Red Gingham Western Shirt for ME!!

I made a fairly simple shirt for me. I have made this same pattern several times and really like it. It's on older pattern McCalls 6383, by the looks of the collar I would would say this pattern is from the late 70's. I had some lightweight red gingham fabric that is a cotton poly blend. I later realized that I also had some nice red eyelet fabric that would have made a nice contrasting yoke.

I did have some problems with the pockets since they were cut on the bias. When I turned under the edges the pockets got wonky and large. I decided to not sweat it and sewed them in place thinking that they would be fine. Good thing because once the shirt was finished and washed the pockets did not look funky at all. Everything worked out nicely. 

The gingham is very small so the detail is not obvious, but yoke is cut on the bias too. This is where a nice red eyelet fabric would have stood out if I really wanted to make it look like a western shirt. I'm already looking through my fabric to see if I have more gingham. I found some pink but not sure if the red eyelet will work with pink. I also want 100% cotton. Thought his fabric is nice and light because it's a cotton poly blend it does not breath as well as 100% cotton. I was hoping for a nice light summer shirt to wear over tank tops this summer. We shall see as the days get hotter. 

This pattern has a large cuff too. I was smart this time and shortened the sleeves. The last few shirts I have made the sleeves are about 1" too long. That tends bother me and I end up rolling up my sleeves. When the sleeves are rolled up then you don't see the detail. I also wanted a shirt that the cuffs would not get wet when washing hands or dishes. I think I got it right on this one. 

The shirt it's self is very basic, it's a little baggy. I think I need to add darts to pull it in a little at the waist. Because of the pockets I don't want to put in bust darts but some darts on the back would make this a nice fitting shirt. I also want to try this pattern in a lawn fabric and make a straight hem. That way I can wear the shirt with skirts. I have never liked the way shirt tails look when wearing skirts and since I have gotten older I have added some extra pounds to my waist and tucking in a shirt is not an option. 

Now my favorite part...I love these snaps. I bought them a couple years ago up in Vancouver BC. There is a great fabric shop called Dressew, it's in the downtown area and only accepts cash or debit (which american debit cards do not work there so if you are coming from the states bring cash). They have a large selection of fabric but an even larger selection of sewing notions. I bought these snaps for $.49 a package, there were 7 snaps in the package so even buying 2 packages it was cheaper than what they sell for in Portland. Here in Portland a package of 12 snaps would cost $5. When I bought these snaps my husband said "what are you going to use those for?". I thought he would like them on his shirt...OH NO...he did not like them. So they have sat in my sewing studio for 2 years. When I was looking for what snaps to use on the shirt I pulled out these gems...they were perfect. 

Matching Western Christmas Shirt

I finished my Christmas Shirt. It's McCalls 6383, it's a very 70's western shirt. I have made this pattern several times for myself and I like it a lot. There are a couple things that changed on this one. Such as I made the back yoke larger or shall I say longer. It really didn't show off the material and since I have longer hair it would have been covered up, so I extended the back by about 6 inches. I also think I need to alter the collar; this collar is HUGE. It's VERY 70's. Looking at the pattern it's very hipster, a thiner body and the large collar. I also think I need to put some darts in the back of mine. I will wear it a few times first to make sure. On one of the other shirts I made from this pattern I added darts and made a smaller collar. The darts in the back help define the waist. The other thing about my shirt..the 70's patterns did not think women had waists or hips. I added about 1/2 an inch to the bottom sides of the shirts to keep it from spreading out at the bottom when I wear it. I have this same pattern as a black Christmas shirt I made with white pipping and when I wear it untucked the bottom spreads out..the white pipping forms an upside down Y...it looks a little funny. I also made my collar in the grey material because the pink fabric really washed out my face. All other things about this shirt are great. For my shirt I used the 3 yards of the 10 yards of pink fabric I bought at Scrap. The pink fabric is a cotton and a little stiff but I hoping it will relax after a couple of washings. No big deal if it doesn't as we will only be wearing these shirts in December.

My husbands shirt is McCalls 4530 in red linen. He asked why I didn't add a back yoke to his shirt. I told him it was because I made his first and I forgot, really I thought the red was so nice and bright...a very Christmas color. I think his would have benefited with a back yoke too. I told him if he wanted me to add a yoke I could take his apart and add a nice yoke if he really wanted one. Maybe later, he wants to wear it RIGHT NOW. Neither shirt has pockets which may be a flaw...of course I can add pockets too, but I really wanted to get this done before the holidays were gone. My husbands favorite part of his shirt is Santa diving into a pool, it looks like Santa is sunburned and naked.

Now that the holidays are over it's time to get down to finishing a couple of quilt projects that have been sitting around. We have some friends that were due the day after christmas but have not had their baby as of today. I wanted to get a quilt made for them. Now I will focus on their quilt. I have the top complete. It's the alphabet. I was kind of waiting to see if they had a girl or boy, but it really does not matter. I will make it unisex. Since it's a baby quilt it should go quickly.