I’ve been on a new quest to draft and make a proper fitting dress shirt for myself. I’ve also been sewing less as resolved for 2014, with some time off allowed for myself at the end of 2013 and early 2014 to set up some other resolutions. That’s why I haven’t finished any new garments until now.

This latest garment, a fitted dress shirt, will open a flood gates of new garments like it I will be making, because it gave me the “shell” for which to make many new dress shirt. I have many designs waiting and a stash of really nice fabrics I have rarely touched until now, waiting for when I had a product I was really satisfied with. I still have a few very minor adjustments to make to this one, namely a little more room in the sleeve and curving the bottom back yoke since the straight line, when worn, gets curved. However, it’s close enough for me to start making the real things with the next dress shirt. I will also be making many since I need them for work, having donated most of my dress shirts already as a self-motivation to get this done sooner than later! This yoke, contrast, mandarin (band) collar, not tucked in runic dress shirt look will be my professional look and style going forward.

For this dress shirt, I chose a grid pattern to show how well, or not, the shirt fitted me. As you can imagine a piece of graph paper with a grid looking warped when bent, this was the effect I was after. Plaid would have been the easy choice of fabric for that purpose, but I’m no plaid guy so I had bought the black and white fabrics you see in the dress shirt above for this very design when I was ready for it.

That was really all there was to this dress shirt. I’m happy with how well it fits. The rest I will note after my usual fashion scoring. 🙂

Here’s how I came to those scores above.

1. Black and white is about as contrasting as it gets.
2. Not non-generic, but considering most dress shirts are one colour or tone…
3. The silver and gold dots were some saving grace.
4. Some tone in the black and white with the triangles in the squares.
5. The grid was the symbolism. I feel like I’m wearing one of those animation suits with dots all over them for tracking movement to be digitized for animation.
6. Fit is mostly excellent. A tad tight in the middle arm and the back bottom could use a tad more room. That’s in part to the relatively wide hips I have, awkwardly enough. I fitted the thing so well to my upper body my hips almost stand out, and if I had a wallet in my pant pocket, I look like I have a growth on my lap!
7. Asymmetry is accidental with the neck button to the side of my neck centre.
8. Not many men wear dress shirts with yokes.
9. The inside of this fabric is a tad rough, and I’m not yet sure how many wash cycles the silver dots woven into the fabric will last before fraying and making the dress shirt not wearable from poor presentation of shredding threads.
10. It’s not a look you see around much.

Not a great score at 58 out of 100, but to be honest, aside from the fit, I’m not all that thrilled about the design and some concerns mentioned, either. With a better fit still, better fabric, more stunning colour combinations and more creative designs, you mark my words now that really, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! 😉

See more of my fashion here.