Tag plaid
I made these swim trunks for myself a few months ago. The trunks were cut from a modified trouser pattern which I drafted myself. They are made from 100% cotton shirting with a nylon mesh lining, 6″ zipper fly, elasticized half-waistband in the back, and a 3″ inseam. A fun little project.
I wasn’t planning to make more shirts this week, but after a trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics on monday, I got excited to use some new stuff. I ended up with three shirts.
The first one is a generic short-sleeved shirt in red, white, and blue seersucker plaid. I didn’t use any interfacing in the collar! I put plastic buttons on it, in contrast to the usual. It’s fun!
The second shirt is really lame, made from “Lisette”-brand fabric on sale at Jo-Ann. I managed to make this shirt with 1.8 yards, which is a pretty good feat. But the shirt itself isn’t good. The fabric is too sheer; it was a pain to work with, and not in a good way. The pattern is cool and interesting from close-up, but from far away it looks muddy and gross. I don’t know how much I’ll end up wearing this one. But it was a good learning experience.
I’m really proud of this week’s last shirt, which is a long-sleeved shirt with barrel cuffs and gathered sleeves made from really beautiful white-and-grey cotton seersucker. It feels great, fits great, and looks really nice. The best part is the collar, which I cut perpendicular to the normal way. The grey stripes were so compelling that I really wanted to highlight them. Cutting the stripes this way helped make them more dominant! I think it turned out really well.
Currently I’m about halfway done with a short-sleeved “fun shirt”, so that ought to be done for next weekend’s roundup. Beyond that, who knows?
Another overshirt, from heavy 100%-cotton flannel from Jo-Ann’s! I cut this along the same lines as my corduroy one, only a little longer and with less-extreme collar points.
Not a lot to say here: simple, continuous sleeve plackets made with selvage-cut pieces of fabric; just one breast pocket, because pattern matching is a huge pain in the butt with this stuff. Speaking of pattern matching, though: you can’t see it from this photo, but the plaid of the yoke, collar stand, and collar all match almost exactly. I’m proud of that. And I love the way the plaid sits on the collar points. This is a really fun shirt.