Making a Fully Hand Sewn Shirt
Helle hello! Today I’m sharing one of my favourite projects I’ve completed in the past couple of years - a completely hand sewn, semi-fitted 40’s inspired camp collar shirt!
This shirt is one of those projects where lots of long winded sewing plans came together: I’ve been wanting to sew a garment completely by hand for many months, I’ve been meaning to make a more fitted camp collar shirt for years, and I’ve been hoarding this vintage fabric for this exact purpose for even longer. So it only feels natural to divide this post into three: method of construction, pattern, and fabric.
The Method
Why Hand Sew?
I’ve been really interested in the idea of constructing a complete garment by hand for quite some time. There are a couple of reasons why I’ve been meaning to try it: For one, I don’t like how sewing is so synonymous with a sewing machine in most of our heads. I feel like this sort of link discourages a lot of people from picking up sewing as a hobby or learning how to mend / alter / fix their clothing just because they don’t have access to a sewing machine. Plus, I myself will find myself without my sewing machine in a few short months so I wanted to figure out whether or not hand sewing would be a suitable substitute until I get a new machine in Montréal (spoiler alert: it totally is!). I’ve also been leaning more and more into couch-crafting over the past year or so. I often find myself wanting to engage in my beloved textile art practices from the comfort of my sofa, hence all the knitting I’ve been getting done and my insane hexagon patchwork jacket project. Hand sewing felt like the final frontier of couch-crafting, and I’m happy to have conquered it.
The inside of the shirt, from the front.
The inside of the shirt, from the back.
The Stitches I Used
Alright, now that you know why, let’s talk about how. I used a few simple hand sewing techniques and stitches to make this shirt. All the seams, darts, and tucks were sewn using a small backstitch for maximum strength and durability. I used a running backstitch to sew the interfacing to the facing pieces for a slightly quicker yet still strong attachment. All the seams were flat felled by hand for a super clean finish on the inside and a nearly invisible finish on the outside - here’s a tutorial I wrote for Threads Magazine on this technique. The collar and the facings were sewn from the right side of the fabric using a combination of slip stitches and ladder stitches. A detailed tutorial for the specific techniques I used for the collar and facings is coming soon to Threads Magazine, I’ll update this post and link to the relevant article as soon as it’s published. The sleeves and the bottom were hemmed using a blind hemming stitch, so once again, they appear completely seamless on the inside and the outside. I hemmed the bottom edge of the back facing using a prick stitch, and later secured the back facing to the body using a slip stitch. I think that makes it 7 types of stitches (8, if you include the buttonhole stitch) and I love how much of a variety there is with hand sewing compared to machine stitching.
The Pattern
I’ve been coveting a 40’s inspired, semi-fitted camp collar shirt for at least the past 4 years. I have yet to find the perfect pattern for it (I’m sure there are wonderful vintage options but I cannot access them from here in Turkey) so I decided to sit down and do a mega mashup with some self drafting thrown into the mix. I’m planning to draft an updated version from scratch in the future, but this mashup did a great job at getting me close to the silhouette I was after. The collar and the lapel area are borrowed from the Genra Shirt by Daughter Judy Patterns, the armscyes and the sleeves are borrowed from the Classic Shirt by Modern Sewing Co., and the body of the shirt is a mix of the Classic Shirt and copious amounts of making-things-up, freehanding, and self drafting.
I’m very pleased with the fit across the waist, which I achieved using a combination of fisheye darts on the front, tucks at the back, and shaped side seams. The reduced volume at the waist and below makes it so so easy to tuck into trousers! I love how the tucks at the back preserve the volume at the upper back, making the shirt really easy to wear.
The Fabric
Finally, the fabric. I rescued this printed cotton from my grandmother’s stash when I first started sewing, and I’ve been saving it for this exact project for all this time. It was cut into skirt panels when it came to me, so it was a bit of a challenge to make all my pattern pieces fit onto the fabric. The fabric itself is a plain woven cotton in a warm grey colour, with dark sage green vertical stripes and shimmery golden horizontal stripes, creating a delicate check pattern. The print is a bit misaligned, and there are a few small printing errors, but I find these mistakes quite charming. I’m absolutely in love with the pattern and the colours of this fabric, I so wish I had more of it. I’m so glad that it’s no longer living inside my cupboard and that I can finally wear it out and about and give it the love and attention it deserves!
Final Thoughts
This whole project has been incredibly fulfilling, satisfying, and just pure fun. I learned so much from the entire process, and I now feel super excited to tackle even more hand sewing projects. Hand sewing gives you such immense control over the pace and specifics of the project, and I loved how neat and accurate I could get everything on the first try. I’m especially smitten with the collar / lapel situation, and I suspect I’ll hand sew these bits even on future machine-sewn shirts.
If you’re feeling intimidated by hand sewing, I would definitely recommend making a small project like a pouch or a tote bag by hand and seeing how you get on with it. I find it really relaxing, and I love the feeling on control I have over the process, and I think you might too! Let me know if you have any questions about this project, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on hand sewing :o)
