The best motivation for me to start a new project is to go out and buy the fabric. After I’ve already spent money on some yardage, I am more likely to take the time to start working on the pattern. I ordered the denim for my jeans months before I was ready to cut into it, and have already ordered more to use towards the end of the summer.

Now that I have my jeans pattern more or less finished, I am turning my attention to the next most obvious wardrobe staple, shirts. When I saw that my local fabric store, Textile Fabrics, was having a 50% off sale on all of their fabrics, it was a perfect opportunity to stock up on some shirt-making motivation.

Fabric for making shirts

I started preliminary work on an upper body sloper, which includes a front, back, and sleeve. As soon as I finish the sloper and test fit it, I can begin designing the shirt pattern. My goal is to create simple yet versatile, slim-fit shirts. With some minor adjustments, I should be able to use the same pattern for both dress as well as more casual shirts.