Butterick 5526 - My first attempt at a collared shirt.

I've been doing a little bedtime reading lately.  My book of choice; "Shirtmaking" by David Page Coffin. - "Developing skills for fine sewing".  I purchased this book many years ago with the intention of becoming a proficient shirt seamstress. ;)  When it arrived, I was a little shocked that someone could write a 173 page hardcover book entirely about sewing a shirt!  Is it really that difficult? Is there really that much to know?  I think I was a little put off by the expanse of information and decided to put the book and my shirt-making ideas aside.

Fast forward to 2014 - The year in which I challenge my sewing skills!  I have decided that it is time to read the book and sew a shirt.  So far I have only read Part One of the book, which includes the chapters "The Materials of Fine Shirts", "The Shirtmaker's tools" and "The Classic Shirt".  Let's just say that I am a little impatient and wanted to get started on my first shirt.  I probably should have read Part Two before starting because "Making Shirts Fit", "Developing a Basic Pattern" and "Collars, Plackets, Cuffs and Pockets" would most likely have been very useful chapters to have read before commencing!

 Anywho,...here is the pattern I chose to make.  Butterick 5526 and I chose view B but with the D length sleeves.  It is a basic shirt with no dart shaping or back yoke or even pockets!!  I could have chose to put some on but really I just wanted to see how I went with sewing a collar.

And I am happy to say that the collar posed no problems at all.  The issues I had were with the sleeve plackets!  I don't know what I did wrong (I will have to consult Part Two of my book) but they looked really weird.  Luckily for me I choose to wear my sleeves rolled up most of the time so no one should notice.  I used a shot cotton that I have forgotten the name of but it has a pink-green thread colour that you can see better in this close up photo.

In his book, David recommends that a light weight cotton be used for interfacing the collar and cuffs etc. instead of the iron-on interfacing.  I decided to take his advice and used a white cotton batiste that I basted to the appropriate pieces before construction.  I must admit, I think this gives a softer and nicer finish than iron on interfacing.  Yeay, I'm learning stuff!

I would like to mention here that I sewed both the shirt and the duffle coat from my previous post on this beautiful machine.  It's a knee-lever operated Singer 201 that I picked up for a steal at an auction and she sews beautifully!!  Forward and reverse straight stitch only, but she does this with such class and style.

As for the pattern.  I do think the collar is a little large and I think a little more shaping might be nice, but overall I'm pretty happy with my first attempt.