The Pattern: McCalls 7575 Button Down Shirt

I decided to make the long tunic shirt since I am currently obsessed with shirts I can wear with leggings. I found this very cute fabric that I could not leave the store without. I have a dachshund mix and they are also my favorite dog breed (adopted and rescued of course). I knew it was going to be a challenge cutting the fabric to make sure the dogs all lined up in a row. I wanted the shirt to look like they were all marching around me. Weird I know, but still true. I think the cutting of the cutting of the fabric was the most agonizing part at the start. I always make this too hard for myself. I want things to line up perfectly so I have to use the tape measure and place all the pattern pieces just right on the fabric. It can be a time consuming venture, but the end result is worth it. The fabric is 100% cotton, so it will wrinkle if you don’t iron it right out of the dryer. I included an “end of day” picture so you can see what cotton will look like after a day of activities. 

The first thing I did before cutting the fabric was grade the pattern for my hips. The issue I have with many of the top 4 pattern companies is that their sizing is just terrible. Maybe they rely too much on software to predict their sizing, but the end product usually does not match the sizing on the back of the envelope. So this is what I do… Before I cut the pattern out, I measure the pieces with my handy tape measure. I usually do this around the middle and around the hips where things never seem to fit right when I just go by the pattern sizing. This has saved me from dehydrating from all the tears. I absolutely hate wasting good fabric. Especially fabric I am super excited about wearing when done!

So back to what I was saying, I measure and grade the pattern paper prior to cutting out the fabric. If you want, you could also trace the pattern onto tracing paper instead of cutting the pattern out. I have started doing this and will discuss this in a future blog post. I need to grade the pattern from waist to hips as I have likely mentioned in prior posts. I will usually just go up one dress/pattern size to do this. At the time I was making this shirt, I had not yet received my snazzy new set of pattern rulers. I don’t like to draw a straight line when I grade for my hips since I am not made of straight lines. So I just made a best guess at my curving abilities and I think I made it work. 

Then I cut the pattern and made sure to line up the little dogs so that they would wrap around me like a line of dancing dachshunds! I always like to read through the pattern before I start sewing away. Something I learned in my science classes. Read through, then do. This way, if there is something I do not understand, I can look it up in my sewing book or find some answers in others sewists reviews. 

The Construction Instruction:

I feel that the instructions were pretty straight forward for the most part. The only big trouble I had was with the lack of top stitching, the strange hem, and the collar, and cuffs. I think I will start with the lack of top stitching since, to me, that was a strange detail. But I think most of these issues I had were likely just due to preference.

I would like to start with my general overall opinion that the instructions were very good. This particular pattern has a lesson in teaching you to fit a pattern by using the pattern tissue. I tried it out, but already knew the adjustments I needed to make prior to construction. Many of these patterns, as I mentioned, do not do a good enough job in the hip area for me. So I always automatically grade that for myself. The instructions were easy enough to follow for the yoke, sleeves and everything else. I just had a few problem areas that, to be honest, are probably due to my lack of experience in shirt making. This also made me think that others who have not made this style of shirt may also have this issue. 

There was a lack of instruction on how to stitch the front button casing. I think what I was looking for was for more top stitching like on my other store bought shirts. Not a big deal since I just added it to the mix. I attached the button casing to the front then top stitched on both sides. I do want to note that I did not add any interfacing to the button front or collar. I wanted to see if it would still look okay without the stiffness. Note that there are so many different interfacing with different degrees of stiffness. Now I know this, but I just wanted to see what would happen if I just stabilized the fabric with thread. You have to experiment every now and again to keep things exciting. The top stitching did not add the stability needed for the shirt. Maybe if I used snaps instead of buttons it would have been fine. But the front doesn’t stay as closed as it should. I think this would have been different if I actually used interfacing. 

Moving on… I did not like the instructions on the hemming process. The shirt I made has a lovely curved hem. When you actually sew the hem, it can bunch. Or at least this happens when I do it. I iron and do all the things, but I cannot seem to get the hem to look nice on the curve. So I did the hem with bias tape which I think makes it look nicer. It lays flat and with a different color, adds a bit of flair and detail. Remember that you are free to do something a little different than what the directions say! So go crazy and add bias tape to all the hems! I only decided to do this, of course, after I hemmed the bottom. I had to use my seam ripper to undo the whole bottom. This made it look ragged, but the bias tape ended up hiding that. 

Now for the collar. I decided to make this shirt because I am not good at collars and I wanted to learn a new skill. I will have to make this shirt a few more times before I can say I really learned how to make a collared shirt. The instructions should be at a level of detail that a novice should be able to follow along. I did not get that from these instructions. I am going to try and figure out how to create a sew along just for people like me who cannot figure this out. Many of the instructions I found online seem to skip over details I need to make a perfect collar. I also hate hand sewing. This is something I do need to get over, I realize that. There are some things that you need to hand sew because your sewing machine just can’t do a ladder stitch. So this might be on me on not being patient enough to do something slow and correct. I ended up doing a “stitch in the ditch” with the collar. Not my best, but also not my worst work here. 

I also feel there was a lack of detail in the construction and instruction for the cuffs. Most shirts will have a tab detail around the split in the sleeve near the cuff. This shirt did not have that and you just made a hem for the split. It looks okay, but I would rather have that tab near the cuff. It makes the shirt look a little better and also be a bit more durable. Well in my not so humble opinion anyway. I also added top stitching around the edge of the cuff for a crisper look. 

My Overall Thoughts:

I think someone with sewing experience can create a lovely shirt from this pattern. A beginner can make this shirt, but do note that you should take your time and go super slow with this. You will need hand sewing skills and also skills in fitting if you want a tailored look. I also think you need to accept the fact that you need to hand sew some things. So work on that. I am saying that for myself too! Also make sure you practice sewing button holes. I do not like sewing button holes. That is another reason why I wanted to make this shirt, so I can get over myself and embrace the skill that is button hole creation. That being said, next time I make this I am using snaps. I just learned how to do those and I want to put snaps in everything now!

I was excited to make this shirt and use the fun dachshund fabric I found. I learned some lessons and will definitely make changes next time around. When I make my next shirt, I will use interfacing and accept the fact I will be hand sewing. I also plan to use snaps since they are fun to hammer into clothes. I will also continue to use the bias tape around the bottom hem. Since I made this shirt last year, I am thinking about going to the store today to find more fabric for a new one. When I do make a new shirt from this pattern, I will make sure to create another review as well. I hope this review has helped you in some small way. Let me know if you have made this shirt and if you have done anything differently. Happy sewing my friends!