Show your stripes
Shopping for fabric with Marcy is always fun and we’ve found such a fabulous variety of stripes that I knew I had to sew something. A person can never have too many shirts in their closet, especially striped shirts! Some of mine are soon-to-be rags but I can’t let them go just yet.
Combining stripes is on trend now and I’m loving it. For this shirt, using my Butterick 6521 triple collar shacket, I chose three gray and white stripes in varying widths, combined with a bolder pink/white/gray. It used about a yard of each of the stripes and had more left over on the pink. Cutting things on the bias requires more fabric.
Speaking of cutting on the bias — with tightly woven shirting fabric I don’t worry about bias and I treat it as if it were on grain. Pre-treat with a gentle wash and dry and touch up with an iron before proceeding.
The pattern is laid out on my cutting table, looking at the fronts first. For me, this is one of the most fun parts of the process. I wanted more gray/white than pink and I wanted more vertical movement than horizontal which helped in my design process. I tape small pieces of the stripe I’m going to use on each pattern piece, noting if it’s to be cut on the lengthwise/crossgrain/bias and make sure to draw the bias grain line and noting the direction the stripe is to go.
After the front is ready I decide how to lay out the back. I look at the direction of the stripes and how they relate at the side seams. This helps make the sleeve fabric decisions. I’m in the habit of adding simple fold back ‘cuffs’ to all my shirts because it gives the option for a longer sleeve.
I save the collar decisions until the jacket is almost finished. The collar pieces are interfaced because I like to wear my collar up. For a softer look you can eliminate the interfacing in the collars.
Combining stripes is on trend now and I’m loving it. For this shirt, using my Butterick 6521 triple collar shacket, I chose three gray and white stripes in varying widths, combined with a bolder pink/white/gray. It used about a yard of each of the stripes and had more left over on the pink. Cutting things on the bias requires more fabric.
Speaking of cutting on the bias — with tightly woven shirting fabric I don’t worry about bias and I treat it as if it were on grain. Pre-treat with a gentle wash and dry and touch up with an iron before proceeding.
The pattern is laid out on my cutting table, looking at the fronts first. For me, this is one of the most fun parts of the process. I wanted more gray/white than pink and I wanted more vertical movement than horizontal which helped in my design process. I tape small pieces of the stripe I’m going to use on each pattern piece, noting if it’s to be cut on the lengthwise/crossgrain/bias and make sure to draw the bias grain line and noting the direction the stripe is to go.
After the front is ready I decide how to lay out the back. I look at the direction of the stripes and how they relate at the side seams. This helps make the sleeve fabric decisions. I’m in the habit of adding simple fold back ‘cuffs’ to all my shirts because it gives the option for a longer sleeve.
I save the collar decisions until the jacket is almost finished. The collar pieces are interfaced because I like to wear my collar up. For a softer look you can eliminate the interfacing in the collars.
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Posted on April 19 2021