We have a new baby boy in our family!
It’s time to make a celebration outfit!
Careful shopping has yielded shirt fabric, patterned with little dogs, chosen because the baby has been born in the year of the dog. Thank you Cousin Larry, for suggesting that I use fabric patterned with dogs! The rompers will be cut from red fabric, also a celebration color. I’m using McCall’s vintage pattern 5228, a favorite pattern at least 40 years old, that I used when making clothing for my own children.
The shirt must be cut to match. Here is how it is done
Prepare the back pattern
Trace the back pattern so it can be cut-on-the-open.The back pattern is shown after it has had tracing paper added, folded, traced, and opened. The back is cut on the open to prevent problems such as cutting an underside that is off grain and that doesn’t match.
Prepare the collar pattern
Collars in the pattern packets needs to be modified. All of the collar’s seams are reduced to 1/4 inch. The collar is then taped with tracing paper. The tracing paper is folded under on the center back line. The work is turned over and the collar traced so that it can be cut on the open. The collar is traced again to produce the bottom collar. After the bottom collar is traced, reduce the bottom collar 1/8 inch across the long edge/Reduce the side of the collar 1/8 inch at the point to 0 at the neck edge.
Reduce additional seam allowances
All of the patterns need reduced seams to speed the sewing and to produce professional work. The neck and collar are reduced to 1/4 inch seam allowances. The sleeve cap, 1/4 inch seam allowances; the armhole, 3/4 to sew the sleeve in with a flat-felled seam as done with men’s shirts – but this was really difficult. A 3/8 inch seam allowance works better when sewing a small sleeve cap and the armhole.
The side seams and sleeve seams are given 3/8 inch seam allowances so they can be sewn single –needle. Single-needle is an industrial term referring to a flat-felled seam sewn on a sewing machine with only one needle. Double-needle is sewn with a machine that has two needles. Single-needle is high-end and easily done in the home. Double-needle is used to make moderately priced men’s shirts.
Preparing the right-front pattern so it can be cut to match
1. Trace the front pattern.
2. Turn it over. Mark the traced left side front pattern, Left side, cut this side up.
3. Check the fabric to make sure it is on grain.
4. Lay the right front pattern on the fabric. Adjust the right front pattern until the fabric’s underlying design looks good down the center front. Pin the pattern to the fabric. The pattern is laid so that the neck seam will sew across just above a boxed dog. The front edge will fold along the edge of the boxes. The pattern is laid to allow the hem to finish at the bottom edge of the boxes. Here the fabric’s underlying design is traced so that the pattern can be moved to a repeat of the fabric’s design.
Preparing the left-front pattern so it can be cut to match
1. Lay the left front pattern’s center front over the right front pattern’s center front. Note that the left front facing doesn’t lie over the right front pattern’s neck edge. That is because the facing extends so that it can fold under the finished left front.
2. Trace some of the fabric’s patterns that lie under the center front onto the left front pattern’s center front. Make sure to trace the square at the top of the pattern, just below the neck’s seam line.
3. The left front pattern can now be laid over another section of the fabric where the design repeats, and cut to match.
The sleeve cuffs
To give the shirt more style cuffs are added to the sleeve pattern. An easy fix, all that was needed was to add tracing paper to the bottom of the sleeve pattern, then fold the paper.
Before cutting the pattern was laid over the fabric to make sure the sleeve would cut as planned.
Button placement
The button placement was moved from the pattern’s placement down center front so as to align the buttons with the fabric’s design.
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4 Comments. Leave new
Good insight on the pattern changes to create a full pattern vs. using the half cut pattern, which is usually how patterns come. Your directions make it easy, are clear and well defined. The shirt is darling. Congrats on the new little addition. Jnetti.
Thanks, Jeannette!
Thanks!
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