There's been this running joke (with a hint of truth) between B and I about my sewing turnaround time. You may recall back in May of last year that B picked outfabric and a shirt pattern. It's been a really long and slow process for me to deliver him his shirt. So long and slow that when he's around when I offer to sew or fix something for someone or someone asks me to sew or fix something for them, his response is, "Sure she'll do it, but it will be a 2 year turnaround time." Har har, I can't deny that because as of May, a year later, he still hadn't received his shirt. So I finally said to him definitively, I will finish your shirt and you'll have it by August.

August 5th arrived and I had a shirt for him, just not a shirt he could wear yet. Why you ask? Because yaiAnn couldn't find her bottle of fray check to finish off the buttonholes. And it took yaiAnn one week to get her butt to the store to pick up a new bottle of fray check. And by August 15th, the shirt was done. And on August 16th, yaiAnn presented the shirt to B and he proudly wore it to dinner that night, thereby dispelling the 2 year turnaround time myth. As of then, the turnaround time is 1.25 years.

Pattern: Simplicity 4760, view B
Fabric: Green seersucker purchased from Michael Levine

Modifications: I omitted the front yokes per B's request (I also thought they looked very odd), and the top button loop, but followed the rest of the pattern as written. This was a very easy pattern that went very smoothly except for attaching the collar. I had a bit of trouble interpreting the pattern for that part but did something and it managed to work out. I definitely hope to improve my collar skills as my shirt making requests increase. I also should be a bit more precise when making the collar as well since one is slightly larger than the other. B even noticed it. Ooops.

All in all the pattern was simple and straight forward (except for the collar attachment). My only disappointment with the pattern is that it's for a basic collared shirt that didn't have any RTW details, such as the back yoke and a stand up collar. I would have liked for it to look more like a store bought shirt, but I don't think it looks homemade either. I'm really happy with the way it came out and actually can't wait to make more if he asks me to. He's pretty happy with the shirt too. As I sewed up the the shirt, I realized how simple of a pattern this was and shouldn't have let things such as figuring out how to straighten the grain on seersucker (I've been using the snip and rip technique instead of the snip and draw a thread out -- the snip and rip didn't work on seersucker as the fabric wouldn't rip up the width more than 3-4 inches).

What's the verdict? I hope B asks me to make him more shirts as I had fun making this one. In fact I already have one in mind and may just surprise him with it!