Friday, March 11, 2011

Ottobre 06/2010-28 - the "Abbey Lane" shirt

The first (of seven!!) piece of my Easter sewing is ready!
This is Logan's man shirt.  The pattern is Ottobre 06/2010-28, which Ottobre calls the Abbey Lane shirt.  It is a basic menswear styled shirt, but without the full collar, giving it a mandarin style neckline. It was designed for a checked fabric, so all of the accent pieces, pockets, band, cuffs and yoke, are cut on the bias.  I love that this style included real sleeve plackets as opposed to a continuous lap style cuff.  The fabric is a yarn dyed gingham from fabric.com.
I LOVE a real menswear placket on a wee man shirt!  It just makes me happy.  Ottobre's instructions for putting in the placket are excellent.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the Kwik Sew instructions compare when I sew Mitch's shirt.  You may also notice that I used pearl snaps as the closure rather than buttons.  I had several motives for this.  The first was that this is our last few months in Texas, and I wanted my boys to have cowboy shirts!  Don't be too surprised if a more western style shirt with a front yoke appears soon...  I also recently got a new snap press from Sew Baby, and wanted to try it out.  It was great!  I usually end up taking out half of the snaps I put in.  They get misaligned or bent.  The only snap I had to pull out this time was  the one I installed backwards.  I love snaps on kids clothes, so I'm really excited to have a snap installing tool that really works!
The only other change I made from the pattern was to line the yoke.  I much prefer this finish, and I think it gives the shoulders of the shirt a firmer, more tailored look.  Next up will be Duncan's shirt.  I'm starting to feel pretty comfortable in the realm of man style shirts.  All the details that I used to think were fussy and difficult are starting to be fun.  I particularly love flipping the yoke and having all the seams just disappear inside.  It's like magic!

13 comments:

gwensews said...

That's a terrific man-shirt for your little boy! He will be very handsome in his Easter duds.

Cindy said...

It's darling! I really like all the details on the shirt. I'm hoping to get started on Easter sewing next week.

Sam Rose said...

I think I have snap envy. That is a great shirt!

Sascha said...

You are amazing. I wish I could sew half as well as you. Thanks for the snap link. I love using snaps but they always turn out wonky with my crappy snap press. I'll have to try it out. I have it in my mind to make a western shirt for Vinny for the Rodeo this year. We'll see if it happens since I planned to make him one last year and never did.

Where are you moving?

Joy said...

Yay for real plackets! They're a mental puzzle, but I'm not sure they're harder to sew than the "cheater" plackets.

This shirt looks fantastic in gingham and those snaps.

MushyWear said...

Excellent job on this. It turned out so adorable and I love the snaps too.

Ruth said...

Very nice!

Myrna said...

What a lot of work you put into that shirt. Beautiful job.

Julia said...

I love this shirt. The mandarin collar is great!!!! I also like to line the yoke. I really can't imagine not lining it! The real plackets are great. I'll have to do that next time. I've used the continuous lap myself. You are inspiring. I also love the snaps. I need a new snap putting-in tool. Mine is ancient and I never use it.

Beth said...

I love it!!!! Great details . . ! The fabric, the bias cut pieces, the snaps.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

This is darling! And incredibly well made. I've been wanting a snap press for a while, though I won't put in enough snaps to justify it. But still. I want one.

Heather said...

Perfect!!! This looks fantastic! I love the lined yoke too.

amber said...

What a great shirt! I particularly like the mandarin collar.