One Step at a Time

I shared back in September that I was working on a button-up shirt to wear to my friend’s wedding. I will be the first to raise my hand and say that I am by no means a professional sewer. I don’t even think I would say I am a proficient sewer. I have learned exactly the number of skills that I have needed to create the projects I have made up until this point, and nothing more.

I started sewing right before the world shut down, in February 2020. I had borrowed my grandmother’s 1960s Singer sewing machine from my mother and worked through the basics by making a couple of tote bags. I worked myself up to sewing a couple poorly fitting t-shirts for myself (which have since been discarded) and then my sewing journey took a completely unexpected turn when suddenly everybody needed face masks and there weren’t any available anywhere. Kyle had also previously taken a sewing class and had made some really cute pillow cases and a pair of pajama pants he threw away (and which I saved – I’m not sure if he knows that. Shhh! They’ll be repurposed.) Our sewing room turned into a full-on mask making operation and I think we sewed upwards of 800 or so masks for family, friends, and to donate to nursing homes and medical providers.

I had previously purchased fabric and a few different patterns for my “some day” stash, knowing that I had a goal in mind to be able to sew my own button-up shirts to wear to the office within two years of learning to sew. That fabric eventually got cut up to sew into more masks because, due to the mask shortage, there was also a cotton fabric shortage so we made do with what we could find. Don’t even get me started on trying to get my hands on 12 yards of white cotton fabric to sew a burial shroud for my friend’s mother at the height of lockdown. Everything was so surreal at that time (as you are all well aware).

As the demand for hand-sewn masks began to subside and fabric supply started to bounce back,

I was able to turn my attention back to some of my other sewing goals. Fully obsessed with sewing by then, I had bought myself a fancy new sewing machine and watched countless instructional videos and online classes on every garment possible. (As an aside, that is how I do most of my learning. I absolutely love instructional videos and when I am interested in a craft, I watch every single video I can find. That and craft books. I love to accumulate information.) I collected all the tools and notions I could possibly need, finished watching my sixth course on sewing a button-up shirt, and decided I was ready. It actually went pretty well!

And here is where I emphasize that I am still very much a beginner when it comes to sewing and garment construction. With knitting, I have been doing that “professionally” for over a decade now. I understand garment construction, stitch patterns, how to modify the garment, what yarn to choose or how to make an appropriate substitution, how fiber content affects the final product, etc. etc. With sewing, I know how to follow the pattern and complete step 1, then step 2, then step 3. That’s about it. But this is all a journey, and right now that’s all I have needed to get from beginning to end. This latest shirt is the fourth button-up that I have made, and each one has been made using the exact same pattern (with minor tweaks each time) because I am too nervous to try a new one. And each time I sew a shirt, it is step by step. Whenever I complete a part of the shirt, I take a breath and think “whew, well at least that was the hardest part, the rest will be easy!”

Joining the front and back to the yoke with this weird, mysterious rolled up “burrito” technique so that the seams are sandwiched inside the yoke… that’s the hardest part.

Until you construct and attach the collar. THAT is the hardest part!

No wait, maybe the sleeve gussets are the hardest part. Whoever figured out how fabric pieces go together to make a garment has to be an origami master. These gussets are 100% a “trust the process” moment for me. I still can’t completely visualize what’s going on there, but I can follow the directions. And when they’re finished, at least the hardest part is over!

Oh wait, I forgot about how frustrating it is to set the sleeve into the armscye. That part takes a lot of slow sewing, patience, and usually a seam ripper. And you have to do it twice?? At least when it’s over, the hardest part is done. Of course doing that with flat-felled seams makes the process even harder.

After that, it’s just a few straight seams to close up the sides and sleeves, a small hem on the bottom, whack on a couple buttons and suddenly, somehow, you have a finished shirt. All it takes is doing things one step at a time.

I forgot to take any photos at the wedding while I was wearing my matching face mask (all of my shirts have been made with matching masks because this is a pandemic, y’all!), and I was almost late for the wedding because I was still madly sewing buttons onto the shirt at the last minute (I travelled to MN with buttons and thread), but it all worked out in the end and I think the shirt went really well with the fair isle vest I knit.

Of course dreams of a closet full of handmade shirts for the office are moot because I work from home full-time now, so I was happy for the occasion to get a little dressed up.

I hope you have all pulled out your woolens and are staying warm this November. We have the crackling fire going, a basket of blankets handy, and wool running through our hands.

Until next time, stay creative.