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Mr. Toad's New Shirt--Jalie 2111 |
It’s done. It’s finally done. Mr. Toad has a new shirt. He has a new plaid flannel shirt.
Did I mention that it is a large asymmetrical plaid? With a skewed grain?
Did I mention that almost every step had to be ripped out and resewn? ugh.
Normally,
I like to sew plaids. I know. I’m weird. I get a sense of
accomplishment when I match the plaids. I also think there are amazingly
easy to line up the grain. Normally.
This
flannel skewed. I washed it. I ironed it. I pulled it. And pulled it. I
probably should have abandoned it. This is a Joann’s fabric and I have
had problems with their plaids skewing before, but this was a hot mess.
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Yoke placed on the diagonal |
I
have to say that I did not choose this one. I'll blame it on Middle
Son. I let him choose the fabric.
He thought it looked like something Mr. Toad
would like. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but time was getting
in the way. I did get it started before Christmas. Does that count for
something?
I
have been working on this shirt off and on since mid-December. I put it
aside because I didn’t want to rush it. But it became one of those
projects that was antagonizing and mocking me.
First,
I made 2 front pockets instead of 1 and added flaps. No real problems,
but matching the plaid that didn’t want to stay straight was just
frustrating.
Then,
I used the yoke for my 12 year old’s pattern instead of the one for Mr.
Toad. I was really baffled that the front pieces wouldn’t match up with
the yoke. So, I ripped that out.
Then
I put one of the sleeves on inside out. Oh, I also didn’t put the
plackets on before attaching the sleeves. But that worked out because I
had to shorten the sleeve, and needed to recut the plackets
because the plaid wouldn’t line up. But I needed to recut the plackets anyways
because our dog, Bugg, stole one and used it as a chew toy. So, it
worked out.
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Redone and matched sleeve plackets |
These are the major issues. I did silly things like managing to catch loose fabric in the stitches, letting the buttonhole guide slide off the fabric, twice. I ripped the stitches out twice.
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One of my Christmas gifts--A buttonhole cutter--Awesome! |
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This is already cut |
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Buttonhole tool made a super clean cut! |
Now that I am done I can appreciate how well this has come out. After all of the frustration and reworking, the plaids mostly lined up. The inside and outside of both the collar and collar bands are lined up together. The yoke was centered diagonally. The collar and collar band lined up with the pleat in the center back.
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Collar and collar band matched |
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Sleeve placket |
I really like Jalie 2111. It is now out of print. I actually emailed them when they were removing it and a pair of mens/boys pants that I have used. They responded that they were planning to replace them with a more current style. How many men wear current styles?
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Collar, collar band and back matched |
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Pocket flaps added and placed diagonally |
To accommodate his height, I make his size based on his chest measurement and lengthen two inches in the torso and an inch in the sleeve.
I don't follow the Jalie patterns. Instead, I follow the directions that David Coffin uses in his book Shirtmaking: Developing Skills For Fine Sewing
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The shirt looks better in person. He really doesn't like posing for pictures, but knows that is the cost of a new shirt.
Tomorrow, I get back to the little white dress and the hopefully muslin the blouse for the free Marfy pattern sew-a-long.
Read the review on PatternReview.comPatternReview.com
Despite the bumpy road, the shirt looks great!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Mr. Toad seems to like it. I always learn something, often about myself, on the bumpy roads.
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