A shirt for DH, part 1

DH does not fit in standard American men's sized clothing; he's short, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist and should be wearing a small, but here in the US men don't like the word small, so he's spent years looking for a button down that isn't super baggy.  When he started working a lot in Asia, I suggested that he look for something there, and all of a sudden he could find shirts that fit better! When Uniqclo opened shops in the US, he could often find things there, but generally had better luck in their Tokyo locations. But he never really found shirts with interesting or fun fabrics; they were all made for the work environment. He's bemoaned the hole in his wardrobe that could be filled with a good fitting fun shirt appropriate to wear to jazz concerts.

I found a pattern with regular, fitted, and slim versions... stole one of his shirts to measure against, and came up with a size that I thought would work. I traced off the pattern and was ready to make a muslin when he revealed that wasn't the best fitting shirt to compare against.

So I retooled for a much smaller size; it looked good so I sewed it in muslin. The purpose for making a muslin is two-fold; first, to check the fit of the pattern in an inexpensive fabric, and the second, to work through all the pattern particulars and practice anything (like sleeve plackets) that might be tricky. The muslin fit! It looked good! It needed very minor tweaking... Then he swung his arms and we both decided he needed a little more movement... the next step will be to try the next larger size.  I'm preshrinking more muslin today as it's easier to get his take on fit when the fabric's been washed.

Meanwhile, where to find interesting fabric? I've had fabric printed by Spoonflower in the past, although the fabric I got was a little too stiff for shirting. I checked back and they are now printing on lawn; it may be slightly *too* lightweight. I've ordered a sample of the next heavier fabric, in a few different stock patterns, and if that doesn't work I'll probably have to drag HisSelf to a nice fabric store.