o' henley

OK, more dudewear! I know you gals love it, right? Here are some handmade Henleys for the handsome him in my life. Apparently Henley (a collarless shirt with a short buttoned placket) is a capitalized word because it's named after the English town of Henley-on-Thames. Ralph Lauren was the one who said, "Let's take this weird long underwear top historically worn by rowers and make it popular for all men to wear in public" (not a direct quote) and it worked, because he's Ralph Lauren. Alright, enough history.

The pattern is the Strathcona Henley from Thread Theory, the new menswear pattern line based in Canada. You can see the shorts I made from their great Jedediah Pants pattern here. I bought the Strathcona PDF the second the pattern was released. Corey had been wearing these awful pilling Henley shirts from H&M that stretched out like crazy in the arms and were made from the blood and tears of children working in sweatshops overseas (I perhaps exaggerate). Our household has recently enacted an unofficial and unvoiced ban against H&M. I prefer to be the underpaid seamstress for all of our clothes, got it?

Corey is 6'1" and has a 30" chest. I made him the size XS with 1/2" seam allowances instead of 5/8", and it has a slim fit to his liking.

I don't really want to sugarcoat my whole review of this pattern, because I came across some issues with the construction and design that I changed in future versions for better results. HOWEVER, it's an excellent starting-off point and the fit is great, so I'm delighted with it anyway. My first try/muslin was a hot mess. The second one (the red one in the first photo) was better, but the fabric is a weird cotton/lycra blend from Girl Charlee that changes colors when ironed and gets fingerprint markings when handled. The third one is this heather gray version that is cozier fabric and is better made (but not stellar) in general.

So, in case you're interested in making this pattern, I want to go over some stuff that concerned me or that I changed. This post is pretty detailed about a men's pattern that a lot of you won't make, so I understand if it's not your thang.

1) Placket

The placket as written is supposed to turn out like this:

The placket is cut as one piece that is intricately folded so the inside ends up with tucked away raw edges. The bottom edge is folded and topstitched on the exterior of the garment. Red flag: disastrous sewing for Andrea ahead. Plackets are naughty by nature. Combine that with stretch fabric and an impatient seamstress and good luck.

After Googling the hell out of some plackets for Henleys and polos, I realized the ideal (for me) method was already under my nose: the Banksia Top pattern by Megan Nielsen! She includes two methods for the Banksia placket in the pattern instructions and on her sew-along. She calls this one the "easy" method, and I agree that it is easier, but I also prefer the way it looks because the bottom edge is tucked out of sight to the inside of the garment. 

To make the changes to the Strathcona pattern so I could follow Meg's example, I sewed the 1"-wide rectangle on the shirt first, so that when slit down the middle it creates two 1/2" seam allowances. Then I cut two separate placket pieces instead of one. I wanted a one-inch wide final placket, so each piece is 3 inches wide to start. It's interfaced, folded in half wrong sides together, and sewn at 1/2" to the front placket slits. I followed the rest of Megan's tutorial and called it a day. Just note that the Banksia has you finish the neckline before attaching the placket, but in this case for the Henley, the placket should be sewn before the neckband is attached. And of course, for menswear, the placket opens the opposite way (which it does in the Strathcona instructions but not in the photos that accompany the pattern).

I made my own my calculation error on this placket (sewing it at 5/8" seam allowance instead of 1/2"), which is why the left side looks a little too narrow and doesn't lay completely flat when worn. What I wrote out in the above paragraph will address this, though.

2) Neckband

The pattern piece and cutting layout tells you to cut the neckband along the lengthwise grain. Huh? On two-way stretch fabrics (jersey, double knit, interlock, ponte), the maximum stretch is on the cross-grain of the fabric. So... in this case, the neckband is NOT cut along the maximum stretch of the fabric, which doesn't make sense because the neckband absolutely needs to stretch to get over Corey's big fat head. It should be cut in the same direction of stretch as the body of the shirt is.

??

I tried it this way on the first Henley, and it was more difficult to stretch the neckband around the neckline of the shirt. The neckband is cut significantly smaller than the neckline -- which is appropriate for knit garments -- but without proper stretch in the neckband, it just doesn't really work. So, for future versions I cut mine along the cross-grain of the fabric instead.

If the neckband is cut on the lengthwise grain as instructed, then the neckband edges/corners are created by sewing vertically (along the crosswise grain), which means they groooowww as you sew, and you get ugly pointy neckband corners that are not squared off. This is hard to explain in written text, so I'm sorry if you have no idea what I'm trying to say. Let me know if you want more photos, because I plan to make this shirt again soon and can take construction shots.

3) Buttonholes

The pattern doesn't call for a button on the neckband, but it seemed too thick to not have one. I added one so it doesn't flop open and flash its serged seams. Risque.

My machine dislikes sewing buttonholes in general, but especially on this shirt, it was a nightmare trying to get the buttonhole foot to move at all on the finished placket/neckband. On my third version, I opted to sew the buttonholes on the placket and the neckband before attaching them each to the shirt. This made for neater buttonholes, yes, but it also meant I didn't get the final spacing very even. I didn't say anything about the button spacing to Corey and he didn't notice (or care), so we'll pretend it was intentional.

4) Cuffs and Hem Band

The sleeves on this shirt are meant to be long on a normal dude (versus long-armed Corey). The cuffs themselves are quite long. He requested that I lengthen the sleeve and shorten the cuff part a bit.

I omitted the hem band because the shirt would have been too long (in his opinion) with it, and I wasn't digging the style. I finished the hem with my coverstitch machine instead.

Besides the minor issues I had, it all sews up quickly and comfily. Snuggle up.

I hope I don't seem too nitpicky, because it truly is a great casual wardrobe staple for guys. Corey loves both of his. And Thread Theory includes very thorough instructions for sewing with knits - with or without a serger - that are geared toward beginners. If you're confident in your placket-making skillz, then this shirt can be made in a hot little minute. Or you can just make the t-shirt version!

If you've sewn a placket like this, do you have a preferred method?

#sewingfordudes

I haven't been inspired by many women's apparel patterns lately (except for one that's taking forever to arrive by mail), but luckily for the main man in my life, Thread Theory just launched a refreshingly modern pattern line for dude clothes. We all know that the commercial patterns currently available for men are abysmal and laughable at best (check out all 8 of Butterick's studly options here), so I think Thread Theory jumped into the market at the perfect time. The young husband-wife duo (aww) behind Thread Theory create casual menswear with a slim, modern cut. So, no elastic-waist pajama pants or scrubs? Believe it.

The Jedediah Pants are chino-style trousers with front slash pockets, a back yoke and back patch pockets. I bought the pattern on the day of its release at the end of July and immediately prepared the PDF and made a muslin. I bought legit fabric for it last Sunday and have already made two pairs of shorts for Corey, who before now only had one pair of ugly (sorry) dusty green cut-offs. 

Knowing that Thread Theory was a new pattern company, I'll admit I was a little wary going into the process because I didn't know what to expect of the drafting, presentation and instruction style. But DANG, they're seriously good. All of it. Even Lisa G says so, and I always trust her eagle-eye analysis of whether a pattern is well-drafted or wonky. I thought the pattern was well-marked and sewed together beautifully, and the instructions were incredibly thorough and well-illustrated. I am nothing but chuffed with the final result. 

I was impressed with the attention to detail incorporated in the pattern instructions. They tell you how to sew flat-felled seams, how to French seam the pocket bags, how to apply bias binding to the seams of the shorts, and where to add bar tacks and other methods for seam durability. Sewing the zip fly was a cinch, and seemed faster than other fly-front methods I've used. For the pants version, they even show you how to steam and stretch some of the seams for a better fit around the curves of the legs. Not like I get it, but it sounds SMART. 

Naturally, being me, I just serged and top-stitched the seams instead of flat-felling. There's an option for rolling up the cuff but I simply sewed a 1" hem at the length he wanted. I also left off the back pocket stitching design. 

For the pocket lining of both pairs of shorts, I used a scrap of floral silk cotton from my stash. I think it's his favorite part. This man loves vintage floral prints, can you tell?

(Green Oxford shirt not made by me -- but ethically sourced and sold through Everlane, a great company that's working to bring more transparency to the fashion industry.)

The two pairs of shorts I made are slightly different sizes. Corey has long ostrich legs (sorry) and is super thin. His ideal store-bought trouser size is a 29" waist, but since you can't find that very often, he has typically worn a 30" waist and dealt with the slightly baggy fit. I decided to sew the size 30 in the Jedediah pattern-- the smallest size -- and then I took in the waistband a bit more. They fit snugly when he stands -- actually hitting at the "proper" (though rare) height for waistbands. They look good for this reason, but the fabric is a cotton twill with no give at all, so he says they strain and ride up uncomfortably when he sits down. I think it's fair to say that the Jedediah pants run a little smaller than RTW sizing for that reason. I also think it's fair to say that a muslin isn't worth much unless you actually try to move around and sit in it. My bad.

For the second version of the Jedediah, I used a tobacco-colored twill that has a slightly looser weave and an eensy bit more give. I still made the size 30, but cut the edges a bit more generously and sewed the side seams, inseams and "seat seam" (Thread Theory's less cringe-worthy term for crotch seam) with a 3/8" seam allowance instead of 5/8". That seemed to add more ease and he says they're more comfortable all around even if they look a little puffy.

I think I've made it clear that I highly recommend this pattern if you're looking to sew some bottoms for your favorite guy's bottom -- or your own! Fellas, are you out there? a/s/l? ;)

The pattern is only available as a PDF for now. Morgan, the designer and seamster behind Thread Theory, will be leading a sew-along of the shorts version of the Jedediah pattern on their blog beginning August 15th -- soon! Obviously I didn't have patience to wait for it, but I have a feeling it will be clear, thorough and well-photographed for those who'd like to follow along.

Alright, the end. I have to attend to the mosquito attack I endured when we first tried to take these photos outside in our gross overgrown background. Wanna know how many bites I got on my legs and arms in, like, a six minute span? FORTY FOUR. That's no joke. I think tomorrow I'm going to wake up as a mosquito myself, geez.

So who else has been #sewingfordudes lately?