Thursday, June 5, 2008

Yipes, Stripes

We went out last night (Ethiopian food with a group of 20 neighbors), so not much got done. When we got in, I sewed the shoulder seams, but that was about it. There's nothing like being prevented from working on a project to make you absolutely desperate to get at it.

Tonight I sewed the sleeves and pin-fit the body of the shirt. Mario was patient, probably because I didn't stick him with any pins this time. Side seams are now done, including the topstitching. Not that the topstitching shows, but I read my David Page Coffin, I know what I have to do.

The sleeve plackets are also attached, and the pleats basted down. The horizontally-striped plackets are my absolute favorite part of this shirt so far. My liking of the plackets made me re-cut the collar band - originally it was cut so that the stripes ran longways, with the collar, but I decided that the collar band also needed to be short stripes. I like it better this way, and it's not a part of the shirt that's really visible anyway.

Once again, though, I got a late start, so I ended up just sewing the collar and topstitching it, and then attaching the collar to the collar band. No way am I going to attempt a collar band any time after 10:00 p.m. I've learned from that mistake. More times than I care to remember.

Tomorrow night is going to be quiet; after we make dinner, I'm retiring to the back room to wrestle with the collar and maybe, just maybe, interface and attach the cuffs. Did I mention the cuffs? Did I mention that since the sleeves were cut on the straight grain, I felt the need to cut the cuffs on the bias? Did I mention it takes a brave and wonderful man to wear a shirt like this?

Before I meandered my way out to the computer, I sifted through the button stash. I knew that despite having the accumulated button stash of the ages, I wouldn't have anything exactly right for this shirt, but I was looking for a color match more than anything. I found two - a mid-range lilac and a light gold. The gold is kind of scary, but scary in a good way. I like it with the yellow stripes (which are just not as visible in photographs as I would like), and the lilac is pretty. Maybe a little safe, but probably the best choice in the long run.

3 comments:

Elaray said...

As my grandfather used to say, that's a "snazzy" shirt! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Dawn said...

WOW. I am so going to love this shirt when it is done. I am loving already. I love bias/diagonals with stripes.

Claire said...

OMG!!! This shirt is going to be a knockout. I too cannot wait to see it finished. I think it looks better than the shirt in Paris.