Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Happy Father's Day/Birthday Shirt!

I finished my dad's Hawaiian-style shirt yesterday, just in time for his trip to Hawaii.  I'm not going this year....Staying home to babysit the dogs.

I used this pattern again:

This time around I used a strange cotton fabric.  I say strange because it is coarser than gauze, but wrinkles like it.  The yarns are loosely woven and pretty thick, visible to the naked eye.  It is printed with some unbleachable black pigment, which was really good news as I had some laundry issues with the fabric.  When I bought it ($1/yd swapmeet find, of course) we also purchased some beautiful cotton sateens.  I decided since they were all light in color, I would wash them together.  BIG MISTAKE! One of the fabric pieces was cheap-o and bled its entire printed design onto everything else.  My dad's shirt material had light blue splotches all over it.  I washed it multiple times then decided to do a bleach test on a scrap of fabric.  It worked, the fabric was washed again with bleach, and it came out all shiny and new! Very soft too!

I was really busy with the last few weeks of school so I did not have time to make the shirt before his birthday.  Oh well, I had it finished a few days after Father's Day.  Enough of my chatting...here's the shirt:


 Oops.  Looks like my dad forgot to button the bottom button.  I made the same fitting adjustments as I did with the first.  I did not do the "burrito roll" method, but opted to follow the directions.  I only got confused by one part, the first step of attaching the the yoke facing.  The pictures were a little unclear, but I managed to put it together correctly.  I just recommend reading very carefully.

My dad being a goof ball:


And showing his muscles (He didn't have time to flex...my camera battery died at the beginning of the photoshoot and we were rushed).



I am pleased with the shirt and I think my dad likes it too.  I'm happy I followed the directions because  hand-sewing the yoke facing was really relaxing.


My dirdl is almost done.  Not loving, it but it was fast and really cheap! (Like $1.25 to make). I look too hippy in it, and I don't have any hips!  I think I'm going to make myself something else before I start on my sister's Michael Starr knock-off tops again. They are boring.  I want to make V1247.  I already have the fabric for the top and skirt picked out.

6 comments:

  1. Well done! The fabric is really interesting - casual but not no vivid. I'm planning to keep sewing menswear until my husband is presentable.

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  2. Whoa!! it HAS been a long day and I've lost the use of the English language. I meant not too vivid.

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  3. Great shirt, and your Dad obviously loves it!

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  4. What a great shirt! Your dad is totally rocking it, too! What fun!

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  5. Thank you for your comment! I find my chambray shirt to be so useful, and goes with just about everything. I'm sure you will find yours will become a wardrobe staple!

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  6. Dad looks very happy in his new vacation shirt!

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