Friday, August 9, 2013

My first men's shirt - Kwik Sew 3484

So I went shopping with my husband for a some clothes for our wedding last week.  We did a City Hall ceremony then out to dinner.  He wears a 2XL and I was suprised by the lack of choices he had to choose from.  He did buy a nice black shirt but it was so low in the armscyes, he felt restricted.  I looked at the shirt and thought, "Shoot, I can make one that fits you!"  I have the same issue with armscye depth accounting for my bust size.  I just usually cut a smaller size through the shoulders than the rest of the shirt.  So, I starting looking for men's shirt patterns.  There are actually quite a few to choose from.  I seriously considered the Colette Negroni, which I may still purchase.  But ended up going with the Kwik Sew 3484.  He prefers a collar without a stand and I don't blame him.  I don't like stand collars on myself either.  I know they look more "finished" but they annoy me.

So I went to Hancock's, bought the pattern along with another one to try later and grabbed some greenish blue linen blend off the sale table to give this a shot.  After washing the fabric 5 times and drying it, including rinsing with vinegar a couple times, it was still rough.  He said go ahead and use it but in my opinion if it's uncomfortable what's the point.  I rooted around in my stash and found a couple pieces of stretch broadcloth in a blue and one in red.  He choose View B in the blue with the red stripe and accents.

I took his measurements and flat measured a shirt he likes and decided on sewing the 2XL everywhere except the shoulds which are an XL.  I think it fits him pretty well.


He swears he likes it!  He kept joking about The Cosby Show episode where Denise makes a shirt for Theo!  Hahaha ;-)  He did take it with him this weekend to wear at his daughter's dance festival.

I enjoyed making it.  The instructions were good.  As usual, I tend to skip around on instructions which always bites me in the backside.  Next time I will be better.  I think a beginner could make this easily!

Great shirt!  It was fun to sew for him and he was very appreciative.