happy birthday ben!

It's done! I gave Ben his birthday present yesterday and I think he liked it...


I had so much fun making this. I learned a lot. A few things:

• I don't like interfacing. The pattern instructed me to use interfacing in the button band, collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps. Uh, I'm not making a tuxedo shirt here, so I made it without interfacing.


• This pattern was somewhat of a 90's Zach Morris-style shirt (you know, kind of bloused and baggy - blech. Although, I imagine the hipsters might start rocking this style now that we've evolved to a 90's revival - which other than Zach Morris, I love. I'm psyched about the rebirth of flannel shirts and Doc Martens.) Anyways, so I narrowed the body (front pieces 12" wide w/seam allowances, and the back was 23.5" w/seam allowances). I made the pockets smaller, and placed them higher and closer together, and changed the shape of the front yoke and made it smaller. I also narrowed the sleeves a lot and took out the pleats.


• For some reason, the size M collar did not seem to fit. I used a S collar and collar stand and that seemed to work.


• I shortened the hem about 1.5"

If I made this again (which I think I will), I would cut the S pattern pieces for a M, I would make the back yoke from one single piece, and I would sew the tag in before stitching the collar on:
More pictures! What a handsome model.

I have to say, I truly cannot stand blogspot and how difficult it is to adjust the layout of text and pictures. I have to investigate other options.