December 2023
My first project was started and completed in December 2023, over the Christmas break. I started with something quite challenging, as dress shirts have quite a few moving parts. Particularly, the armhole seams, the collars, and the cuffs can be quite challenging. As well, I struggled quite a bit due to lack of knowledge.
For example, I did not understand what the pattern meant by interfacing.
So, I used a spray-on interfacing to glue
a separate piece of white cotton to the collar, collar stand, cuffs, and button bands. This resulted in a very stiff shirt, particularly
in the button band, as it was subsequently folded over several times. The first time I tried buttoning the shirt, it was so stiff I couldn't
remove the button, and I ended up ripping it off. I subsequently had to expand the buttonholes wider to give them a bit of play.
To make the shirt, I used my sister’s Brother sewing machine. Additionally, I use 100% cotton thread. In an attempt to make something unique, I tried using black thread on one side and white thread on the other by having the bobbin spooled with a different-coloured thread. However, in retrospect, this will create a less clean-looking product.
I messed up the buttonhole spacing, leaving one extra button near the top of the shirt. As well, I didn’t make the collar stand well, so I didn’t have enough room to fit a buttonhole on it. Additionally, I didn’t own a serger at the time, and I didn’t know how to finish seams, so I used the sewing machine to make a weird triangle stitch on the seam allowance to reinforce it. When cutting, I cut one half of the sleeve too close to the selvages, and some of the seam allowance was cut off, which ended up making the sleeve a bit hard to finish. Finally, I didn’t understand the importance of top-stitching, so I skipped it entirely.
The fabric I used was a nice black and white floral woven cotten. For the collar, cuffs, and collar stand contrast, I used a blue and black floral woven cotton.
May–December 2024
Through the summer of 2024 and into the fall, I worked on making some more dress shirts. I wanted to try a new pattern, because I was disappointed that the previous one didn’t have plackets on the sleeves, which I considered essential to a comfortable fit. To this affect, I got Simplicity’s 8753 pattern, and I chose the classic fit. Then, I purchased five different fabrics to make five different shirts.
The first shirt I worked on was a nice black and grey gingham woven cotton, with a red and black maple leaf contrast fabric for the cuffs and collar and collar stand. On this shirt, I managed to get the cutting part done properly, and I also did a decent job on the button spacing. However, I once again failed to properly construct the collar stand. Additionally, I made a hole when finishing an armhole seam on the back, which I had to patch up.
One unfortunate aspect I bumped into when making the shirt was that the cuffs were too wide, which meant that they would slide down to my knuckles. Simply moving the button was a crude solution I elected not to use, because it would have made the placket bunch up. Instead, I ripped out both cuffs and a bit of the side seam near the end of the sleeve. That way, I could take in some extra fabric in the seam allowance on the end, making an almost smooth look. This ended up looking a tad bit off, in my opinion, but overall it made a nice shirt.
The second shirt I finished was a solid white cotton shirt. In this one, because I meant it for more formal occasions, I omitted the pocket that the pattern included. For contrast, I reused the black and white floral cotton I used in my first shirt. This shirt was a bit of a rush job, as I wanted it for an event that came up. However, I consider that it was quite a success, as there are no major flaws I can point to.
The third shirt I finished was a more casual shirt, with a navy starry night sky cotton. For contrast, I reused the black and grey gingham of a previous shirt. This one was also quite successful, and it was my first foray into hand-sewing. For the collar stand and cuff contrast pieces, you need to pin the contrast and then stitch over it from the back. I had always struggled with this part, so I tried hand-basting it in place first, and it was quite successful.
The fourth shirt I made was a solid black cotton shirt. Here, I used the navy starry sky cotton as contrast. This shirt was also quite successful, although I messed up significantly when trimming the seams on the cuffs, and had to recover with some difficulty. One unfortunate thing is that dust shows and accumulates quite easily on the fabric I chose, but I remain happy with the result.
January,March 2025
This was my first attempt at something that wasn’t a shirt. Overall, I would rate it as less time-consuming than a dress shirt, but because this was my first time making one, and due to other difficulties, I ended up taking a really long time to finish it.
The first struggle I had was simply in making the hat. I made view D of the pattern, and the top seam and the seam connecting the brim to the crown were quite difficult to get just right. As well, I never managed to have the brim curl up in the back the way that the pattern photos showed it.
The second struggle was that the pattern didn’t have a size that fit me. I first tried with the largest available size, and I made most of the hat, but it would not fit. So, I spent a while sizing up the pattern. In the end, I was successful, but it was a lot more work than it should have been, and the hat still didn’t curl up in the back like in the pattern photos.
The third struggle I had was my inability to read instructions. The pattern clearly said that there were ¼ inch seam allowances, but I started off trying with ⅝ inch seam allowances instead. This obviously didn’t work out well at all, and I was left baffled as to why things weren’t fitting nicely at all until I read the pattern again.
I made it using a black wool mix, and a black Bemberg lining. This was my first encounter with lining, and I found it a bit frustrating to work with. Finally, I used a nice navy ribbon in the inside, and I made the outside ribbon from a navy striped suiting.
This page was created on March 9, 2025 by James Petersen, [email protected]
This page was updated on March 9, 2025 by James Petersen.
This page is at .
© Copyright 2025, James Petersen.