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.