Present Joys

Here it is: The project I’ve been working on for the past two months. My first genuine tailored coat. I’d made sack-coat-like garments before, but nothing with interlinings and padstitching and all those other things that go into a fine garment. I began my creative process by spending three weeks drafting coat patterns and cutting muslin test garments, with the help of a lot of old, digitized tailoring books. Then I bought fabric and dove right into the construction, working as purposefully as I could. It was a wild ride.

This garment was really cheap to make because the fabric isn’t that great. The suiting is brown hopsack 100% linen from Jo-Ann Fabrics, which I bought on sale. I didn’t use any actual hair canvas on the inside; all the interlinings are various loose-weave muslins which I just pretended were hair canvas and handled as such. The nicest part is the lining, which is real Bemberg rayon.

It turned out pretty great. Setting the sleeve was a nightmare, as was making buttonholes. (They look awful, I’m afraid! That’s 90% of the reason this is a one-button coat.) But overall it looks better than I hoped it would, and it fits really well. Turns out three weeks of pattern fitting and adjustment really pays off. If I were to do this exact same project for a second time, I think I could do a much much better job. Despite its flaws, though, this is still the best-fitting coat in my closet, and because of that, the most comfortable. I’m already itching to start another!

The last three shirts of the summer. I actually finished these several weeks ago, but I’ve been so busy with other. In the interest of completeness, here they finally are! Visually, these aren’t too exciting. Especially because they look very wrinkly in these photos. But they’re probably the three best-fitting shirts I’ve made yet—and that’s the goal! Two of these shirts are made from Kaffe Fasett’s shot cotton, one in periwinkle and one in crimson. The other is a slightly heavier cotton-print polka dot—my first polka dot shirt. All three are from Sew to Speak.

All three of these shirts are practical, good things to have in my wardrobe, and I’m looking forward to wearing them a lot this fall. I’ve already made good use of the bright red one by wearing it as part of a cowboy costume for Vacation Bible School! It has the most exaggerated spearpoint collar I’ve ever made. But I’m becoming quite comfortable in spearpoint collars so it’s not a big deal!

I finished these shirts in early july. Since then, I’ve been tailoring a coat completely by hand. Though it is very rewarding, it’s been taking a lot of time. I’m almost finished with it, and will have it done in time to go back to school on monday. Photos to come shortly.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following along with my sewing adventures this summer! Here’s to making even more things in the future.

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!

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.