This fabric first caught my eye in a a feminine violet colorway, but when I saw it in "midnight blue," I knew I wanted it for my Dad. When all is said and done, he's a romantic at heart, and stories like Snape's love for Lilly really resonate with him. Plus, the fabric IS just gorgeous. I wasn't *quite* able to get enough for another bowling shirt - this was precut in 36 yard increments, and I was going to need 40 continuous inches for the back. But, I ran into the Peekaboo Yukon, which has a back yoke and a pleat for ease, and so I thought what the heck. It's all an adventure, right?
As it turns out, this was a LOOONG adventure. I started it immediately after my August 10th class, and didn't get everything pieced together until well into September. And then I still had to put the buttons on! But I will say, the Peekaboo Pattern was really well described, well constructed, and easy to follow. I'm not sure I will EVER do the long sleeved version, because even without the long sleeves, the pattern was still a 31-steps time investment. But I will definitely make this again, because I was VERY pleased with the end product after all that work.
Also, I have to give a shoutout to Amy Hindman, the designer at Peekaboo patterns. She happened to come online when I was getting nervous about my pocket placement, and talked me through it. I had my mom measure another of my Dad's shirts to be sure, and everything Amy said was absolutely true. But it was really flattering and exciting to get that level of customer service and designer engagement. Amy was patient, encouraging, and didn't seem to mind my beginner's paranoia. I'm sure it's just luck of the draw that she happened to be logged in while I was soliciting advice on the Pattern Chat & Support group, but it was a positive experience that reminded me of the value of purchasing from a small business rather than a big corporation. Peek-a-Boo definitely moved up on my "favorite pattern shop" list after that.
And the Yukon may in fact be a favorite pattern! Mind you, not one that I'm going to tackle without a *significant* block of time available, but it was fun to learn the ins & outs of how a dress shirt is made, and it required a variety of new/interesting skill sets. I'd worked with interfacing before but never in a collar, and I got to try out the button foot on my machine for the first time. My button holer is still a dicey experience sometimes, but I'm definitely getting more proficient with it. And my serger! This time instead of finishing the woven seams with a zig zag stitch - which is always a pain, and tends to result in fraying at the edges anyway - I used my new-to-me serger to finish the seams. It went WAY faster, and resulted in a finish I was much happier with.
And speaking of happy finishes, I made the bulk of this shirt in September, but waited until November to gift it to my Dad in person. Unwilling to trust this labor-intensive beauty to mail service, I hand carried it out when we visited for Thanksgiving. And what did Dad think?
Well, he wore it for Thanksgiving and vowed to show it off to all his train-club buddies, where apparently the other shirt I made him still gets a lot of compliments and wear.
And from the collar to the back pleats in the back, I think it looks like the kind of shirt he often chooses for himself. I might be able to size down for the next one (this time I sized up in an abundance of caution), but overall, I am pleased with how it turned out, and I'm optimistic that this shirt will get a lot of love going forward!
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