I’ve had a mad hankering to sew up some clothes that require detailed work, like sleeve plackets and collars. My husband was willing to let me fiddle with numerous long sleeved shirt patterns and use him as a mannequin, for the greater good of well made men’s shirts.
Luckily, right when I was looking into sewing men’s shirts, Vogue released a new line with Vogue 9220. It includes 3 different button up variations, including a slim fit (version C). I initially made up version C as a working muslin, but didn’t like how it fit on him. So it went into the WIP bucket, and I started on version A in a nice, scarecrow-looking flannel I picked up at S.R. Harris in Minneapolis.
This version sewed up with ease, and I was proud of my pattern matching and placket construction. And, it fits him wonderful! He’s on the short side, so I shortened the sleeves and torso by 2 inches and that corrected the length issue I saw from the version A muslin. I also added 1.5 inches to the back of the shirt, so that I could do the center box pleat and make it look more RTW. I enjoy the small details in this shirt, like the triangles that insert between the curved hem, and the two sets of buttons on the cuffs.
I followed the directions and did fully flat-felled seams throughout the garment, but in the future will likely just serge the seams together and sew them down, as a pseudo-flat-felling finish. When flat-felling the whole garment, intersection of seams under the armpit becomes bulky and difficult to evenly stitch through. To manage this, I used a Jean-a-ma-jig to evenly feed the fabric through and it worked like a charm! Definitely an improvement from my jagged, skipped stitches when I previously had tried to force it through the machine.
I’m very happy with this shirt, and so is Ian. It’s in his regular button up rotation now, has been asking me to make more in various novelty fabrics (he really wants a Cthulhu shirt), which I plan on! There’s something therapeutic about diving into a detailed pattern and having all the hard work pay off in the end, by having a well-made garment that will last longer than most RTW.