I finally managed to snag some shots of Osiris wearing his Vogue 8889 shirt. It’s a little rumpled from being worn, but the man takes camera shy to a whole new level so I’ll take what I can get.
The fit through the shoulders is great. I took Kbenco’s experience to heart and downsized two sizes at the waist to get an actual slim, fitted shape (my husband’s chest-waist ratio is closer to the Misses’ pattern sizing than the mens). I should perhaps have been a little more thoughtful about how I did this—the way the pattern pieces are nested, the amount I removed at each seam wasn’t entirely even. But I like the overall look.
I knew (ok, guessed) from past experience that I would need to lengthen the sleeves. I added two inches, but one would’ve been plenty. Fortunately, Osiris, like me, has been scarred by a lifetime of too-short sleeves, so feels the longer, the better. I should’ve shortened the body, as well (like me, he’s all limb) and enlarged the collar, which is about an inch and a half small. I do wish more men’s shirt patterns had separate measurements given for the collar, as that’s an important fit-point and not hard to do. Or maybe it’s buried in there somewhere… I must admit I don’t find the Vogue patterns the easiest to parse. Anyway, all easy fixes for the next shirt, and he’s not the sort to ever button up his collar anyway.
I do so love those shoulder tucks, even if they are off-grain and so impossible to get perfectly smooth. The slightly rumpled look works well for this fabric, which is a thickish, textured cotton that I love to bits. It’s casual, and does rumpled well. I used a light-grey topstitching, and the method from the Colette Negroni instructions to do the flat-felling. The Vogue instructions were pretty terse.
I also kinda love the fold-over button placket for one reason: it makes it REALLY easy to figure out which side to do your buttonholes on!
Most importantly, Osiris seems to like the shirt even more than I do. He’s generally pretty good about wearing the shirts I’ve made him, as long as they meet his requirements (round collar, no pockets, long-enough sleeves), but this one is getting almost constant wear since it was finished. Of course, the fact that summer has finally arrived and it’s the perfect fabric to be both cool and covered and comfortable might have something to do with that, too…
Tanit-Isis Sews 