The Edgar Allen Poe Shirt

Q has always liked Edgar Allen Poe, and so for Valentine's Day, I made him a shirt.  It is another version of McCall's 2149.

More of McCall's 2149

The next three shirts I made for Q.

I have quite a few more to come, but I won't be working on them for a while.

McCall's 2149 Version 11

Before I show you Q's newest shirt, I need to preface it with the story.  I had a number of fabrics picked out and in my online cart, some of them for Q's shirts and some of them for dresses for the girls.  I showed them to Q so that I could get the okay before I checked out so that I could be sure he would wear them before I purchased them and put all the work into the shirts.  This fabric was actually one that I had picked out for a dress for the nerdlet, but this was the one of the group that got the most approval from him, so I changed the fabric amount and purchased it.

I  actually thought that maybe I would still make a dress or two out of it, but after finishing the orange shirt I posted, this is the one that he wanted me to make next.  I'm posting it now although it still needs buttons because my sister asked to see it.  I had buttons picked out for it, but they have disappeared.  I should pick new ones later today.

I actually love it.  It is beautiful fabric and the size of the shirt is perfect to show the fabric off.  I also love that Q has the ego to pull off wearing a shirt like this, and really who else than my opinion matters, right?  Right?

Anyway, on to the shirt...

McCall's 2149 Versions 6-9

McCall's 2149 Version 6

McCall's 2149 Version 7

McCall's 2149 Version 8

McCall's 2149 Version 9

Q loves these last two and wears them again as soon as they come out of the wash.  I've got 8 more of these shirts cut out on my counter waiting for me to sew them up so you may sew more versions in the near future.

A Step By Step Tutorial of the Collar McCall's 2149

I haven't really gone back and posted things that I missed posting about when I made something, but I am going to here since I took pictures of making McCall's 2149 step by step as a tutorial for beginners when making this mens shirt.  It is really a simple shirt esp. if you don't add pockets, which Q doesn't want anyway.  Pockets aren't that difficult to add, though, if you want to do so.

First is the collar.  I made this with 3 other shirts and in doing so I did two with the interfacing on the bottom piece and two with it on the upper piece.  I didn't really see a significant difference at the time.  I just ran upstairs to check on these shirts and now you cannot even tell which side is interfaced without pulling the collar apart.  So while I have read advice telling me both different ways, I wouldn't worry about it.  Pick the side you like.  Here I have the interfacing on the upper collar piece.  Sew around the sides and top of the collar and clip the corners off.

Then I use the rotary cutter to trim all around the sewn sides.

Then flip it around and press.

I use a pin to gently pull out the corners so they come to a point.

Then I pin the lower collar piece to the right side of the shirt, where the two front pieces have already been sewn to the back.  This is one of the few places that I actually use pins and I'm rather generous with them.

I pin the collar so that it meets right up to the edge of the collar.

Then I sew right to that edge.

 For the front facing pieces, I place the fusible side of the interfacing away from the right side of the facing piece.

Then I sew along the inside (the side that will be away from the button holes).

I then flip it around and press, fusing the interfacing to the facing.

I then sew this piece to the shirt front pieces.

I sew carefully when I get to the collar to capture the lower piece of the collar.

 I stop at the point of  meeting the collar so that I can enclose the facing in the collar.  Then like before I trim the facing and corner.

Then I flip it around and press, again using a pin to gently pull out the corner to a point.

 I iron the edge of the upper collar piece under to meet exactly with the lower piece.

I fold them back together and zigzag over the seam while meeting them up exactly.

The finished shirt.

Here you can see the topstitching of the shirt around the collar and also if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see the zigzag.  If I have chosen a contrasting thread for the topstitching, I will choose the best blending thread for the zigzag.

I'll follow this post with another post with pictures of the other 3 shirts I made in June.

Remake of the non-stretchy T

You know how you have an idea of what you want in your head and it just doesn't work out the way that you want to?  That is how my remake went.  Remember the T shirt that I made for the bear cub that didn't have enough stretch and irritated me?

Well, for a while I've been trying to decide what to do about it.  My first thought was to throw it in the donation box so that maybe someone with an infant could use it.  That is what I should have done, but instead I decided to remake it into this.

It looks okay, but it's nothing like what was in my head and while there is a lot more stretch to the pink insert and that helps with getting it on and off of the girls, in my head it was going to turn out much cuter.  I still sort of like the idea in my head, and I'll probably use this again with other t-shirts that the girls have outgrown and I was thinking I could even add a ruffle or peplum to the bottom if the shirt is also short.  The nerdlet likes it so I guess it is sort of a success.

On the other hand, Q proved once again that he is the best daddy and husband by distracting the girls while I did this.

I made sure to get him signing 'I love you' so that no one would worry that I was going to be a victim of domestic abuse later for posting this on the internet.

The Five Versions of McCall's 2149

So I finished Q's shirts.  Even though it is a very simple shirt for what it is, I learned a few things by making these.  I learned that I'm never going to like button holes.  I've learned that no matter how careful you are with your stack and whack technique, it is a completely different story to do four layers of men's striped shirts than it is layers of small quilting pieces (I don't suggest doing this).  I've learned that my husband is way more excited about nerdy things than he first lets on.  I learned that when making a button down, collared shirt out of knit that I need a heavier interfacing for the collar (or maybe a layer for both pieces?).  I learned that my husband has no regular white t-shirts good for wearing under dress shirts.  Finally, I learned that while my girls will hang on to me and follow me around while making clothes for them or myself, they have no interest in the sewing of clothes for Daddy (which is probably why I could finish them so quickly).

Anyway, here are the versions:

The first is lavender seersucker, the cheap kind they sell under the tutti frutti line at Hancock's.

The second is from Star Wars quilting cotton from my local quilt shop.  I've had three other requests for this since this post and apparently almost every place is sold out of this fabric currently.

The third is from a plaid knit.  I missed on the squares here, but I love the way this shirt brings out the blue in his eyes and it really looks nice on him.  The shirt isn't at all dressy, but I'll likely make him more knit versions.

 This fourth and fifth version are actually made from shirting fabrics.  This version is a stretch cotton and the metallic square buttons are the same color as one of the stripes.  I wasn't sure of my button choice, but Q likes it, and I figure as boring conservative as he is in his clothing choices that it is passable.

The final version is a white embroidered cotton fabric that I like enough that I wish I had bought more of it.  There is a very subtle pattern of vertical embroidered stripes of various types.   It reminds me of guayabera shirts and gives it a lot of character in real life that I don't think you can see in the picture.

That's it for now.  I'm thinking that if the girls are being nice, I might make a skirt and top that has been in my queue for a while now and has been traced off and mostly cut for a few weeks.

McCall's 2149 The Star Wars Version

In my last post, I said that would be the last man's shirt that I would make for a while, but I was clearly wrong.  I went shopping for patterns because of the pattern sales and whenever my MIL and I hit Hancock's and Jo-Ann's we always go to the Creative Sewing Center to look at quilting fabrics, too.  While there I found this Star Wars fabric (by Eugene Textiles) that was screaming to be made into a shirt for Q and so I left with some - what was left on the bolt was almost exactly what I needed for the shirt.  So I ended up coming home and cutting this one and three others at the same time.  I currently have the collars and facing for the other three versions done, so I'll have at least one more post on this pattern when I finish them.  There is a Star Wars fabric that is the blueprints for the Death Star and the Millenium Falcon that I'd also love to get my hands on that would result in my making another shirt.  I also bought three more shirt patterns for men, but I don't feel the need to try them out right away.  This pattern is ideal for fabrics like this since you don't have extra seams taking away from the artwork.

Here is the shirt:

I did have a small issue with the buttons that I chose, because they are rounded at the top and the sewing machine foot kept pushing them out.  I had to use my finger to hold them onto the foot while it sewed them on.

I had a hard time picking out buttons for the shirts because I wasn't sure what was standard as I haven't really paid much attention to the buttons on men's shirts and I was afraid of picking something that would look off.  I like the ones I chose, but I just know that I'm going to be examining the buttons on shirts now - like I don't have enough quirks already.

McCall's 2149 Part 2

I finished Q's shirt, but before I share the pictures, I'd like to post what his current dress shirts that fit him look like.  These are the smaller versions.  The larger ones are much worse.  This is actually his favorite dress shirt and the one he wears most.

Here is the finished McCall's 2149 and while it isn't perfect, I'm so very happy with it.

I actually used pins while making this shirt, which is something that I rarely do.  There is no puckering anywhere.  While there are still a few wrinkles, I don't think it is appropriate to add seams in a man's shirts, though I do think I'll look for other designs during the upcoming pattern sales.  

I'm even going to post a few pictures of the inside, even though I don't normally do that because I used a technique that I've seen on a few blogs that I found to be very nice.  That technique is basically sewing the interfacing to the facing piece before flipping it to the wrong side and attaching it, which gives it a very nice edge on the inside.

In this last picture I'm flipping the facing piece up so that you can see the edge of the interfacing that is attached.  

I really like it and I think Q does too.  I have a version planned in a knit fabric for him, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it as I have quite a large list of things I want to get done first.