OH NO! A Shirt I will Never Sew, because...

 OOPS!  I totally misread Vogue 8759 pattern's online photos and diagrams!

You may now give me 10 lashes with a wet noodle...be gentle.

 And  I should know better...that's why I started drafting my own shirt patterns in the first place...sigh.

Once I had a chance to really examine this pattern up close and personal...well...there were some design details I was not expecting.  Not they are necessarily BAD details...just different than the way most mens shirts are drafted.

I compared V8759 to my own hand-drafted "slim-cut" shirt pattern with a shoulder-sleeve seam line that stops just a tiny bit below the arm/shoulder joint. This Vogue pattern has a longer shoulder seam..in other words, the sleeve will be more dropped than I prefer.

Then there is the yoke. At first glance in the online pattern catalog, it seemed to be fine..though I did notice that the front "yoke-drop" seemed a bit shallow...and that can be OK.   However, until I looked at the pattern closely and measured it.... I didn't realize that the yoke seam only drops a very scant 1/4" down into the front. In other words, like a ladies blouse, the shoulder-yoke seam on this men's shirt pattern will virtually ride right along the exact shoulder line, instead of dropping/sinking down into the front the way most mens shirts do.  Additionally, the overall width of the shirt body is larger than my hand-drafted "slim-cut" shirt, and also larger than other printed patterns in my stash.  I do realize that these are the decisions that the Vogue pattern designer made, and I respect that. But it is a look that I do not prefer.

The Vogue 8759 sleeves seem fine...narrow enough, and the armscye is as high as my own "slim-cut" draft. They are 2-piece, and the sleeve plackets are reminiscent of the way casual sport coat/blazer vents are drafted.

So...am I going to take the time and fabric to sew up a test garment of a pattern with style lines I do not like?

No.

Sure, I could re-draft the parts I do not like....but I already have slimmer-cut men's shirt patterns that I have drafted by hand...why take the time to change this one?

Should you use this pattern? 

It's up to you. It is not a "classic" men's shirt...and that's not a "bad" thing. But it is not as slim-cut as the envelope photos seem to show, and the yoke is not the "standard" angle or depth...and that may be fine with you. I know that my husband Roger would not like that yoke-shoulder seam as high as it is on this pattern...he is a classic-cut shirt kind of guy. I can design, draft, and sew a shirt with a narrow body for him, and add design details like funky pockets, angled seams, and even bias cut sleeve hem bands...but a yoke that rides that high on the shoulder?  For Roger?  No.   And I cannot use this pattern for my clients, because it is a commercial pattern (and besides, I really do not like that high shoulder).   Your man might be different...in fact he probably is!   Mine is very picky about yoke depths and things like that because he happens to be married to a classically trained Shirtmaker who has strong likes and dislikes..and opines about them often ;)

So while this pattern is not "horrible"...I am not happy with it, so I am not going to use my time to make it. And please remember...this is just my opinion, for what it's worth. Your opinion about these things are probably quite different than mine...as they should be...because we all have different tastes.

Posted in: Fashion / Sewing Commentary