A few weeks ago I finally finished the three shirts I started at the beginning of September. Considering that I bought some of this fabric back in June, these shirts took much longer to make than I anticipated. But having never made a shirt from scratch before, I didn’t really know what to expect. I basically followed the same procedure I used to make my jeans earlier this year. First, I drafted a basic upper body pattern to establish the general fit. Once I had an upper body sloper that fit really well, I modified it to create my shirt pattern, adding the yoke, sleeves, plackets, cuffs, collar stand, collar, and pockets.

Here is my favorite of the three. I used a light gray chambray and included pockets on this one. (clearly they all need to be ironed)

gray chambray shirt

The stripes in this shirt are various shades of blue. I decided to leave the pockets off of this one for a little variety.

blue striped shirt

This is a dark charcoal (almost black) chambray with pockets. I love the way this fabric feels, but I’m not completely sold on the color. I don’t usually wear shirts quite this dark.

charcoal chambray shirt

I am thrilled with the way these turned out. The fit is nearly perfect, which is somewhat slim but not “fashiony” tight. I designed the shirt tails to be a little shallower and a bit shorter than usual to give me the option of wearing them untucked. There are no pleats or gathers on the yoke or at the cuffs, which I think gives the shirts a cleaner look.

While the process was long and tedious at times, it was also very satisfying to start with a blank sheet of paper, (okay maybe more than one sheet) and turn it into the perfect handcrafted shirt.