Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tuesday Tips: men's shirt

Today kicks off a new series here on ze blog, Tuesday Tips! The next few months will be pretty busy, with almost every weekend devoted to a cookout, party, or wedding. I still plan on one project a week, but any more than that and I might go a little nuts! Any less than that and I'll also go nuts!! Funny how sewing needs that perfect balance, no?

Today I want to share a few tips I learned while working on my husband's Negroni shirt, which I'll be showing off on Thursday.

The first tip is one I've read a bunch of times, but never got around to trying until now. After using it, I may never go back! Rather than buy a seam guide like this one you can use a piece of masking tape on your machine.


It's SO much easier than trying to eyeball where your seam should be sewn, or to see towards the back of the machine where the guides are on the throatplate. It's also easy enough to unstick and move as needed. The Negroni used many different seam allowances, and I found that using the tape forced me to be aware of what size seam I needed, rather than speeding around at 5/8" no matter what. I was able to be more precise as well.

The second tip is about collars, and it's one I learned the hard way on Simplicity 2447. Whether your collar has a collar stand, or is attached directly to the bodice, it may stretch out if you sew it on from one end to the other.

It's not exactly centered.

Instead, start sewing at center back and work your way out to one end. Then start again at center back and sew out to the other end. That way, if there is any stretching, it will (hopefully!) be uniform and each end will be balanced.


Do you have any tricks or tips for sewing button-up shirts? Leave them in the comments below!

Fold-over elastic on Pick Your Plum today! This is a great deal, so hurry before it's gone!

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