Tuxedo Finale x 2

I haven't posted a completed project in ages.  So to make up for that I'm posting not one, but TWO completed tuxedo shirts.  

So with all due respect, Tennessee and Chumley .....  on with the show! 

First up is the VERY long overdue linen tuxedo shirt.  I was working on this shirt when disaster struck this summer.  One of my co-workers was about to move into a new house that had been under construction for at least a year.  My plan was to wear this shirt to the open house she was planning.  I would have worn it like this.  Untucked with a pair of dark wash jeans.  As things turned out I ended up on my porch, swilling Ensure and sweating up a storm.  

I lost 17 lbs. unintentionally over the summer.  Not being able to eat for a month will do that.  As a result this shirt is a little loose, but I'm sure I'll grow into it.  

Here it is tucked in.  The plastron extends about 2" below the waistband of my jeans.  

This shirt has a single French cuff, which is a lot less bulky than the double variety.  It seems less fussy and more appropriate for a casual shirt.   I'm wearing it with a pair of cameo cufflinks that were purchased from The Open Sesame on Etsy.  I like the contrast of formal elements and relaxed wrinkled ease.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll get to wear it next summer.  

This shirt, on the other hand, is ready to wear now.  I can totally see myself wearing this to the staff holiday party next month.  The pleating is very subtle on this shirt.  The light is just catching the edge of the pleats in this photo.  

In this shot the pleats are completely invisible.  I've learned since starting this project that my pleating is technically called "military pleating" or "pleating to the stripe".  It contributes to the more dominant horizontal stripes of the plastron.  It also makes the red in the tartan more prominent.  Note to self:  start making more red clothes.  

Here the light is showing the pleats to greater effect. 

Am I done with tuxedo shirts?  Hell no!  I'm totally seeing view D of this pattern in my future.  The "Venetian blind shirt".  

As always, I wish you happy sewing, and thank you for all the support that I receive as a result of this crazy blog.  Cheers! 

Tartan tuxedo update

Things have moved ahead nicely on the tuxedo shirt.  

I did tons of matching on the fronts of the shirt, but there are parts of a man's shirt where matching is impractical if not completely out of the question.  The center back box pleat makes matching the yoke impossible, so it's better to cut it on the bias.  I did, however, center the plaid on the fold while cutting it out.  The collar is also centered and lines up nicely with the box pleat.  Silly? Obsessive? Maybe, but making my own shirts has made me care about such details.  

The sleeve placket is another place where it's just easier to "un-match".  I use the template from Coffin's book on shirtmaking.  It makes something that looks complicated surprisingly easy.  I think it also adds a little pizzaz.  

The collar is always the biggest bugaboo for me.  I had such good luck with a collar stay slot on the linen tux shirt that I tried it again.  The point collar shape made the placement awkward, and I totally forgot to allow for the 1/4" topstitching.  The end result -- the stay doesn't go very deeply into the slot.  Still, it works, so it's not a total failure.  Just another "live and learn" sewing experience.  

The basting has been removed from the pleats, and I'm totally loving them.  They were worth every minute of pressing, basting and slip-stitching.  

All that remains is buttonholes and buttons.  

Tartan Tuxedo Shirt -- a de-stashing project

Thanks to all my readers for the get well wishes.  I'm glad to say that I'm finally back in the swing of things, and feeling in desperate need of a project.  There seems to be a lot of blogging lately about stashes.  They're being agonized over, sorted, reorganized, and used.  Mine, I'll admit is pretty small.  I have 4 lengths of fabric, a drawer full of various interfacings and a bag of scraps.  Now would be a good time to reduce the stash.  

I've decided to make another tuxedo shirt, this time with some tartan shirting that I bought from Denver Fabrics back in January during one of their free shipping promotions.  It's really very nice fabric, a fine twill weave actually, in red, olive, navy and yellow.  

There is really not much to making a tuxedo shirt.  The pleats are actually a separate piece of fabric sewn onto the shirt fronts.  So any shirt that fits you well can be pretty easily dressed up with just a couple of additional steps.  The plaid will be an extra challenge, but these kinds of challenges are what makes sewing fun for me.  

I cut a strip of fabric and experimented with various pleat sizes and matching strategies.  I decided on this arrangement which emphasized more red.  The plastron (pleated panel) will finish out at  3.75 inches wide.  

So here is my sample and the width of fabric that will be required to make it.  It takes about 3 times the width of the finished plastron.  

I pressed each pleat and then basted them into position, trying to match the plaid as carefully as possible.  

It's hard to see, but on the reverse side I slipstitched each pleat to the backside of the adjacent pleat.  These stitches are invisible from the front and will hold the pleats in place when the basting is removed. At least that's the plan.   

The pleated plastron is slipped under the interfaced front band and basted into place.  Then it's edgestitched to the shirt front along the bottom and side.  The front band is pressed over and topstitched just like any other shirt.  I'm really pleased with all the matching.  This is when a little extra attention to detail really pays off.  Yay! 

FYI  -- The plastron is cut long enough to extend beyond the neck edge and shoulder seam.  

Lastly, the excess is trimmed off and the upper edge is basted to hold the pleats in place.  From here on out it's just basic shirt construction.  

Happy Sewing!  (and de-stashing) 

Great stuff in the mailbox

You know it's going to be a great day when you find 11 yards of fabric crammed into your mailbox!  

Denver Fabrics was offering free shipping, so I figured it was a good time to pick up more shirting fabric.  I probably saved about $13.  Admittedly, DF doesn't have the greatest photos on their website, so I was holding my breath as I ripped open the package.

Yay!  No huge disappointments.  

So here's my haul.  From left to right.  First is a very fine cotton shirting in celery and white.  It has a wonderfully silky hand.  I'll use this first and re-make the Victorian shirt with a few more alterations.  

 

Next is a block printed cotton voile.  I had no idea what voile is, but I liked the print and the colors.  This turns out to be my least favorite of the batch.  The weave is quite coarse, like a cheap muslin.  I hope it softens up with a good pre-washing.  Still, I love the colors and think it will make a fun summer shirt.  

Next is an olive and red tartan.  This is a substantial fine twill weave.  Nothing flimsy about it and well worth $4.95 / yard.  

Lastly, a light teal and white oxford cloth.  This is a color that I look particularly good in.  I plan on making a basic button down from the pattern that I used last year for the MPB shirt sew-along.  

Oh, but there's more than just fabric in the mailbox!  This amazing shirt pattern is dated 1964 .  Thank you Sassy Cotton for finding this gem.  I'm planning on using the voile for this one.  I especially love the back view with the pleat and button detailing.  There is also a button tab on the short sleeve.  I just love this kind of detail, and it's what keeps me wanting to make my own clothes.  

OK.  Now dial the "way-back machine" forward to 1975.  This pattern is also from Sassy Cotton.  If you love vintage patterns I hope you will check out their Etsy shop.   My other recent source for great patterns is Wheeler Salvage.  Mary has a great selection of very stylish stuff.  I could (and DO) look at vintage patterns for hours!  

I really think this whole safari look is ready for a resurgence.  Do you?  Should there be a Summer Safari Sew-Along?  

Here is the celery stripe with my brocade vest.   My plan is to launch into a second version of the Victorian shirt.  This time I hope to simplify the construction of the front placket by making it just a larger version of the sleeve placket.  I guess time will tell if that works out.  If I have enough fabric I hope to place the bib on the bias.  

Lastly, I'm thinking the tartan would make a most excellent tuxedo shirt.   I'm not sure how the pleats work, but it could be very interesting.  

That's it for now.  It's nice to have projects in the pipeline again.  

New year -- New directions

It's a new year and time for some new projects.  But before I go any further I want to thank Sunni, of the blog -- A Fashionable Stitch, for featuring my pea coat on her blog.  I was totally blown away to learn this.  It's hard for me to believe that anyone is paying any attention to what I do!  For those of you who do, I hope it's informative and just a little bit inspiring.  

So, like most of you, I have some sewing goals for 2012.  As much as I enjoy making outerwear, it's time to expand my repertoire. This became evident when I dressed for a staff Christmas party with my department members.  Because I wear a uniform at work, my closet is primarily filled with casual clothes.  Plaid flannel shirt at a holiday party?  I don't think so.  In the end I wore a button down shirt, argyle sweater and wool flannel trousers.  Yawn.......  I'd much rather have been wearing something just a little bit more imaginative.  

A big sewing goal this year will be to make some slightly dressier additions to my extremely tired wardrobe.  

This is where I'll start.  The Victorian Shirt from Folkwear.  This is exactly the shirt that I wished I'd had for the Christmas party.  It's not totally crazy, has a dressy vibe and I'd be the only guy wearing anything like it.  That's my idea of dressing.  I'm going to be making it in a very dark purple cotton jacquard.  

Oh ETSY, How I love you!   I think every guy could use a tuxedo shirt.  I've always wanted one but never owned one.  In a way they're sort of laughable, but they somehow can traverse the spectrum from formal to casual.  This is a shirt that I could get a lot of mileage out of.  Hopefully all that pleating isn't totally impossible.  Speaking of impossible, there won't be any ruffled version of this shirt!  And, oh, what about that huge bow tie.  That's out too.  

Another Etsy find.  I wouldn't mind having a nice assortment of vests in my closet.  They don't take much fabric and they're fun to wear.  I often see really beautiful fabrics when I'm in NYC, but can't for the life of me figure out what I'd do with them.  Vests are the answer.  

Lastly, check this out.  Vogue designer no less.  I got this pattern primarily for the jacket.  I'm not a three piece suit type.  The jacket has a reasonable lapel width and a double back vent which I think would be interesting.  I rarely dress up, but I do go to a work related conference every October.  Each year I decide between  the two silk / wool tweed sport coats that I own.  This year I want this jacket in velvet.  

Lastly, some books have been added to my meagre collection.  I have never made a pair of trousers or jeans, so I got David Coffin's book.  I'm just hoping it's not as obsessive compulsive as his shirt book.  Don't get me wrong, I know it's a great book.  But it drives me crazy.  I also picked up a book on pattern drafting by Lori Knowles.  It's very straightforward and full of information.  One of my goals will be to draft both an upper and lower body sloper this year.  Why?  I'm hoping that it can make my projects more creative and less dependent on published patterns.  

It will be interesting to see how this year turns out!  Time to tackle the Victorian Shirt.