The Wacky World of Men's Shirt Patterns

Readers, I am stoked about our upcoming MPB Men's Shirt Sew-Along -- so much so in fact that I am using words like stoked, which I hate.

Tomorrow I should have some exciting news about starting dates, pattern choices, and perhaps even a special discount available to MPB readers.   (NOTE: Pleasing My Palate readers may be subject to a small surcharge.)  Stay tuned!

I spent more time than I care to admit researching men's shirt patterns last night, and what a wild and wonderful world it is!

I said in passing yesterday that men's shirt patterns are more the same than they are different and this is true.  I did uncover quite a broad range of shirt styles, however, some of which I actually remember as the fashion of the day, others from old Bing Crosby movies, and others from recurrent nightmares involving dude ranches and Spin and Marty.

And speaking of nightmares, was there ever a more ill-conceived concept than unisex?  The very word conjures up memories of scary counterculture types, Haight-Ashbury, and The Big Cube (see video below).

When unisex invaded the pattern companies, well, is it any surprise the results were unfortunate?

From bad... (Togetherness? Who needs it?)



To worse.



To rock-bottom hatey-Eighties (yes, his-and-hers shirt, pants, and blazer).



But I digress.

The heyday of the men's shirt pattern is the immediate postwar period when all of a sudden a generation of men had leisure and needed something to wear to it.  (Luckily those days are rapidly drawing to a close.)

Adult men could now dress up like their favorite Western heroes.





Play golf.



Go on vacation (sometimes together).



And smoke pipes.



The peak of invention was also the beginning the end...





...as styles quickly spun out of control.





(Please rest assured there will be no Apache shirts in our sew-along and anyone wishing to make one is on their own.)

Since then, most men shirt patterns have become.... well you decide.

Oh my, how time flies!

I bought this 1939 pattern yesterday on Etsy.  I'm very curious about that removable collar in the upper right corner.  Cool or what?



In closing, friends, did your fathers, brothers, uncles, maiden aunts, etc., wear any of these shirt patterns?  What do you think happened to the shirt pattern over the last sixty-five years and why?

Are you getting stoked about our upcoming adventures in flat-felling, topstitching, and placket pressing?  Hope so!

Have a great day, everybody!

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Peter models the men's plaid flannel shirt

Friends, I fear a Hipster Alert! warning call is imminent and well-warranted.  I finished my flannel shirt yesterday and I cannot deny that I look like what New York Magazine calls the Urban Woodsman.  That scares me though I used to be an avid hiker.

Fortunately I don't live in Brooklyn and yet mysteriously I found myself there yesterday afternoon (though hardly in a hotbed of hipsterism).  Why?  Read on.





I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I finished the plaid flannel shirt yesterday.  I do want to sew more slowly and I try but it's hard.  No matter what I do -- schedule in distractions, miss a night's sleep, sew with dusty old vintage sewing machines -- I find it a challenge to stretch these project out longer.  I will keep trying.

One time-saver was my decision to skip front pockets on the shirt.  They were simply too much plaid and made me seasick.  I hope you agree but I'm standing by my decision.



I also serged the side seams -- a first -- after a very tedious hour spent flat-felling the armscye seams.  Flannel is so spongy and it doesn't really iron to a crisp unless cooked.



I realized a little late but better late than never that I could use beige thread as my top thread and black thread in my bobbin (exact same weight thread from Sil thread) so I wouldn't have unsightly beige stitches on my black cotton sateen trim.  I may redo the front right placket -- you see how the stitches on the placket are beige whereas the collar is (nearly) all black?  I prefer the latter.



The cuff is topstitched beige but the cuff lining is black, which is nice if I turn up my cuffs.





Here's the rear:



Buttonholes , which I did on my Singer buttonholer attached to my Pfaff 30, came out great.



I know reader Renee was rooting for snaps, but I opted for plain old plastic buttons.  Sorry, Renee!



My Pfaff 30 was a good little trouper though still in need of some fine tuning imo.  Her feed dogs automatically drop which made using my buttonholer much more convenient than on my old Singer Spartan.  She's a lovely topstitcher, powerful slow or fast, and I love having my machine in a table and sewing flush with the table top.  

For the record, I made this shirt using Butterick 4712, a slim-fitting vintage Seventies pattern that often shows up on Etsy and eBay.



In other news, friends, the sew-along is GO!

We have a few options.

 1) We can all use the same pattern.  I can recommend a current men's shirt pattern and we can purchase it on our own from a place like Pattern Review or wherever you buy patterns.  That way we're all on the same page.

2) I can recommend a few in-print options and let you decide what works best (since some of you are more interested in women's shirts, or boys shirts, what have you.)  Shirt patterns are more alike than they are different and the sew-along will focus on techniques anyway that will be useful regardless of the pattern.  This way those who may already have a vintage or OOP pattern they want to use can participate.

The number of men's dress shirt patterns currently available is woefully low.  Do you hear that, friends at The McCall Pattern Company (comprising McCall's, Vogue, and Butterick)?

Either way I'll let you know and we'll come up with a way to post pictures to the site, have a forum for questions, etc.  Start date will be early February.  Exciting!

Finally friends, poor Michael.  Tired of watching my swift ascent to blogger whatever-dom from the sidelines, always hoping for a brief mention or photo on Male Pattern Boldness, Michael has decided to start a daily blog of his own.

It's all about food and his cooking adventures and it's called Pleasing My Palate.

Won't you check it out?  We do all have to eat after all.  I am prominently featured, albeit not in my leopard pants, plaid shirt, or toggle coat.  Still you might enjoy it.

Of course if you choose to follow Michael's blog you'll earn extra points in my book, points which will entitle you to the chance of winning potentially valuable prizes at some future time yet to be determined. 

Thankfully Willy and Freddy are not yet up to the daily discipline of blogging though they do have strong opinions about raw meat (love it!), treadmills (ho-hum), and enforced dental hygiene (grrrr.....).

In closing, I have expanded my plaid shirt Picasa file,  so do take a look if you like flannel shirts and expansive views of New York City from a Brooklyn high-rise where I will never live but my brother and SIL, we'll see.  Vertigo alert.

Have a great day everybody!

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Men's Flannel Shirt -- UNEDITED insomnia edition

Friends, this is what I look like at 2:48 am.  Not pretty but the tea is delicious (and if you squint I look like a gorilla in that picture, seriously).  Perhaps due to the excitement of my flannel shirt project, I am up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep.  I can't even blame the dogs.  Happily, there's the blog.

The plaid flannel shirt is coming along well.  I should finish tomorrow, I mean today.  And now an endorsement.  As you know, MPB is an ad-free blog and anything I recommend I genuinely use.  I receive no compensation (if only).

But I am totally in like with my straight-stitch low-shank walking foot, which I purchased from Sew-Classic for about $20.  This thing works well, fits my Pfaff 30 perfectly, and let's face it, half of it is psychological: I sew better knowing that I've taken this precaution; it's like a sew-condom.  For $20, it's well worth it and you don't lose sensation.





And speaking of endorsements, after I mentioned blockfusing yesterday, clever Kiwi commentator Sherry put it in my head that I need a dry press, or a steam press, or an Elnapress, or -- well you get the idea -- and now I want one.

Question: Should I wait to stumble upon one at the thrift store for $4, buy a used one on eBay, or splurge for a new one on a site like Allbrands.com?  I know ten anonymous commentors are going to try to talk me out of it, but I think I'd use this if I had it and could figure out a) where to store it, and b) where to use it.

I'm leaning toward a dry press since I really want it to fuse interfacing as opposed to pressing shirts.  There's always the spray bottle if I need steam.  I've read a lot of posts on Pattern Review about these and most people have very positive things to say about them.

Now back to the shirt.  I have decided that one of my New Year's resolutions is to sew more slowly and carefully.  I tend to speed through projects and sometimes the quality of my work suffers.  I am trying to approach this flannel shirt project with more care and focus on getting the details right.  Plus, let's face it -- plaid's a bitch and slows you down regardless.

So far, I like it.  A few details:

Here's the left front button placket.  Still haven't made up my mind about buttons vs. pearl snaps, though I'm leaning toward buttons.



I decided to do my facings in black cotton sateen.  This is turned under and topstitched -- well, there's a tuck in there too but let's keep it simple.



I cut my back yoke on the bias and interfaced one side for a little more body.





I also used the black cotton sateen to make the inside collar stand.  Here you can see it from the outside before topstitching down the outside collar stand. 



I think it may be time for a men's shirt sew-a-long so I can discuss construction methods in greater detail.  How much lead time do you think we'd need -- a month?

I have a (growing) file of pics of my shirt construction here, though with all that plaid and a fabric that has no right or wrong side, it may be hard to grasp what I'm doing.

Here's how things looked as of quitting time:



Next up is topstitching my sleeve plackets.



Friends, has this ever happened to you?  I wanted to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday -- not something I often eat -- and I toasted my bread, a delicious sourdough from Trader Joe's and look:



I mean, honestly, no one loves yeast as much as I do, but isn't this kind of ridiculous?



I may have to flag down one of these next time it drives through town.

Rested readers, I must go back to bed or read or something.

In closing, do you own a walking foot and does it work for you?  Do you own a press and do you love it/use it/want to donate it to me?  If I did a men's shirt sew-along would you sew along?

And how about that bread?

I want to hear from you!

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...and awaaay we go! The men's flannel shirt project

And we're off.

Yesterday I got started on my plaid flannel shirt.  I did a lot of online research to see what people were doing with plaid flannel these days -- not a whole lot.  The options are pretty straightforward: yokes/no yokes, pocket flaps/no pocket flaps, bias-cut button placket and cuffs/straight-cut button placket....  and so on.

I toyed with the idea of using princess seams (or Viennese seams or whatever they're called for men) in front and I have a men's shirt pattern just like that -- but it was just too much.  It might work if I were using a contrasting solid flannel.

I cut everything out and I'm ready to start stitching.  I think I'm going to make this one on my Pfaff 30.



Here's how I lined up the plaid for the two fronts (which are two different pattern pieces on this vintage shirt pattern, Butterick 4712).



The facing edges are selvage, but now I'm thinking of using black cotton sateen for the facings as a contrast -- it will look cool where it will be visible (and the inside collar band in the same black cotton).



To avoid screw-ups I carefully labeled my sleeves in chalk on the wrong side.   The fabric is the same on both sides, which can cause confusion, especially when I'm making sleeve plackets.



I tried a method I read about on Sherry's fine blog, pattern - scissors - cloth, which is called blockfusing.  You interface a big block of fabric and then cut out things like cuffs and collar bands from the interfaced fabric, rather than cutting and fusing each piece separately (as I've always done).  This way you know everything will match up perfectly and you won't have to worry about fabric shifting or anything as you fuse.  It worked, though with my little iron it's a drag to fuse a big block.   Clever, Sherry!



So that's the shirt so far.  Snaps or buttons, what do you think?

Friends, look what I found at the flea market yesterday:



Did you know this book existed?  I didn't.  It's lovely and pocket-sized (for a big pocket) and much more fun to read than the blog.  Looking at images on the Internet will never be the same as seeing them in print, I don't think.   I love this book.  I don't read men's fashion magazines so it's great for inspiration.





Readers, we're out of time.  I hope you're getting off to a good start this new year but if you're not, don't forget you can wipe the slate clean at any time and start again -- I do.  Don't let the whole New Year thing rule your world.

That said, what's your first project of 2011?  Any plaid-matching out there? 

Happy Monday, everybody!

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Where do we go from here?

Friends, there's always that first week of a new year when I'm thinking, OK -- What do I want to get done in YEAR X.  Then the urge to plan wears off and it's back to day-to-day blog writing, dog walking, and intermittent vacuuming.

I'm not much of a planner. The way I look at it, you never know what life may throw your way so it's always wiser to stay nimble and go with the flow.  Wasn't it Robert Burns who said, "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry."?  Or was that George Burns?

I didn't start 2009 with any intention to learn how to sew, nor 2010 with any plan to blog.  So what would be the point of saying, In 2011 I'm going to ________?

You're probably thinking, well, everybody has a plan of some sort and Peter is just not revealing his to us.  But I swear, I don't.  Actually, if you have plan -- for yourself or for me -- maybe you can share it with us here.

It's inevitable, since we do divide up time and live according to regular cycles, that we're going to reflect a bit this time of year and think about what's next.

I know there are a few things I would like not to do in 2011.  Maybe expressing them publicly will steel my resolve.  Or not.  Anyway, for what it's worth....

1.  No new sewing machines.   Or old sewing machines.  I was very good with the sewing machines last year.   Besides a serger, which I did need and use constantly, I purchased only four sewing machines (my Singer 15-91, 15-90, and 66 treadle, and my Pfaff 30) in 2010.  I received a fifth as a gift and found the sixth in the street.  But I sold eight (including the last two).  So I'm definitely moving in the right direction.



2.  No more luggage.  Somehow I have ended up with three (still) smelly pieces of American Tourister luggage and two Samsonite vanity cases and I'm not even particularly vain.  I got carried away, which is what somebody should do with these.





3.  No more piles.  I am pretty good about cleaning up after each project -- I have to be since I sew in the living room -- but things still tend to accumulate in corners.  I just put away a stack of self-drafted patterns I'd created in (eek) May, and only because we discarded the table it had been sitting on.  Maybe furniture disposal is the secret.

I also really need to edit Cathy's shoe and hat collection.  Half the shoes don't fit and she rarely wears a pair more than once anyway.  Once those shoots are over, she's back to her Dr. Scholl's exercise sandals.





Readers, have I forgotten anything? 

There are still a bunch of things I want to sell on Craigslist -- dishes, phones, a bike, a lamp -- but these can also go to a thrift store in the worst case.  Michael hates that bike, which I haven't ridden in four years.



Sometimes the Craigslist thing can be more trouble than it's worth, though, and you really just want the stuff out.

What do you do with an old coin collection?  I haven't collected coins since the Seventies but I don't know how to get rid of countless rolls of uncirculated pennies, proof sets, et al. that are sitting in a big plastic Rubbermaid box at the bottom of my closet.  (I hope that's not an invitation to burglary -- they're not particularly valuable -- though that might solve the problem.)

Meanwhile I am still toying with shirt ideas.  I was originally going to make a Western style shirt with my plaid flannel but am now leaning toward something more traditional, or maybe a princess seam version, we'll see.  Plaid is already busy enough without all those bias yokes and button plackets.



I made this the October before last and it gives me a headache.

Resolute readers, in closing, do you have goals for the new year?  Anything you're determined to accomplish come hell or high water?  How about an I will not --list?  What are you determined not to do in 2011?

Tell us all and perhaps we can not do it together.

Jump in!

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Peter speaks! The Pfaff 30 VIDEO

Happy New Year, friends!

I'd like to spend the first day of 2011 sharing my new vintage Pfaff 30 with you.  On this short video you'll hear the Pfaff -- and me -- in action, and see how she stitches.

I love this powerful German beauty and can't wait to sew my next project on her.  I have more detailed photos of the machine here.

Enjoy!




Any questions?  Just let me know.

Have a great day, everybody!

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