Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Tablet Sleeve

I carry around an obscene amount of technology in my commuter bag on my way to and from work.  Typically, I have my smartphone, a work-provided Macbook Air, Nintendo 3DS, Kindle, and also a 10-inch Android tablet from time to time.

My tablet did not have a carrying case, so to keep it from getting dinged up in my commuter bag I’ve been wrapping it in T-shirts and other less-than-optimal things.

I have a carrying sleeve I made for my Macbook Air about a year ago. It does the job, but I made a crucial mistake in design; it opens from the side rather than the top, so it always slides out of the sleeve when inside my commuter bag.

IMG_0754 Continue reading

The Earbud Case

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I recently found a great, super-cheap set of earbud headphones from Amazon to listen to.  They sound better than the half-dozen sets of  iPod earphones I have lying around from every Apple gadget I’ve ever purchased.

Recently Brian from the BrianSews! blog put a great earbud case tutorial on YouTube.  He was inspired by an idea off Pinterest, but adapted the construction method to make it easy for the children in his sewing classes. His method doesn’t require any precision cutting or placement of fabric; you just snip some oversized pieces of fabric, and baste them all down into a single layer before doing the precision stitching (sewing in a circle). Continue reading

The Tailored Shirt #12: Buttons and the Final Shirt!

Greetings!

I am nearing the end of our shirt construction project!

  • Staystitching and Interfacing
  • Prepare and Attach Front Pocket
  • Shirt Front Bands
  • Yoke and Shoulder Seams
  • Prepare and Attach Collar and Neckband
  • Prepare Sleeve Placket
  • Attach Sleeve to Armscye, flat-fell armscye seams
  • Sew Side and Sleeve Seams (with flat-felling)
  • Prepare Cuffs
  • Pleat Sleeves, Attach Cuffs, Topstitch Cuffs
  • Rolled Hems along bottom of shirt
  • Buttonholes (including front band, collar, cuffs, and sleeves)
  • Attach all Buttons
  • Final Shirt Press

Buttons

A dress shirt typically has buttons in the following places:

  • Front Band (left side on a men’s shirt, right side on women’s)
  • Collar Band (right in the middle – again on left side of collar band for men)
  • Cuffs
  • Collar points (if making a button-down collar)
  • Sleeve Placket

The sleeve placket on McCall’s 2447 does not have a sleeve button.  I thought about making one, but the placket is a little short and so it doesn’t need it.  I did decide to make the collar a button-down collar, just to get the practice making and placing the buttonhole and buttons. Continue reading

The Tailored Shirt #11: Cuffs and Hems

Dear Reader,

Today we’re tacking the cuffs and shirt-tail hems for our shirt:

  • Staystitching and Interfacing
  • Prepare and Attach Front Pocket
  • Shirt Front Bands
  • Yoke and Shoulder Seams
  • Prepare and Attach Collar and Neckband
  • Prepare Sleeve Placket
  • Attach Sleeve to Armscye, flat-fell armscye seams
  • Sew Side and Sleeve Seams (with flat-felling)
  • Prepare Cuffs
  • Pleat Sleeves, Attach Cuffs, Topstitch Cuffs
  • Rolled Hems along bottom of shirt
  • Buttonholes (including front band, collar, cuffs, and sleeves)
  • Attach all Buttons
  • Final Shirt Press

Cuffs

McCall’s 2447 uses two separate pieces for the outside and inside facing of the cuff.  This differs from the pattern in Pam Howard’s class, which uses a single pattern piece for each cuff. Also, in my pattern the cuff is constructed (outside and inside sewn right sides, facing, seam allowances trimmed and clipped) and then turned before attaching to shirt.  And finally, the ends of cuff are flush with ends of sleeve plackets, rather than extending 5/8 inch past the ends of the plackets as Pam Howard does. (Or at least that’s what the diagrams in the pattern instructions indicate. Continue reading