I am SO PROUD of this shirt! I cannot believe I actually sewed a men’s button-down shirt and it hasn’t fallen apart yet! Several years ago I promised my hubs I would make him a button down shirt after seeing Rae’s version of the Negroni for her husband. But it wasn’t the top project on my list and kept getting bumped for other things. Every now and then, he would remind me about my promise, and I would make note of it and then completely forget about it. July 18th was our 5 year anniversary, and I really wanted to do something special for Ian since he has been such a huge help during and after this difficult pregnancy. I am well known for deciding such big things right before the occasion comes up and then never finishing said project. But this time I determined it would be different! And it was; I actually had a semi-finished shirt for Ian to try on for our anniversary day. The best thing was that this shirt was a complete surprise for him!

Pattern: Negroni by Colette Patterns. 2 thumbs up for the pattern! The shirt came together so much easier than I had anticipated. Only hard part were the cuffs which I had to redo several times because I made some mistakes and didn’t understand directions. Also I put one of the cuff plackets on the wrong side so one placket is facing the inside of the sleeve and the other faces the outside but no one notices this so it’s not a big deal.

Material used: a shot cotton I picked up at a fabric sale for super cheap a while back. This was my “wearable muslin.” This fabric works great for the pattern and I’m already planning on making another one in a dark green shot cotton. However, I must tell you, just like my Ruby Top, I ironed the shirt before our photo shoot and it’s still wrinkled. Ian doesn’t mind the wrinkled look, but if your husband is picky about that you may want to consider using a different fabric.

Other notes: I used one of Ian’s dress shirts as a size guide, and he happens to be a perfect medium! The shirt fit great with no needed alterations. Next time I think I will try to install a traditional collar rather than the camp style collar but every thing else I will keep the same. I found some tutorials on the traditional collar insertion so I will read up on those before I attempt it.