The Making of Blue & White Linen Shirt - Bespoke (C6)

 The finished Shirt

Client requirements:

• Colour: Preferrably shades of blue to compliment client’s eye colour
• Style: worn loose and complementing natural body curves
• Body: 5’4”, medium built

In this case, I had free range in material choice except for the above listed requirements.

I decided on the following fabric and materials:

• Fabric 1: Vintage, skyblue Liberty linen
• Fabric 2: White, soft linen/viscose blend
• Fabric 3: Vintage silk
• Pearlised buttons with metal rim

 

If possible, I like to take a full size photograph of the client for me to work with later on during the design process.

Here the chosen fabric is arranged on a bust. It is here where I decide on the width of the individual parts and their positioning.

 Before the construction of the actual pattern, I create a design sketch showing positioning and approximate width of the individual parts.

Before I create the final cutting templates I prefer to make a prototype. It is basically a pre-fitting process and preferably this involves a 2nd meeting so we can discuss the shirts fit and make changes at this stage if required.

  

Once the pre-fitting has been successfully completed, I then create the final cutting templates, this time taking the design into consideration. This is a fairly lengthy process.

 

 Cutting out the individual shirt parts can be very time consuming, particularly if fabric pattern has to be taken into consideration.
Because I work mostly with vintage and / or rare materials there is often only a certain amount available and therefore i cannot allow to make any mistakes during this process.
Once all pieces have been cut I then arrange them on the bust for final ‘consideration’.

 

One by one, the pieces are joined together.
At this stage small alterations to the design are still possible. In this case, i am still not sure which buttons to choose.

  

 Slowly it is taking on shape. Joining the pieces together requires much attention for detail, as again I cannot allow to make mistakes as there is only a limited amount of fabric available.