The quest for perfection: or just another button-down

On February 6, 2018July 12, 2018 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized2 Comments

Pattern: Granville shirt by Sewaholic

Skills acquired:

Flat-felled arms
~~Patience~~

It’s gonna be different this time.

Or at least that is what I told myself when I purchased yet another 3 yards of plaid flannel. I wanted to make another flannel shirt, one that I could be proud of. I had made 2 before that were okay but had some obvious imperfections. This time I was going to do it right – I was going to practice the techniques making a muslin with some cheaper fabric and make sure I knew what I was doing before I stitched into the flannel. I used the Granville shirt pattern from Sewaholic since I had really liked the fit on the flannel shirt I attempted before. I made it a size smaller since I wanted a more fitted look and I had obviously made it too large last time.

What I really wanted to accomplish was flat-felled seams on the whole shirt. I had tried this with the first shirt, but I found it difficult when installing the arms in the arm hole. It got a bit messy. When I attempted it on the second shirt, it looked so bad that I just unpicked it and sewed them in using my serger, abandoning the whole flat-felled looked for the arms. I cheated. This time, I wanted to get it right so I asked someone I knew who had successfully done this on a flannel shirt of her own. She directed me to this online tutorial. Aha! It all made sense now.

It had been a long time since I had made a real button-down shirt, so I had to re-learn a few things, which made me glad I had this practice fabric. One of those techniques Continue reading “The quest for perfection: or just another button-down” →

The flannel shirt A/B test

On March 18, 2016April 21, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized4 Comments

Pattern: Grainline Studio Archer shirt

A/B testing is kind of my thing. I did this a lot at my former job and it’s always exciting to me when I get real results from an idea or theory. I’m a total nerd for data. Back when I was just toying with the idea of making a flannel shirt I had bought two different independent shirt patterns and couldn’t decide which one to use.

I did some initial reading up on both patterns, and made the decision to start with the Sewaholic Granville shirt because the pattern was designed for pear-shaped bodies (like mine). I liked the result, shown in my previous post, but I couldn’t help but wonder how the shirt would look using the other pattern. Well, the only way to know for sure is to test it out.

Hypothesis: The Sewaholic Granville shirt pattern is the better pattern for making a plaid flannel shirt

Now this obviously cannot be a real A/B test since there are a lot of factors in this test that make it imperfect and not scientific. We all know that the first attempt at something has the most learning curve and so some techniques that were new to me when making the Granville shirt, were more familiar when making the Archer shirt. Also the material I used for the Archer shirt was a lot cheaper, in price and quality, so the overall result would be slightly different no matter what. There is no way to hold all conditions equal for this experiment, but I decided to still test out the following parameters:

Ease of pattern directions
Garment details
Overall fit and look

Ease of Pattern Directions

Both patterns have clear directions that could help anyone making their first button-down shirt. The drawings are all well done and precise. I did find it strange that the Grainline pattern didn’t specify which drawing referred to the interfacing cutting layout. There is Continue reading “The flannel shirt A/B test” →

Anti-fashion in a new age: the improved flannel shirt

On August 10, 2015August 22, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects6 Comments

Pattern: Sewaholic Granville shirt (1501)

New skills acquired

Plackets
Collar & collar stand
Flat-felled seams

I grew up in the 90’s. This was the decade where I awkwardly lived out my teen years and a few young adult years as well. Say what you will about the grunge music movement, but for a self-conscious pre-teen who had spent most of her childhood bullied mercilessly, that music felt like ecstasy inside my head. I remember spending many hours listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind over and over to try to numb my pain. And I actually spent an entire family vacation to Arizona with the Pearl Jam Vs. album constantly pumping into my ears. People say that music was depressing, but life can be depressing when you become a teenager. The music mirrored all my thoughts and feelings about growing up and trying to find my place in a world that didn’t seem to want me. And the flannel! Flannel shirts were the style – a part of the anti-fashion movement that was sweeping the country. We were no longer going to spend money on brand names and store logos. We would look in thrift shops and re-purpose old clothes from our parents. It was casual and comfortable and a way to rebel against corporations.

I miss my flannel shirts.

Anyways, this fashion craze was all finished when I went on to college. Continue reading “Anti-fashion in a new age: the improved flannel shirt” →