Man's button-up

After sewing up the last button-up for my husband, I got really excited to make another.  The process just wasn't as hard as I had envisioned and the final product actually got worn--a lot!  So, using what I had learned making the "wearable muslin", I got started on a plaid version, with this beautiful and perfect fabric from Britex.  However, even with a tested pattern in hand, new challenges awaited with loads and loads of plaid to manage (my tutorial is here at the Britex Fabrics blog, and will be posted here soon) and in the end, this version proved to be much more time consuming than the first.

As described in the previous post, this shirt has the bones of the Negroni pattern by Colette, with some modifications.  Instead of a camp collar, I went with a collar stand/ regular collar and a button placket.  The arms were reduced in width and length to make it slightly less informal and fit my skinny bicyclist husband better.

For the pockets, I used one of the free options provided by Colette Patterns and carried the notched design to the sleeve hem (a second tutorial is coming for those, too!).   See, he's pointing out the notches, so you don't miss them :)

Even though I wasn't brave enough to go all urban cowboy with diagonal plaids and whatnot, I just had to use pearl snaps, as a nod to the vintage-y feel of the fabric.  Snaps vs. buttons are almost a wash in terms of time spent and ease of application, but I felt a little more nervous with the first whack of the hammer than if I were sewing a button hole, since there's no going back after the snaps embed in the fabric.

I'm not convinced that they are the sturdiest things around, so of course at the instruction that he's not to rip his shirt off like a male stripper, my husband, of course, pretended to do so.  Thanks, babe!

Look at that all that plaid matching--so satisfying!

There are flat-felled seams throughout, even the armholes (possibly the most finicky bit of the whole shirt), so it's pretty on the inside, too. Honestly, I am so enamored with this shirt and my husband even wears it!  Win!

Upcoming: tutorials on plaid matching across a button placket and creating the notched pocket & sleeve details!