This pattern, part of Butterick’s “Making History” series, includes four versions of a men’s shirt with and without collars and front and cuff ruffles. I made the version with the front ruffles for a friend who wanted a pirate shirt. There are a lot of fiddly bits that all need to be interfaced. I felt the pattern was overly complicated when it came to attaching the ruffles and plackets containing the lacing holes. I couldn’t figure out what the directions wanted me to do (several steps were squished into one tiny diagram), then when I did understand, it didn’t seem like a very good idea in terms of having a shirt that would hold up to multiple washings. I just did my own thing, which looked OK. I also had a little trouble attaching the collar and had to fudge it, but that could be my lack of experience with collars. The shirt looks great now that it’s done, but be prepared to struggle a bit. The ruffle-free versions might be easier.
Julie Washington –
This pattern, part of Butterick’s “Making History” series, includes four versions of a men’s shirt with and without collars and front and cuff ruffles. I made the version with the front ruffles for a friend who wanted a pirate shirt. There are a lot of fiddly bits that all need to be interfaced. I felt the pattern was overly complicated when it came to attaching the ruffles and plackets containing the lacing holes. I couldn’t figure out what the directions wanted me to do (several steps were squished into one tiny diagram), then when I did understand, it didn’t seem like a very good idea in terms of having a shirt that would hold up to multiple washings. I just did my own thing, which looked OK. I also had a little trouble attaching the collar and had to fudge it, but that could be my lack of experience with collars. The shirt looks great now that it’s done, but be prepared to struggle a bit. The ruffle-free versions might be easier.