Most overdue post ever

Several thousand years ago, I participated in the Men's Shirt Sewalong at Male Pattern Boldness. I made all sorts of rash promises, like making a final shirt in Liberty Tana Lawn.
I made a muslin.
I made a test garment, which has been worn a couple of times.
Then I made the (final shirt? second test?), but not in the Liberty. I finished this three months ago.
At last I have persuaded Andy into the shirt in photo-worthy light.

check that pattern matching! there is even a pocket on there... can you spot it?

I'm pleased with it. After the photos, he took it off and changed into something else.
Folks, unless this one sees some significant airplay, the Liberty will not become an Andy shirt.
To be fair, the Colette Negroni pattern I used is seems best on tall, lanky body types. I made significant fit adjustments but I think a different pattern altogether would be a better solution. Eh, but to be honest, I should stick to sewing him things he actually asks for.
Now, back to sewing clothes for people too young to make their own decisions....
I did make another top after the neck band debacle, and I will send both for my friend's baby boy's future wardrobe.

Thanks to my cooperative plant-model.

- Jane x

MPB Negroni sew-along - I'm in!

Peter at Male Pattern Boldness is hosting a sew-along for the men's shirt pattern I wanted to try anyway, the Colette Negroni.

Yay! I've just ordered the pattern. The sew-along doesn't start for a few weeks so there's plenty of time to think about fabrics (that I'm excited to sew with and Andy might actually wear... a tricky combination).

I have made one men's shirt before and it turned out okay. Andy has even worn it a few times.... Trouble is, it was before I learnt to trace patterns off, and I cut out size L, which matched A's measurements. However, a quick pin-together showed it was enormous, so I had to try to cut the pattern pieces down to size M. But then I'd lost the little overlapping parts of the pattern, where the M pieces went outside the L ones. So, the shoulders and yoke didn't go together quite as neatly as they should have, and I've really ruined that pattern for future use. Oh well, lesson learnt!

Peter has created a cute button thingo for participants to put on their blogs, but as a total novice blogger I can't work out how to use it. Anyone reading, and able to help this techno-phobe?

In other sewing news, I have two (successful!) finished garments I need to photograph and write about. Back soon!