My wonderful husband, Michael, is always supportive of my endeavors. He never hesitates to drop what he’s doing on a Saturday afternoon to take photos of me for my latest blog post. I thought it fitting to invite him to be a guest model for Fresh Make #12. I made Michael a stylish, modern fitting shirt. Perfect for summer. The pattern I chose was Vogue 8759. I bought it on sale at JoAnn’s Fabrics for $4.99. (I can’t imagine that anyone would ever the $30.00 price tag printed on the envelope. As most of you probably know, Vogue patterns are always on “sale” for at least 40% off.)

I made the lower left view.

Once again the fabric was purchased on one of my trips to my favorite DTLA fabric store, Michael Levine. I bought 1 5/8 yards at 60″ wide and $6 per yard.

Michael is standing next to his favorite fig tree.

To attach the yoke facing by machine at the back, I rolled the shirt up inbetween the two yoke pieces with right sides facing together and stitched along the edge. This is not shown in the instructions. Please ask me if your actually interested in trying this technique. It’s easy. The instructions called for French seams. I cheated and just serged the edges together while trimming them to about 3/8 and then top stitching 1/4″ from the seam.

LET’S BE HONEST:
1. This pattern is labeled EASY. Which I guess is OK as long as one doesn’t assume that EASY means “beginner.” A pattern with a collar with a band is definitely not a beginner project and requires careful, slow sewing.

2. I made size 44 for Michael and it fits perfect. It is a “slimmer” fit. There is no room for shrinkage, so even though I prewashed the fabric, we’ll be our best to keep it out of the dryer. This pattern ranges from 34 to 46. I can’t imagine who would actually fit a 34 and I think there are probably a lot of men who would be sized out of this pattern.

3. I think this is a perfect men’s shirt pattern. I didn’t make any adjustments anywhere, and I did not find any odd surprises once I started construction. As is common for me, I didn’t follow the instructions exactly as I draw upon my knowledge if I see an easier way of doing something such as the machine yoke technique I mentioned above.

I thoroughly enjoy putting the attention on someone else, being the photographer instead of being the one photographed. This week, reviving a few techniques and sewing him stylish. As always, thanks for visiting my blog. I welcome your comments and would be happy provide more details on anything I’ve shown. Just ask!