I’ve had this shirt fabric in my stash for a while now. I had a shopping expedition to The Village Habadashery some time ago. I’d seen the new premises on Instagram and, even though it was a bit of a hike for me, I thought I’d make the trip.

It was the middle of February and although settled into the new premises, it was early days, before the official opening. The shop looked beautiful and had a great range of products; I went in for a bit of everything, fabric, scissors, needles, quilting supplies, thread… and everything I wanted was in stock. If you’re in the neighbourhood I highly recommend a visit. 

A while back I used the shirt pattern from the book The Gentlemans Wardrobe to make a new Holiday shirt. I loved the pattern and it was a great fit, so I decided to use the long sleeve version for this fabric.

The pocket matched up well…

The collar went on smoothly using my trusted ‘million-pin-method’…!

I even did pointy plackets…!

I hadn’t noticed when I bought the fabric (obviously blinded by the amazing pattern!) that it has just a tiny little bit of stretch to it. This was immediately apparent when I started cutting it out and I wasn’t sure how   much I liked it at first… but once I’d started sewing with it, it was great. It didn’t move unnecessarily under the presser foot and easing the shoulders in was much easier. Also, of course, it’s made it a very comfortable shirt to wear! There isn’t usually a lot of stretch in men’s clothing (except sports wear) but I’m definitely going to look for a bit in my fabrics from now on!

I’ve been wearing this shirt to work which isn’t strictly allowed as it’s not really black or white. But if I get hair colour stains on it, they won’t show up!

I managed a quick photo shoot on a recent trip to the Isle of Wight, so this makes a nice change from my usual blurry close-ups!

Happy sewing!

Notes to self:

  • Tidy up your fabrics! Do you even know what you’ve got anymore…?!