I’ve been tackling the unfinished object (UFO) pile and I’m down to zero UFO quilt projects (woot! woot!), four kids projects (three for Halloween), and let’s just agree not to talk about my pile, shall we? So it was clearly time for a new category of sewing projects: men’s wear!
These are Vogue 8889 and Vogue 8890, which I am making for Mr Garment. I’ll be making the shirt and pants but not the jacket. Well, one day the jacket, but not anytime soon.
I had planned to make this a surprise and had bought some grey shirting, but when I showed it to Mr Garment, he was not too impressed. Not his style it seems. So we all headed out to the fabric store and he chose some plain black shirting, another shirting fabric which is much nicer in a purple stripe and some grey wool for the pants in Vogue 9980 in a (slight) stretch wool.
Mr Garment has a corporate job and likes a nice suit. His style runs conservative, but he likes European-cut clothes, and isn’t afraid of a little colour.
I’m starting with Vogue 8889, which is described as a “loose-fitting shirt has collar, collar band, self-lined yoke with forward shoulder seams, side front/side back seams, flat-fell seams, shaped hemline and narrow hem.” I will be making version C.
I’ve already made one muslin. I made it out of some stash fabric I had bought years ago for a craft project. It is crazy and I did not insist on photos, because I am not that mean. I used this fabric because I really had no idea what size to start with – I’ve only made Mr Garment Halloween costumes before – and didn’t want to waste good fabric.
I cut a 44, and so far the fit is really nice. Despite being billed as “loose-fitting”, it is actually fairly fitted. The shirt is made with side panels, which resemble princess seams (ahem) manly seams which allow for a really nice shape. Mr Garment likes a fitted, European-style, tailored shirt, so this is good. The sleeves are the right length as well. The shirt length is also good (Mr Garment is 5’11”). But the shoulders are too wide, and Mr Garment is a fairly wide-shouldered guy.
Peter Lapin of Male Pattern Boldness has several blog posts on this particular pattern which are very helpful. He narrowed the yoke by an inch on each side, but I only need to do this by 1/2 an inch per side. He shows his pattern modifications on his blog, so if you are thinking of trying this pattern, it’s definitely worth taking a look. You can see two finished versions of the shirt in this post.
You can also see some nice versions of this shirt, on other blogs, here, here, and here.
Next I’ll have to check the collar, and then I’ll cut out the black shirt.
The Finished Garment 
And now I see why you pinned all those yummy men’s suits. 😉 I made a suit for Ron way back in the 90’s when he was a government employee. He rarely wears one now. I’d love to see him in an Italian or English suit.
I got good at the shirt pattern I used. I think it was Butterick. Vogue is usually great for men’s cuts.
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This is my very first men’s shirt, so hopefully it will all go well. A whole suit seems too hard. You are more brave than I am. One day…. And yes, that’s why I’ve been pinning menswear. Any “easy-on-the eyes” pins were strictly for research. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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