Finishing My Cool Men's Sunglasses Shirt

If you follow my Instagram account, you might remember that I shared an image from Simply Moderne magazine featuring Luke Haynes. What really captivated me was his shirt, I instantly thought it was just the thing for my DH, so I ordered the sunglasses fabric in both blue and pink. I know, I know - I have so much fabric in my stash that it seems ridiculous to keep looking for excuses to buy more, but sometimes inspiration just strikes!

First thing I had to do was draft a pattern for my DH from one of his old shirts. He was due for a clear out anyhow, so I picked a shirt I knew fit well and set about copying the pattern on my pattern board.

Next was deciding on the inside cuff fabric. Luke used a kind of brick fabric which I couldn't find, so I raided my stash...

I quite likes this cat print, but was pretty sure my DH would draw the line at cats, eventually I settled on a black and white mottled print which I forget to photograph. 

Then I ironed down the shirt standard fusible, 

'fussy' cutting to get the best coverage of the sunglass pictures

And then it was time to start sewing the shirt together

It may seem odd to be sewing a shirt when I have a wedding dress to make, but I'm the kind of person who ordinarily prefers to go at my own slow pace - but only really performs when under pressure. It's just how it is. If the wedding dress wasn't a pressing emergency, I wouldn't have made this shirt for another 6 months (and I still have alterations waiting on WIP chair). It's just the way I work.

Just like the mannequin before it, I gave away my favourite over-locker last year. I was sure I would never need it again. I didn't fancy unpacking the spare in the garage and dusting it off and fine tuning it, so I french seamed the shirt instead. 

I'm a stickler for good collars and cuffs and these are two details me eyes always draw to, so I made sure they were nice and even (you can see the cuff fabric I opted for in the inside collar)

Looking good, if I do say so myself..

Then I lined the button side with a strip of navy blue and stitched down the buttons

Voila! It's done

Now that I am looking at it, I think the cuff needs another button which I will add. But that's a minor detail. I'm very happy to have completed the shirt and am wondering if I really do want a matching one in pink? The idea really pickled me at first, but I don't like the pink anymore - it's too pink for me and I actually think it's a masculine kind of pink (if that makes any sense) so I don't know what I'll do with it. I may yet change my mind. 

Let's see what the DH thinks of it all!!