Colette Negroni: Male Pattern Boldness Sewalong

I am notorious for running behind sewing schedule, and this Colette sewalong for their new Negroni shirt pattern was no exception!  It began in February, and today I finally finished making the shirt, just in time for my husband’s birthday.

The sewalong was led by Peter over at Male Pattern Boldness, and not only did I find his posts really useful, I’ve also been enjoying reading his blogs ever since!

Peter suggested making a muslin to check for fit, but the muslin he made he paid as much attention to as he would a final garment, so, not being one to waste fabric, I decided to do the same.  I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be (m)any fit issues for Mr Tweedie as he is nice and trim, so I wanted to make the ‘muslin’ wearable.

Although I got my fabric cut on time, I didn’t start making the shirt until a few weeks ago, by which time all of Peter’s posts were up, so my first task was to re-read his posts and annotate the instructions provided in my pattern.  Here’s an example of one of the pages:

Geeky annotations, but useful nonetheless

As I started making the shirt, I was mainly worried about two things:

• the collar – I’ve made two Hawaiian shirts before, and a pyjama top shirt, both with a camp collar, and all three experiences were pretty harrowing.
• the sleeve plackets – I’ve never done this before and it looked complicated.

As it happened, Sarai’s instructions were SO clear, and with Peter’s advice as well, it all went really smoothly.  Both the collar and the sleeve plackets gave me very little trouble.

Sleeve placket and cuff

Collar with top button fastened

I was also pleased that I sewed flat-felled seams, as I’ve never done this before and I really liked the finished effect.

I cut the pockets and pocket flaps on the bias, and used hexagonal pearly buttons which I thought were masculine enough but with a touch of flamboyancy – perfect for Mr Tweedie!  He likes the finished garment, and it fits, but he has to wait until his birthday before he can wear it, so until then, see the photo below.  Oh, and it matches his ‘Foxy Boxers’ from Diana Rupp’s S.E.W. book.  Anyone else got a shirt with matching boxers?!  Do tell!

Finished Negroni shirt