Tim's Birthday Negroni Shirt & Moose PJs

For Tim's birthday I offered to make him a shirt. I liked the idea of making a Colette Patterns Negroni as I knew the instructions would be beginner friendly for my first men's shirt attempt. I bought the pattern from Indie Stitches.

 

 

My biggest issue was finding suitable fabric. Tim has a lot of checked and striped shirts so I wanted something a little different to that. Finding shirting fabric for men that isn't just white or pastel stripes is difficult, imo. In the end we decided I'd make one out of Robert Kaufman spotted chambray in indigo. Of course, I couldn't find a supplier with any stock left so we are waiting for more fabric to come instock.

In the mean time I made a wearable muslin out of same navy and white cotton I used for my sleeveless Archer. Yep, we have matching shirts! I used a light blue and white cotton for the contrasting inner yoke, cuffs, under collar and cuff plackets. I got this fabric and the white shirt buttons from an older shirt of Tim's that had worn thin at the collar.

I cut a size Small in Version A and decided against the pockets and the collar button loop. All exposed seams are French and/or foe fell seamed. I followed the instructions exactly and made no changes to the pattern.

Making Archers shirts (1, 2)  put my in good stead for the Negroni, but there were a few major differences in construction/pattern. The Negroni Shirt has a fantastic cuff button placket! The pattern piece is rather scary but well labelled and surprisingly easy to transform into the gorgeous top stitched button placket. The other major difference between this pattern and Archer is that the Negroni has no collar stand and the entire neckline and shirt opening is faced rather then making button plackets. I think this makes for an even easier/quicker sew. However, I think I prefer the look of a structured crisp collar stand and button plackets. I would like to try a few other men's shirt pattern eventually (e.g. Vogue8759).

The fit is pretty good through the body, narrow but with room to eat. The only change I will make for the real thing (patiently awaiting the fabric...) is to take some width out the sleeves and maybe a 1/2" of length.

In addition to the shirt I made Tim another pair of Simplicity PJs Pants. This pair are made from some lovely flannelette I picked up at the Cloth Shop. I sewed this pair identical to the last.

Work shirts and Moose PJ's  - what a well rounded man of 26 years.  Happy birthday Tim!