McCall’s 3799: Button-Down Shirt

Plaid was big for fall, and I am late on this trend.

To be honest, I first looked into buying a plaid button-down. Why? Well, plaid is not something that I truly love to sew with. Unfortunately, the shirts I liked were way too expensive, IMO; and I did not *really love* any. So, I bit the bullet and made one. I don't regret! I wore it today and loved it!

Pattern:
McCall’s 3799
The front of the pattern is greatly altered.
s.10
I chose this pattern for its lady-like lines. I needed something stylish to counteract the, otherwise boyfriend-ish, fabric.

Pattern Modifications:
a/ For Fit
Petite alterations on the bodice, as marked on the pattern.
I used narrower cuff and had to lengthen the sleeves.
Shoulder extended with 0.25”
Sleeve cap narrowed with 0.5”
b/ For Style:
2.1 Front: a/ Reverse engineered the front and converted the front gathers into bust darts, and b/ Added front vertical darts
2.2 Sleeve: Kept only one pleat at the sleeve hem, removed the other 2. This reduced the sleeve circumference everywhere from the armhole to the hem
2.3 Cuff: the length of the cuff was reduced.
2.4 Lengthened the bodice at the hem and changed the shaping of the hem

Fabric:
I used a Ralph Lauren shirt (XL size) that used to belong to my husband, cut it up and sourced the fabric as needed. The fabric is 100% cotton, hence, has no stretch. I think that, ideally for this pattern, or for any other pattern for a fitted button-down, the fabric it should have some, albeit not excessive, crosswise stretch.
BTW, this plaid was not easy to work with: hard to see your marks on, a lot of tiny lines to match, etc. Also, having been sewn once into a shirt, there were parts of the fabric that were a bit distorted and needed special attention. I get shivers just thinking of the state of mind that brought me to!

Construction details:
Did not use the pattern instruction and cannot comment on their quality.
I have made men’s shirts for my husband and I made them with flat-felled seams and the whole shebang. I decided to not to do flat felled seams this time. Reason – matching the *darn* plaid was challenging enough!
I also had fabric constrains and had to reuse the original cuffs by resizing them, which is why they are narrower than I would have made them if I had enough fabric. That was the only reused piece though, everything else was made from scratch. Also due to fabric constraints, I used different plaid (from a different DH’s shirt) for the lining piece for the yoke.
When I make shirts I like to consult David Coffin’s “Shirtmaking.” It is the best study on shirt making that I’ve come across.
There are also a few things that I do differently. For example, I like to add a bit of shaping to the outside edge of the collar, see here:

With shirts, it is important to remember that the pieces you interface are:
- the cuff: the outward piece of it
- the collar stand: the piece closer to your neck; interfacing cut on bias
- the collar: the piece closer to you neck; interfacing cut on bias. I also like to add a second layer of interfacing on the collar: two triangles right at the pointy parts of the collar (you can see on the picture above).

Conclusion:
Well, obviously my shirt does not look anything like the pattern and that is how I wanted it to be. The pattern, however, is drafted superbly well and some of my fit changes were driven by the fact that I should have cut s.12 but my pattern envelope only covered through s.10. This pattern is OOP, but can be found on Ebay (where I got it from, actually), and I do very much recommend it!

Slouchy Plaid Pants

Pattern: Vogue 2981, View B

Inspiration:
For these pants I had no particular inspiration other than lusting over plaid pants and pants with a menswear slouchy flair to them for two years.

Size:
My size according to pattern envelop is between 8 and 10 for hips and 12 for waist. I cut size 10 throughout. My overall fit-size conclusion: as opposed to other Alice & Olivia pants, I did not find this one running big. I suggest you go with your true hip and waist size, leave bigger SAs at the CB, and adjust as you muslin the pattern. Due to the shape of the WB, I find that it is almost necessary to make a muslin, if only with very short legs – to check for the overall hip and waist fit.

Alterations for fit:
Took about a total of 1.5” away from the side seams at the waist and blended at the hips
Shortened the pattern with 0.5” at the shortening line just above the hipline
Straightened the hip curve to an almost straight line (I do that with all patterns)
Lowered the back at the CB with 3/8” and blended at the back waist notch
Made a 0.5” deep back dart
Took 0.5” from the WB at the sides
Moved very slightly the front pleat towards the side seam
Had to take more from the CB seam (the pant part) to match the shape of my body (this is inevitable with any pattern though).
These might seem like a lot of alterations but it was really tweaking to achieve a better fit. The front and back crotch I found to be drafted nicely.

Design Changes:
Front pockets changed to iseam pockets.

Fabric:
Subtle plaid on gray background. As far as content, there is more polyester in the fabric than I would have liked but I was not sure how I would like neither the style, nor wearing plaid for bottoms, hence, decided to go with a minimal investment.

Construction:
Pant legs are lined to just below the knee.
I changed the front pockets from slant to inseam, seemed like it went better with the plaid fabric.
I have my own way of making front fly zippers (reversely engineered from some high-end RTW pants) that I always used instead of the pattern instruction. When making these pants I took photos of each step of making the closure, so hopefully some time soon will post the tutorial, if anyone is interested.

I also changed slightly the belt loop design. I stitched each belt loop 1” from the top edge to allow for inserting a skinny belt. This is actually a very minor design change but for me it made a lot of difference.