as she says go. It is a big project, and I admit I am a little intimidated by it, but I think I will make a good shirt. If there is one skill everyone in class has become great at this semester it is tearing out stitching. I hope I will not have to do too much of it, but at least I can do it well.