I am so fortunate to come from a long line of seamstresses. When I decided to be more intentional about developing my sewing skills this year I new one of the things I wanted to learn was how to sew a button up shirt. In addition to learning how to sew a button stand, collar and collar stand, and placket, a button up shirt is something I wear to work often and would be a great addition to my me-made wardrobe.
After spending a small amount of time searching the sewing community's social media I learned about Sewaholic's Granville shirt pattern, which always came with rave reviews, so I added it to my 2018 Make Nine goals. However, I wasn't confident enough to begin this project on my own so I coordinated a weekend sewing extravaganza with my mom and her sister, my Aunt Karen. These two women are my sewing gurus and I learned a lot from them while making this wearable muslin.
After laying out all of my pattern pieces I realized that I didn't have enough material to make a long sleeved sample so instead I settled for a short sleeved version and will probably still need to practice a placket before I make a final version. In fact, I had so little fabric my mom had to dig up a contrasting from her stash for the collar stand, which turned out to be one of my favorite parts of this shirt!
After reading the pattern back and having a brief tissue fitting with my mom I decided to cut out a size two, carefully folding pattern pieces in case that wasn't my final and correct size. The pattern and instructions were fairly easy to understand and I loved the option of a current style and fit in the traditional format of a tissue pattern with printed paper instructions. However, my one major difficulty with this pattern was the length of the collar stand piece. Between the three of us we just couldn't figure out why it seemed so long, even after pulling out a button up shirt Grandma had made years ago to compare and searching other maker blogs. Eventually I decided to cut off 5/8" from one end of the collar stand, since I was working on a muslin, and the assembly went much smoother from there.
My mom and Aunt Karen were taught to attach the collar to the collar stand before attaching the collar stand to the shirt. I decided to stick with the pattern instructions for my first time using this pattern and attached the collar stand to the shirt, topstitching a portion of the collar in place. I think the method I used from Sewaholic's pattern could make a weak pivot point in the collar and will likely try Mom and Aunt Karen's method next time I make this pattern. One additional tip I learned from Aunt Karen was to put the interfacing inside or on the bottom when possible in case it were to bubble.
As I said above, I ended up making a size two, which fit well throughout the waist and hips, but was far too tight in the shoulders and arms. When I make this pattern again I will make a size four and grade down to a size two for the waist and hips.
I was so glad to have the lightweight red and white button up made in time for Independence Day and wore it a lot that whole week!
In addition to the fabulous family time sewing this shirt I was blessed to have my sister photographing its assembly as well as the final product. Pictured below, my modeling my new make over family vacation in Cincinnati.
Stay tuned for my long sleeved gingham version this fall!
Time estimate: 20 hours
Size: 2
Material used: assumed printed cotton blend, gifted from family friend
Care instructions: machine wash cold, tumble dry low
Cost to make shirt:
pattern - $25
fabric - gifted
buttons and thread from my stash
TOTAL: $25
Photography by K.Willerick Photography. Go check out her site!
