Man Month Project: 30s Man's Shirt Pt 1

I've started on my men's shirt. 

This past weekend I went to the thrift store with some friends. I dropped off 5 huge boxes of 60s-80s+ patterns. Ugh. They were taking up major space in my already project filled apartment. It was freeing to release them to whomever is willing to sift through them. More power to them.


This thrift store tends to actually have a rack of yardage mixed in with their linens. I always go there first. This go around I found some great peach wool that matches pretty well a pencil skirt that I want to rework. I may dye them a dark brown because the color does not really work with me.

As I was flipping through the racks of sheets, I came across this King Size blue striped sheet. *Perfect*! It's a 60%/40% cotton/polly blend. A better mix than a lot of the shirting that I was looking through earlier last week. Plus it's striped, and I like stripes. This will be a good test shirt. I'm still concerned with messing up and I'd  rather do that on a sheet than a nice chambray.

I bought it ($4.99) laundered it and finally cut out the pieces last night. I'm planning on starting the job today, but its one of those early McCall's, where ALL the instructions are printed on the pieces. *sigh* 

I traced off this pattern and looking over the pieces, they say I should add 1/4" to the SA if I'm going to do any flat-felled seams. Naw. I didn't. The shirt is large enough already. 

This snippet right here is the largest chunk of collected instructions, everything else is written in the seam allowances. Oh. Fun. It's an adventure, right? Sure...I'll keep saying that. Hey, I can't mess up too bad.

And as Man Month comes to it's end, I've been thinking about what I want to work on next. Personally, as I shop around for new patterns, I find them steadily going higher and higher out of my reach. I'm hoping it's only a spike, but I'm kind of worried. One pattern that had me worried was this one.

It's cute, right? A basic 40s day dress, but the seller had it listed at $45! S#%*!% It didn't sell twice, and when I asked for a lower price, I got a 'if it does not sell, I'll make it" reply. As far as I know it never sold. I stopped following it after that.

I get it, these items are getting more and more rare, but as main stream people start to jump into the collecting fray, people are jacking up prices like gangbusters! I'm starting to miss the days of an $18 40's day dress! I know, right!?

Then I got to thinking, I could draft that! I have muslin, Onda, and time. Why not try!? I know the styles, I know what works best on my body, and I'm sure you all would get a kick out of my trial and error.

Next month I'm going to be focusing on non-commercial pattern time. Drafting my own clothing and patterns, and perhaps chatting about draping the stout form. Oh, through all of this boy have I learned some tips! I think it will be fun, and educational. You all are more than welcome to join me. All you will need is a duct tape dress form some muslin and some pins. That's a simple ingredient list.

If you have the will power, try to abstain from buying a commercial pattern for a month. Can you do it!? I honestly don't know if I can, but I may try.