colette patterns | oliversfancy

Update: We had family pictures taken this week and got them back much sooner than I anticipated so I got permission from our photographer (check them out here!) to use these pictures for the blog post. Why not take advantage of having a professional shoot the shirt, right? So deleted the pictures that I took and put in these. Enjoy some great pics…and I might have thrown in a few extra just because they turned out so good! 🙂 Which is a miracle considering the antics that Oliver was pulling during the shoot.One of my goals for Easter this year was to have each of the 4 of us in something handmade. I’m not sure why I had this in my head, but I just thought it would be something special. I already had my Easter dress made several weeks ago, and I cheated a bit with Eliot because he fit into Oliver’s handmade vest from his first Easter. I knew I would be making the Hosh pants for Oliver, so that just left Ian as the final one who needed something.

I had promised him another dress shirt after I made his first Negroni button down for our anniversary last year. He really wanted a version with a button placket and traditional collar. I picked up this navy and white pinstripe shirting at Joann. It is such a nice weight for the shirt! c2014jacphotography-crook009

The shirt construction was fairly easy because I had done it before. Pattern is the Negroni available here. Thankfully the size M fits Ian perfectly so I didn’t need to do any pattern alterations. I followed this tutorial for the button placket. The only change I made is that I interfaced the button plackets. c2014jacphotography-crook024

I continued along in the tutorial to attach the yoke to the shirt body and draft the collar and collar stand. Unfortunately my brain stopped working during the “burrito” part of the yoke attaching and I had to seam rip and reattach like 3 times…grrr…grumbledy, grumbledy, blerg. Once I finally got that down, the rest of the shirt was super easy.

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I used another of Ian’s shirts as a template to draft the collar and was v. proud of myself when it worked perfectly. Still cannot believe my luck on that one! Might be in danger of getting a big head. 😉

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I cut the pockets on the bias to add a little interest. FYI my walking foot was a life-saver here to keep the bias-cut fabric from stretching out of control during construction! Contrast facings are a joel dewberry plaid that Ian picked out. I love the little pop that they add to the shirt.

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All in all, it was a very successful sewing experience and I already have requests for several more shirts! Got quite a bit to get done before that happens though so don’t hold your breath to see any more anytime soon. I am pretty happy with myself that I finished a project for Ian on time! I am so bad about his projects that I tend to get them done months after I said I would. I may or may not have been completing the buttons on this shirt at 11:00 Saturday night, but hey, I made my deadline! 🙂 And below are a few more pictures for any who wish to view…feel free to not scroll down if you’re sick of us already!

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.