Resized Viborg shirt pattern work started on September 4, 2022. Sewing started on September 20, 2022. Initially finished on October 6, 2022. Neck hole re-done and finished again on November 29, 2022.
Details:
– light weight linen
– Pattern based on the Viborg shirt
– sized to fit an adult modern man
– completely hand-sewn
For literally years I’ve been meaning to resize the Viborg shirt and make one to fit my husband. The extant shirt is very small (like too small for my 8-year-old to wear). This was my very next project to work on when a friend asked me to make one for her husband’s (secret-from-him) soon to be knighting. Luckily her husband and my husband are just about the same size so it made it very possible to sneak in getting his sizes and sewing the shirt together. Unluckily this means I’ll be making the shirt I’ve been promising my husband for YEARS for someone else first.
RESIZED VIBORG TODOs:
- (done) Figure out revised measurements
- (done) Make a mockup
- (done) Fit mockup to model and revise measurements
- (done) Buy, wash, dry linen.
- (done) Cut linen.
- (done) Piece front lining
- (done) Sew shoulder seams
- (done) Complete front pinch pleat
- (done) Mark design on back then complete back pinch pleat/fixation seam
- (done) Sew the front and back waist seams
- (done) Flatfell the two pieces of the left sleeve together
- (done) Flatfell the gusset onto the back of the left sleeve
- (done) Flatfell the gusset and down the length of the left sleeve. Should enclose the sleeve to the wrist.
- (done) Repeat for the right sleeve/gusset.
- (done) Sew the sleeve seam A (finishing the garment-end of the sleeve).
- (done) Sew sleeve seam B (connecting sleeves to garment)
- (done) Sew the side seams.
- (done) Hem the unfinished edges of the skirt
- (done) Sew the skirt overlap down front and back.
- (done) Finish neck hole
- (done) Hem the sleeve ends
COSTS
IL020 BLEACHED – 100% Linen 4 yds $53.06 (purchased September 2022)
LEARNINGS (AKA TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS)
September 12, 2022
I figured out a possible pattern and cut this out of the last of my muslin (I ordered more).
We fitted the mockup. I ended up adjusting the fit to be more narrow through the shoulders than it is through the waist. The original was fitted in the opposite way (wide shoulders, narrow through the hips) but that fit was not flattering so I adjusted it.
It looked to me like the mockup would fit better if the neck hole was offset by 1 inch onto the back panels. I made this adjustment (and had to adjust for seam allowances on neck hole on the lining pieces). It’s in the spirit of the original, but not copying exactly.
September 20, 2022
I finalized my pattern and cut it out of the linen and completed the piecing on the front lining.
The last time I reproduced the Viborg shirt using the original dimensions I ended up using a slightly heavier linen. This time I decided to use a lighter weight linen so I bought white IL020 from Fabrics-store.com. Sadly the selvedge on their fabrics is fuzzy so I ended up doing my piecing with a flat-felled seam instead of butted selvedge seam as seen on the original. This is slightly more bulky on the front lining but I don’t think it will be really noticeable. On the sleeve piecing I plan to just use the flat-felled seam on both seams rather than piecing one and seaming the other.
Originally when I sat down to resize the shirt I though it would be hubris to reproduce the piecing used in the original shirt. Sort of a performative exactness (doing exactly like the original because it’s on the original not because it serves a purpose). That said, as I looked at the pattern pieces and figured out how to economize on fabric use it turns out that piecing the front lining really does save on fabric (~25 inches). I think if I could cut the sleeves as a single piece (instead of piecing) I could get this out of 3 yards of ~60 inch wide fabric. As it is this takes about 3 3/4 yards of fabric. I’ll play with my pattern for the next shirt.
September 21, 2022
Finished the shoulder seams and the front pinch pleat.
When I started stitching the pinch pleat on the front I was about half way done pinning it when I realized the pinch pleat would be much easier to do if I marked the pattern on the fabric before I began pinching. I’ll do that on the back (and on any future shirts I make).
September 22-24, 2022
Finished the pinch pleat on the back. Sewed up the length of the sleeves. Finished the garment-edge of one of the sleeves (seam A).
September 29, 2022
Finished seam A on the second sleeve an half way attached it to the garment. Then I realized I was attaching it from the outside of the garment and had to remove the sleeve and re-start. It’s supposed to be attached from the inside of the garment.
September 30, 2022-October 1, 2022
Finished attaching the sleeves to the garment and hemming the skirt portion of the shirt.
October 4, 2022
Finished most of the neck binding/ties. Because my selvedge is “fuzzy” I’ve increased the width of the neck binding to 1″ (on-grain) and will treat it like a double fold binding.
October 6, 2022
Finished the last of the neck binding, sewed down the skirt overlap and hemmed the ends of the sleeves. The shirt is now done.
Post Mortem
It turns out the surprising someone with a garment can cause unforeseen issues. Especially when it’s a garment in re-sized to a size you’ve never made before. It turns out that the neck opening was too small. It was large enough for Cyriac to put it on but the neckline did not lie right and could not be pulled closed. I’ve gotten the shirt back and am in process of resizing the neck opening.
This update really only took about 3 days but I sewed it in fits and start so I got it finished on November 29, 2022.
Photo by Thomas de Winter(Thomas Beebe)
Photo by Thomas de Winter(Thomas Beebe)
Photo by Lidia de Ragusa (Lydia Towery)