A Shirt for DS - Kwik Sew 3422

I took pictures of the construction process for this shirt, but for some reason this is the only one I have on my camera.

This is a great pattern. I have not made a man's dress shirt in a very long time. I really enjoyed the process. We chose View A, with long sleeves.

My son is tall and slim, long arms, long torso, and smallish neck. If we find one long enough in RTW, it is huge everywhere else. Most of the dress shirts he owns he could button at the sides seams. I've tried adding darts, but that just does not work. We can not find a shirt that fits properly without spending an arm and a leg. He will be looking for a day job soon, and really just needs dress shirts that look and fit well.

The fabric is a cotton/lycra blend with just a little bit of stretch. It was a clearance fabric. I have several nice cottons, but wanted to be sure we liked this pattern before cutting into the good stuff.

This pattern went together very well. I did make a few alterations for fit. I lengthen the pattern by two inches, next time only need an inch and a half. I lengthen the sleeves by 2.5", which was perfect . I cut a neck size of 16 1/2". He actually needs a 16, so I chose to go with 16.5 instead of 15.5 which are the pattern options. I'll try to cut down the neck size next time. I just didn't think that half an inch would make that much difference. I love that you can use any neck size with any body size. He probably won't wear a tie with this one, so it's not a problem this time. I need to find a better interfacing. Lately, I'm just not happy with what's available here and need to find a good source online.

The Kwik Sew shirt patterns for men that I have, only have a 1/4" seam allowance, so I stitched, and serged the seams and then topstitched. I really would like to make shirts that have flat- felled seams for a more custom made dress shirt, but since this shirts fits so well, I think I'll continuing using it for his casual ones - or I'll add to the seam allowances at the shoulders, side seams, and shirt seams to get the finished look I want.

The only real change I will make for future shirts made in this pattern will be the sleeve placket. I did not like the way Kwik Sew designed it. I will use David Page Coffin's method next time. His book "Shirtmaking Techniques" is invaluable. I did sandwich the shirt in the yoke as he described and will plan ahead to use some of the other techniques in future shirts. I also have his Shirtmaking DVD. If you plan to make the men in your life shirts, I highly recommend the book!

Other than the neck being a little loose, the shirt fits him perfectly! He is so pleased. I was going to try to make shirts for the Pattern Review Sewing for Men Contest, but too many Holiday activities got in the way. I have several pieces of fabric, some from my stash and some that I bought during all the Holiday sales, so he will be getting more shirts as I have time to make them.