Patternmaking Guide: Fitted Shirts

This booklet is about women's fitted classic shirts based on the basic bodice block. 

You’ll learn how to draft a basic fitted shirt, including all the components that go with it: the basic collar, yoke, button placket (both basic and hidden), sleeve placket, and cuff. 

Then you'll learn how to create different versions of the shirt by dart manipulation, by changing the type of sleeve or collar, and by adding interesting details to the shirt.

Feel free to mix and match the different details and invent your own!

The ideal fabric for these shirts is cotton (poplin, lawn, chambray, twill, oxford). However, you could also go for materials such as linen or silk. For a more comfortable fit, choose woven materials with added elastane.

Due to the complexity of the classic shirt details, such as the collar and sleeve placket, this Patternmaking Guide is classified as "Intermediate" in difficulty. It will be accompanied by the Basic Bodice Block -guide.

Who is this product is for?

For anyone who has already sewn a few garments using commercial patterns and is now interested in learning how to draft their own unique patterns.

Who isn’t this product for?

Although the pattern making instructions provided are very detailed, complete-beginner sewers may find drafting these patterns quite challenging. Even a small understanding of garment construction will be extremely helpful. Also, these e-guides do not include instructions on how to sew the garments, so this might become a problem.

What is included in the e-guide order?

Each guide comes with the corresponding basic pattern instructions. So, in this case, the  basic bodice guide. This way you’ll be able to draft the basic block that is needed for making the shirt patterns, should you not have one yet. The basic pattern guides also include additional patternmaking instructions related to the subject.

Notice, that none of the patternmaking guides include the actual patterns. Instead, there are step-by-step instructions on how you can draft the pattern yourself using your measurements. The instructions consist of pictures and text and are limited to patternmaking only, so there are no sewing instructions. However, there is a Facebook group where I provide support if you need help with this.

You'll also get a PDF with links to extra resources (videos and tutorials) that will be helpful for both drafting the bodice block and sewing the shirts.

You will get two versions of each PDF, metric and imperial; I know how difficult it can be to draft patterns and trying to convert measurements at the same time!

Copyright

The patternmaking guides are for your personal use only, please do not publish or share the files or parts of them anywhere. Also, the garment designs provided are for personal use only, however, if you create your own pattern designs with the help of the instructions, this rule no longer applies to the resulting garments.

Return Policy

Due to the nature of digital goods, and the fact that you receive immediate access to the files, I cannot offer refunds or exchanges on the e-guides. So, please review the product information carefully before purchasing.

However, if there is a fault with the files or you get the incorrect items, do request a replacement.