The Chambray Comfy Shirt, Part 4: Muslin v2.0

Greetings everyone.  It feels good to be back!

My sewing has been waylaid both by the new job, where I’ve been through week 1, and also a little bit by a back injury I inflicted upon myself while lifting a heavy section of my telescope. You know that part where they tell you to lift heavy things from your quadriceps rather than your back?  Yeah, well I got that memo but still was too dense to read it.

So, picking up from where we left off…

Muslin v2.0

I had planned to alter the pattern, then do a second muslin to check fit.  The summary of the changes I needed to make to the Large version of the pattern was the following:

  • Decrease shoulder width 2 inches
  • Decrease sleeve width 1.5 inches
  • Decrease chest 3 inches

I was getting ready to retrace the pattern with the alterations, via Pivot & Slide.  Then I noticed the Medium version of the pattern might actually be a better fit in a lot of ways, and I might have fewer alterations to make by adding to Medium rather than taking away from Large.

So, I’m going to do another muslin based off the medium version of the pattern.  I’m going to be using this striped cotton/poly shirting I found on sale at JoAnn’s a year or so ago.

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This is going to be one of my famous “wearable muslins”, i.e. a muslin that I’m treating as if it were the real thing as far as construction steps go.  That’s because I’m changing the pattern as well as altering the fit.

And the scope of the project has expanded.  Fabric Outlet just began another of their 40% off sales, and so I found this wonderful blue Chambray that will go into a shirt for me, in addition to the Chambray shirt I’m already doing for Jim.  This is another reason to do the Medium muslin, for fitting against myself.

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Tracing the Pattern (Again)

Here’s a list of the changes I’m making to the pattern:

  • Extend some of the seam allowances from 1/4 to 5/8 inch.  This is along the armscye seams (front, back, yoke, sleeve cap), side seam (front and back piece), and sleeve seams.  The additional seam allowance is to allow me to flat-fell all these seams, as is traditionally done for men’s shirts.IMG_1538_20130922173631221
  • Extend the bottom hem by 3/8″ to 3/4″, so that I can do a double-folded (rolled) hem.  The Kwik Sew instructions have you simply overcast the edge, fold up once, then stitch down.  That’s pretty ugly to me.
  • Extend the seam allowance where the back piece meets the yoke from 1/4 to 3/8 inch.  This is so the seam allowance will get caught by the line of topstitching that is applied 1/4 inch away from the back yoke seam.IMG_1539_20130922173702584
  • Replace the sleeve placket that came with the pattern, with a more traditional placket pattern taken from David Coffin’s Shirtmaking book.  I have the book as PDF, and so simply printed the appropriate page.IMG_1537_20130922173550890

So, I’ve traced the Medium version with all these changes.  Next, I’ll sew up a shirt with this new pattern and see how it turns out.

A final shopping find

While shopping for the chambray, I also found this charcoal gray cotton twill fabric, also 40% off, that will make a nice pair of chino-style pants. I already had a spool of dark grey thread in my stash that matches the fabric perfectly.

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I will make them either with the new Vogue pattern (8940) that has a nice pair of fashion-forward men’s pants. Or perhaps I will purchase the Jedediah Pants pattern from Thread Theory Designs.

But that’s another project.  Assuming I survive this one.