Making a Shirt - Part 1: Fabric, Pattern, Prep, and Cutting

As a diversion from my job search (btw, I've got three interviews coming up this week, two of which are second rounds) I thought I would make a couple of shirts and document the process.

I like making shirts because they are fairly easy to make.  If I really got to it, I'm sure I could do one in a day, from start to finish.  Pants take longer; jackets and coats are a labor of love.   There are some tricky parts to a nicely made shirt, but a bit of practice produces good results.  Also, shirts give you options:  long-sleeve or short...front button placket or not...collar styles...cuff styles...little details...seam finishes...you get my point.

Fabric
So, first is fabric choice.  My main rule is to pick something you would want to wear (or, the person for whom you are sewing would want to

wear).  My preference is 100% cotton.  I usually look for cotton shirting -- basically tightly woven, medium weight fabric.  It's best if there is no right or wrong side (most true men's shirting is like that).  However, I've made shirts from different stuff:

I just made this for Mark about a week ago from cotton shirting I found on sale online at Acorn Fabrics (links to my fabric sources at the bottom).

This one is cotton quilting (poplin?) I got at Joann Fabric

This is cotton flannel that I think I also got at Joann Fabric.  You may recognize the shirt from this:

This is cotton seersucker I got from Fabric Mart online and the accents (inside yoke, under collar, sleeve cuffs) are upholstery fabric samples Mark brought home -- probably acrylic of some sort.

Cotton batik that I brought back from Bali in 2011

Cotton seersucker.  I made this especially for July 4, 2013 in Maine.  Notice the snaps...

And this number is cotton/linen upholstery weight toile with quilting cotton accents.  It was a big hit during my "Summer of Michael" in Provincetown, MA 2012.  Not sure if you can tell in this photo, but none of the buttons match each other.

Certainly cotton/poly blends would work.  Linen and linen blends (with cotton) would be nice, but I find linen a bit hard to sew because it's usually a looser weave that cotton shirting.  Silk might be nice, too.  Me, though, I'm a traditional cotton kind of guy.

Here are the fabrics I've chosen:

Actually, not the bottom blue stripe, for now.  

Patterns
I have quite a few men's shirt patterns.  The ones that I like the most are

The Classic Dress Shirt from Islander Sewing Systems.  I like this pattern a lot and the instructions that come with it.

Simplicity pattern 9469.  I think it may be out of print.  You could check ebay or etsy.  As an alternative, try Simplicity 1544

Burda 7767, View B, is pretty good.  Be warned, though, that Burda tends to run small and Burda instructions aren't always the easiest to follow.

And...

The Negroni Shirt from Colette Patterns.  This is a really nice pattern, great packaging, and clear, easy to follow instructions.  However, I usually change the camp collar (convertible collar) to a more classic two-piece collar with collar stand.  That's my preference.  My favorite men's sewing blog -- Male Pattern Boldness -- did a sew-along using this pattern.

However, for my shirts I'm doing  now, I'm using a pattern that I drafted using a Ralph Lauren dress shirt that I have and really like the fit of.  I won't cover that aspect, but it's pretty easy to copy an existing shirt to make a pattern of it.  Google it.

Here's the pattern I'm using:

Close up of the Yoke

The Back.  It has a 3/4" pleat on each side for ease of movement.  In one of my shirts, though, I'll move to a 1 1/2" center pleat instead of side pleats.  Notice that the side seam (to the left in this photo) has nice shaping to it (and is matched on the front, below).

This is the pattern for both the Left and Right fronts.  Some patterns will have separate pieces.  I made one and cut the center at Center Front (to the left in this photo).

Originally, I wanted to use the sleeve from my Islander Sewing pattern. Then I thought about making a few modifications.  First, I want to make the wrist/cuff circumference smaller (I chose 10" finished).  Next, I want to take out just a little bit of fullness to make the sleeve a bit closer fitting to the arm (but not too much).  I also want to reduce two pleats to one and to move the pleat and slit for the placket further to the backside of the sleeve.

So I retraced the original pattern

Made the changes

And ended up with a modified sleeve pattern.  I kept the original curve on the top for two reasons.  One, it already worked with the other pattern pieces.  Two, it's a nice shallow curve that has only about 3/8" ease to work in which means an easier time sewing (more on that when we sew on sleeves).

Prep

This step is important, but pretty easy.  Basically, you need to pre-shrink the fabric.  There are lots of techniques and better sewers (tailors?) than I may disagree with me on how to do this.  Basically, I think about how the finished item will be cleaned/laundered and use that method to pre-shrink.  That means for my cotton shirts, I run the fabric through the washer and dryer.  I use about half the amount of detergent during the wash.  I use the same dryer setting I would for the finished shirt.  Now, I know some will say to never dry your shirts in the dryer.  Meh, it works fine for me.  If you don't use the dryer, then let the fabric air dry flat after washing.  Don't hang as this might skew the grain of the fabric.

After pre-shrinking I iron the fabric.  I use the same setting I would for the finished shirt and lots of steam.  I made a homemade linen water using water and a few drops of lavender oil in a spray bottle (spray onto the fabric, don't put into the iron).  This makes nice steam and scent.

For wool and anything else, I send it to the dry cleaners and ask them to dry clean and press the fabric.  The first time I did this, they didn't quite know what to do, so they just treated it like a tablecloth.  Worked great.

Cutting

So now that the fabric is chosen and prepped and the pattern is ready, it's time to start cutting.  I usually start with the back.  For solids and non-geometric prints, I fold the fabric right side out, selvage to selvage.  You could fold right side in if you want, but don't fold end on end.  For stripes and plaids I don't fold the fabric but cut each piece separately.  For the back, that means cutting one side, then cutting the other.  Here's how I did it:

I determined where I wanted the center of the back to be (the long straight edge on the right above) and put the pattern down.  The pattern is actually upside down in this photo because in the next step I'll flip it over.  The center back is normally cut on the fold, but since I'm using a striped fabric I want to make sure the stripes run vertically on each side, which can be difficult to get exact with folded fabric.  I cut around the bottom, short side, arm hole and top, then...

Flip everything over and match the stripes and continue cutting out (bottom, side, arm, top) to get...

You can't see very well, but I then make small clips at the pleat placement lines marked on the pattern.

In this fabric, I'm moving the side pleats to a center box pleat.  Because my original side pleats were 3/4" and there were two (1 1/2" total ease) I'm going to add that amount to the center.  With box pleats you double the finished size, so that really means that 3" of fabric is involved in the box pleat.  Since I already have 1 1/2" included in the pattern, I need to add that extra 1 1/2" or else I'd only end up with a 3/4" box pleat.  Sounds complicated, but it's not really...

I'll add 1 1/2" to the center when I flip the pattern and fabric over...

and then finish cutting out.  More about the box pleat when it comes time to construct it.

Now for the fronts.  First I have to decide if I want a button placket or not.  The button placket is the strip of folded fabric down the left front of some shirts where the button holes are put in.  Some shirts have them, some don't.  It's a matter of style preference. For these two shirts I do want plackets.  Most plackets are 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" inch wide.  Again, it's style preference and nothing says you couldn't have narrower or wider ones (it might look odd, though).

There are  several ways to make/attach front plackets.  Most patterns have separate pieces.  If you go that route you'll probably need to interface them.  I tend to use the fold method, which means that you include the fabric needed for the placket when you cut out the front.  I use separate front placket pieces if I want to put the placket on the bias or use a different fabric for the back (see some of the photos of shirts above).

The right front has no placket but has a facing, which is really for collared shirts a way to finish the edge of the right front.  If you have no left front placket, the then left and right fronts both have facings.  Again, there are different ways to make/attach a right front facing, but I tend to do the fold method here, too.

Finally, the center front of a shirt, where the buttons and button holes are, isn't the edge.  Rather, the center front is set back a bit to allow for an overlap of the left over right for men's shirts.  How much is set back is also a style preference, but most shirts will be either 5/8" or 3/4".  Whatever that set back is also determines placket width:  5/8" set back is a 1 1/4" wide placket and 3/4" set back is a 1 1/2" placket.

The red and blue striped shirt will have a 1 1/4" placket (5/8" set back) and the blue and green striped shirt will have a 1 1/2" placket (3/4" set back).

One more bit of math for now.  To determine how much fabric to add when cutting out for the fold method, I use this rule:  Left Front = 9 times the set back amount and Right Front = 5 times the set back amount.  This will become evident when we start folding the shirt fronts; for now just trust me.

So, here are the left fronts

I've added 5 5/8" (9 times 5/8") to the center front edge for this one

and 6 3/4" (9 times 3/4") to the center front edge for this one.  I then cut them out and made clips at the top and bottom center front (the pattern edge) and at the clip mark in the arm hole.

Next, Yokes.  Most men's dress shirts have a yoke piece which attaches to the back and the fronts.  For the blue/red striped shirt I want to put the yoke on a chevron pattern.  All credit to Pam Erny and her blog for the technique, here.

Setting up the fabric on the bias (45° angle).  I drew a chalk line to the right side of that ruler...

and sewed the folded fabric together.  Then I put the yoke pattern center back on the seam line and cut out, twice (there are two yokes, an inside and an outside).  The results are:

Pretty cool, huh?  For the blue/green striped fabric I put the yoke 90° to the stripe, like this

and cut two on the fold.

Next came sleeves, which I also cut each one separate (not from folded fabric) to keep the stripes running down the sleeves.

I also cut the sleeve placket pieces.  For the red/blue striped shirt I put the stripes on the bias and for the blue/green striped shirt I put the stripes horizontally.

The placket pattern piece looks complicated -- it does take making it a couple of times to get it down -- and I'll go over it's construction later.

Finally, I decided on no pocket for the red/blue striped shirt.  For the other, I cut two pocket pieces, one on the vertical and one on a 60° bias and I'll decide which one to use on the left front later.  The vertical piece is a 7" x 6" rectangle (finished pocket will be 5" x 5").  The bias piece is 6" x 5" (finished size will be 4" x 4").  At this stage I cut pockets square and then decide later if I want to shape them differently.

Vertical striped pocket piece...

60° bias pocket piece.

That's all my pieces cut for not.  Wait -- what about collars and cuffs, you ask?  I don't cut those yet.  first, I don't quite know what styles I want for each shirt just yet:  point collar, spread, button-down?  square cuffs, rounded (barrel), angled, french cuffs?  Second, necklines, overlaps, wrists, and sleeve plackets have way of slightly changing length as the shirt is being made.  I'll wait until I get to the point of doing collars and cuffs and then I can take correct measurements (or, make corrections to the shirt at that point) and decide on styles.

So, here are all my shirt pieces, for now, bundled up and ready to start sewing...

Next time I'll start actual construction and sewing.  One last note:  Thread.  I use 100% polyester thread for construction and most top stitching, not cotton thread.  For button holes and buttons I like to use 100% silk thread.  Neither of those threads will shrink when the shirt is laundered.  Silk thread is too thick and expensive to use in construction, but looks great for button holes and to sew on buttons (and it's strong).

Fabric sources I like:

• Joann Fabric -- always worth it to browse through your local store.  You never know what you might find, but you usually have to search through a lot of poly and knits.
• Fabric Mart online -- good site and usually lots of stuff on sale.
• Mood online (or in NYC or LA stores) -- "Thank you, Mood!"
• Acorn Fabrics online -- wonderful quality British shirting, but look for sale items or you might blow your budget.
• Vogue Fabrics online -- great selection of a lot of stuff, and good for interfacings, too.
• Bergen Taylor Supply -- I love this tailoring supply for notions, buttons, and all the stuff one needs for tailoring pants, jackets, and coats.  Not really a fabric store, though.