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!