Sewing Shirts with a Perfect Fit

Book excerpt: Do you long to get a perfect fit when sewing your own shirts and blouses? In Sewing Shirts with a Perfect Fit, author, teacher, and shirt-sewing expert David Page Coffin shows how you can easily transform the patterns included with the book into three different customized basic shirt silhouettes. Learn to work with any body shape for men or women to achieve unique, personalized, and well-fitted basic shirt patterns for yourself or anyone else. The book includes detailed explanations of essential techniques; clear, step-by-step photos; and basic patterns for sizes XXXS to XXXL that are included in a pocket behind the front cover. Discover unique fitting options for shirts and learn how to drape fabrics to create a wrinkle-free garment. With these techniques, you’ll understand how to get a great fit with almost no measuring for any and all body types, including plus-size and athletic figures. Using his couture-inspired draping methods on both standard and custom-shaped body forms (with great tips on how to make your own form), David then demonstrates how to adjust shoulder and side seams, necklines, sleeves, and armholes, and add darts or new seams to achieve the fit you want for each silhouette: loose, fitted, or tight. Once you've covered the fundamental concepts and techniques, put your knowledge into practice with the four distinctive, original step-by-step shirt design and construction projects. These projects offer a variety of classic shirt, shirt-jacket, and dress shirt styles you can make and perfectly fit with the included patterns. In this book you’ll also learn: Correct ways to drape patterns in different fabrics for a great fit. How to make a denim Western shirt with sleeve plackets and snaps. Construction tips that will make your garments look more professional. How to create a fitted wrapped shirtdress that can be any length. Ways to position and reshape a yoke. Sewing Shirts with a Perfect Fit will give you the skills you need to get the right fit every time!