Last week, I made a special father’s day shirt for my dad, who is a very serious guitar player! I cut this shirt from a new pattern based on my existing pattern, one of my dad’s existing shirts, and some direct measurements. He wanted a very easy-fitting shirt. The fit isn’t perfect (I should say there are minor “lateral balance problems”), but it’s cool and he was happy with it. Overall a success! And it’s always good to remember why I have a policy of not making clothes for other people—too stressful!
I made one other shirt for myself this week, in a blue-green soft chambray. The fabric is the same as the orange stuff I used a few weeks ago, however, the cut is much better and truer. I gave this shirt a more “normal” collar shape, that is, not spearpoint-shaped. I pleated the sleeves into the cuffs. The most exciting thing about this shirt is the color; it’s this wild blue-green. The warp is a cool, purple-blue and the weft is a warm green-blue; combined, they make a very intriguing robin’s-egg color. How will I ever be able to accessorize this?!
I ran out of pearl shirt buttons after I finished my dad’s guitar shirt. I’m planning a trip to Cincinnati in a few weeks, where I’ll be able to get some more deadstock pearl shirt buttons at Banasch’s. Until then, anything I make will have to do without buttons until then!
The campy-listening thing, I think, is false. I don’t think that there is any such thing, actually. This happens with age, that at some point you might have told yourself and others that you listened to the Backstreet Boys because it was funny. But in fact, you were enjoying it; it’s just a different kind of enjoyment for you. But I don’t think that ironic-distance appreciation is actually a different or lesser appreciation. I think most of that irony is an attempt to say, ‘These aren’t exactly my kind of people, and I don’t picture myself sounding like that, but I still like it.’ I don’t believe in ironic appreciation. I think if you like something, the core of it is you like it.John Darnielle (via bottleonthebookcase)
I had lunch with my sunday school class today. We talked about bridge for about a half hour, among other things. I love these people to death.
It’s been two weeks since my last shirtmaking post, mostly because I had some trouble with my patterns which took time to resolve. More on that later. The first shirt here is a seersucker “fun shirt”—something I’ve wanted to make for a while now. I used leftover grey seersucker from the shirt I made a few weeks ago, along with 1.5 yards each of red and green seersucker from Jo-Ann’s. I had no idea how much fabric to buy since I knew I’d be using three different colors instead of just one piece—turns out, I probably could have gone with just 1 yard each. The shirt is a popover, i.e, it’s got a front placket like a polo shirt that’s about 11″ long.
Fit-wise, trying to make a popover was tough enough—I shouldn’t have complicated it by using seersucker, which is notoriously stretchy and difficult to measure. The shirt turned out alright, but the center front. Cutting a popover really showed me that my pattern wasn’t as good as it could be, especially around the neckline. After this realization, I spent almost a whole week just working on a new pattern. I went back to my favorite shirt draft and drew everything out from scratch. You can’t really tell, but I dramatically altered both the neckline shape and the armscye. On my old pattern, the armscye was 21″ around—on my new pattern, it’s only 18″. It takes a little longer to put on my new shirt pattern, but the higher armhole means it fits better and gives me more flexibility. I cut three new shirts from my new, improved pattern.
There’s a short-sleeved shirt in red, white, pink, and cool grey fabric from Sew to Speak. I thought the colors looked very nice for summertime, which is ironic because the fabric itself has scarves on it. Nothing too special; just a better fit!
I also made a long-sleeved shirt out of Kaffe Fassett “shot cotton” from Sew to Speak. The fabric is wild and glorious—it’s as light as a feather, yet perfectly opaque, and it’s brilliantly-colored. I used bright yellow cotton thread to do all the stitching, instead of the typical white, and I think it gives the shirt a little character. The sleeves are gathered into the cuffs, a technique I still really enjoy.
Finally, I made a casual shirt out of grey fabric with foxes on it, again from Sew to Speak. It’s got a straight hem instead of shirt tails, designed to be worn untucked! It’s some of the coolest fabric I’ve ever seen.