Shirts and Scarlett

Miss Scarlett and I were on our own this weekend with her parents away at a wedding and my better half still in the land of the midnight sun (but back the end of the week).


This morning I am considering my sewing life and drinking a quiet coffee after an action packed few days.

Here she is in a toy stroller with Pinky Bear. It turns out it was Pinky's weekend to get toilet trained so he spent a far amount of time being fished out of the toilet, washed and then blow dried. He is making some progress but apparently not enough. Day two we had to put him back in diapers. (By the way those are pen marks on her arm - we move fast when Babs is on the phone.)


Miss Scarlett really is our girl and a bit of a conversationalist. When I went to get her up after a nap on Saturday she took one look at me and said "Nice dress Babs, did you make it yourself?" This kid and I will have a lot to talk about.


I spent my evenings doing semi-horizontal knitting and nap times making shirts.


I have two going for the on his way to NYC son. I made him one a year ago and his comment was that the collar was weird and so I have delayed trying another one while I thought about that.


We talked about it last visit and it turns out he was sort of waiting for more shirts and that I had "nailed the fit" and really all the collar needed was a tiny bit shaved off and a place for collar stays.


Being female I don't have a lot of collar stay experience but can see now that they are a good idea. Hold the points up but don't require crazy heavy interfacing.


Gigi has a great tutorial on a really easy collar stay method that doesn't use buttonholes and I did that and am super pleased with the results:

This is what the underside of the collar looks like with the collar stay patch on it - I am making a striped and a plain blue shirt but thought the striped showed best how the grain goes.


Of course I didn't get the stripes matched - the collar has shape and the stay is folded on grain - not that I tried very hard, since this is on the underside.


I also revived a memory of how to do the shirt pocket hem:


1. Fold the top hem allowance to the inside.
2. Fold it down again.
3. Stitch through all layers along the fold 1/4."
4. From the right side press the fold down.

Now I know this shirt fits I am very much enjoying the zen of this sewing project. The details are so precise and clean and classic. The cotton presses so nicely. 


Men's sewing is so different. All the fit fussing just isn't there. This makes me think for the upteempth time that male dress, collar stand shirts, blazer type jackets and pants with flys, are really not natural garments on the female body and a lot of work to get to fit. Tell me what is less stress to sew? A dress or a fitted jacket?


While I was sewing these shirts I was reminded of how much I enjoy sewing machines. That straight stitch plate makes all the difference to being able to top stitch around collars without losing a stitch or packing them up at the corners.


Quite a few years ago I did some part-time work for some sewing machine companies as an educator. It was a bit of an indulgence and something I gave up when work got really busy. It was so much fun though. One of the best things I did was was when one of the companies send me their complete line and I wrote sort of demo guides for them comparing and emphasizing features.


Can you imagine how great it was to have all those machines to test and play with? I am a bit wistful about that. I would love to have machines to review - there are so many new features out there and cruising the net over the weekend I wondered to myself how would anyone ever figure out what suited them? It's all pretty overwhelming.


I wonder if I contacted a few of the companies what would happen?

Never too many white shirts

Thanks for all the great feedback yesterday. 


There were a couple of things I would like to respond to over the next few days, but what I most interested me was that the idea of sewing a multitude of white shirts resonated.


It is always nice to know, when you suspect you have lost it, that aren't the only one.


I have been thinking this over and these are my reasons for my own white shirt mission (feel free to sew-along if you want-send me your link and I will post it here if you want) and white shirt thoughts in general, if I am missing anything let me know.


Ten reasons to sew ten white shirts:


1. Who ever looked a a white shirt in her closet and said "damn I don't have anything to wear with this"?


2. These are true wearable muslins. A white shirt allows a sewer to focus on technique and fit - and what you learn on these shirts/blouses can be transferred to other fabric.


3. In what other garment can you make many things from the exact same fabric? Multiple white shirts are cost effective, yardage, and notions saving.


4. You can wear a white shirt year round. Under a vest or cardigan in winter; as a sun cover suit in summer.


5. They don't really ever go out of style - unless the details are really crazy - but I would argue the white shirtedness extends shelf life.


6. They use classic fabrics, some of which you don't sew with any more. Pique, voile, swiss dot, broadcloth, oxford cloth, pima cotton, kona cotton. There is a bit of retro sewing process going on here,


7. The majority of white shirts are cotton. Easy to press and to sew. Plus you get that great satisfying steam coming off of the cotton - a cultural experience. Our culture.


8. It is easy to add details to a TNT - get a great fitting body and cuffs, sleeves, collars can be interchanged - in fact a lot of the patterns provide this in the envelope.


9. These are the ultimate snappy garment. Wear a white shirt when you are tired, crabby, or feeling sort of half-assed and it will make your appearance at least, looked perked up. There is occasional need in my life for this.


10. No one ever regrets the time spent on sewing a white shirt.


What are my standards going to be for sewing this self-challenge, and I guess for you if you are also feeling the urge:


1. I am starting November 1st. I need a week to think.


2. I am finishing when I am done. Feel free to go as far along with this is you want - if three white shirts is all you can face - well that's probably a sensible decision.


3. I will not do this straight, since I am a sewer much distracted by the bright shiny object. I will sew other things as I see the need between WS. See rule 2, this shouldn't be a problem.


4. I will use a variety of fabrics if I feel like it, as long as it is white.


5. I will make each shirt, or blouse, in some ways, different, reserving the right to carry forward techniques or details I like, in the interest of quality development. 


The object here is to explore the idea that limitations nurture creativity - I am not going to be mass producing 10 identical shirts - I don't sew like a factory and I don't sew in a factory.


My intention is to fully explore The White Shirt.


Any one else interested?