I think DH has been waiting for a shirt from me for a while now. He never asks for anything custom made, I find shirts with a missing button appear in my sewing room from time to time, or a tie that needs mending, but he never asks for new clothes. His eyes sparkled when he saw the fabric I chose for his shirt because he loves to travel, he loves to plan travel and is always ready to do a BBQ.
So I then chose an easy shirt style (Simplicity 5581) that I know DH would wear. Sewsewboy on PR has done many of these shirts in some amazing prints.
I did buy extra fabric to see if I could match the patterns but this didn’t happen. The patch pocket was not going to work so I ended up opting to put a welt pocket onto this shirt.
The main pattern adjustment was shirt length and as I’ve now seen this pattern is quiet full so next shirt will be small and not medium. Sewsewboy mentioned this in his pattern review.
As my friend Alison (Goosegreen) knows, it’s very difficult to match aqua fabric let alone get the matching thread. She kindly gave me the aqua linen piece I needed for this pocket. The aqua welt stands out and DH loves it. I’ve reinforced this pocket throughout construction and also finished the pocket edges with a single fold and tight zigzag stitching. Using Sandra Betzina’s Power Sewing book and having Angie Zimmerman’s guidance at her Sydney workshop helped me get this pocket detail right.
White thread and covered buttons are this shirt’s finishing details. I’ve also used armoweft for the interfacing and flat felled seams because this shirt will need as much reinforcing as possible because it’s a bloke’s shirt. DH asked for wooden buttons that I’ll now start looking for.
At some point, I’ll attempt the shorts when I do some more research on sewing for men. What have I created? I think DH loves this shirt.
I’ll also add single welt pockets to the Minoru jacket that I’ve finally cut out after 10 hours of muslim and adjusting the sleeves and collar fit. It’s been ages since I’ve done welt pockets so like fly fronts, the more you do, the easier the result.
