mccalls 6044 version 3.0

so last weekend we hunkered down for the

BLIZZARD OF 2013!!!

during which time not only was it difficult to leave the house, we were expressly forbidden to at risk of fine and/or imprisonment. not kidding! not that i had any intention of driving around in a blizzard, but there you have it. we got 2 feet of snow and literally had to dig our way out the front door.

so what's a girl to do while snow is falling at an alarming rate? why sew, of course!

i already had this dress shirt cut and fused and waiting for it's turn under my needle. after cutting the shirt i perused david coffin's "shirtmaking" and wanted to employ some of his techniques. while i didn't strictly adhere to his method on all points, i did pay close attention to how he does the shirt collar. while i haven't achieved perfection here, it was interesting to see how such small changes improved my collar attempt so dramatically! to me at least.

i'm not going to detail a full rundown of his methods, mostly because he does such a great job of it in his book, but also because duh! he wrote a book and it's hardly fair for me to just put it all out there on the internet. if you're not interested in owning a copy, most likely you can find it at a library. my library has a great inter-library loan service so i can get virtually any book i need. that's how i tracked down this source, though i plan to buy a copy soon to have on hand.

i'm just going to call that last buttonhole
stitched in green my signature okay?

to start, he gives you several different seam allowances to work with. he suggests 1/4" for most parts of the collar (except the edge of the collar that attaches to the stand—that you leave 5/8") which allows for more control and accuracy. i find 1/4" difficult to stitch because it falls under my presser foot, which i obviously can't see, so i went with a 3/8" SA.

he also suggests trimming width off the under collar and inner collar stand, so the under or inner side of these pieces are 1/4"-1/2" smaller than their counterpart. i find it interesting that he has you stretch the smaller piece as you sew to fit the larger piece. what i have seen before, say in tailoring a coat or jacket, is to cut the outer pieces larger then ease them down to the smaller size. do you see the difference? it's subtle, but it really works well. when you let go, the collar just naturally curves itself! very cool. i was a bit nervous and didn't trim as much as he suggested so i still have a few wrinkles. next time i'll follow more closely for sure.

i always had issues getting the rounded edge at the front on the collar stand to look good. i could never figure out when to sew that little curved bit and thankfully, coffin address this very well. no more guessing for me! all in all, the collar on this shirt is much more crisp and formed than my previous attempts. i still need some work on my collar points. i may need to invest in one of these.

i hope to make up a "how-to" for the collar stay channel soon...

i'm still not great at flat felling. i had removed most of the ease in the sleeve cap because it's quite unnecessary here and makes felling even more difficult. i think with practice i'll get a little quicker at it, but i spent f-o-r-e-v-e-r putting those sleeves in and felling them. the side seams, by contrast went super fast. it's still tedious to get all the way up or down those sleeves, but using my new felling foot at least got my stitching far more even.

inside felled armhole

inside felled sleeve seam

another thing i found interesting was how coffin recommended a very short stitch length. i had noticed while examining my husband's rtw shirts that the topstitching was done with a very short stitch, so i did this on the last shirt, but he suggests that you do all your construction with a much shorter stitch. his argument is that the shorter stitch uses more thread to go up and down with each stitch which enables the fabric to retain some of it's natural give. i noticed that i was getting slight puckering in my seams, but dialing down the tension a touch took care of that.

there are still minor changes i'll make next time around: widening the button placket (coffin recommends 1 1/4", this one is 1"), turning the under button placket to the inside instead of the outside, widening the back pleat, etc. i do feel pretty good having made three dress shirts this year, and it's only mid-february! i know more will be on my plate before long, but these are a good start. actually, i wouldn't mind making one for myself. each time i make one i keep thinking, you know with leggings and a belt i think i could wear this... focus lisa, FOCUS!

—lisa g.