A man's shirt is all about enclosed seams; specifically, flat felled seams. They have feet for that. I experimented with my 4mm felling foot with great sucess. It was the first time I got it out of the box. I also purchased an 8mm one for the sleeve insertion, but I was not happy using it. However, I discovered that I can make a nice flat felled seam with my edging foot. The experiment was on a straight seam. I'll have to see how I do on a curved one.
A man's shirt is all about pattern matching. I considered the look of the front band before any cutting. Do I want the wide strip or the small strip dead center? DH voted for the small strip, so I went with that. The first piece cut was the center band. Because this is an even strip, the left and right front pieces could be cut together. I made sure the front coincided with the front band. This pattern does not have a back yoke. All the shirts my DH has, has one. Since I was on my own with this, I thought it important to match the strips at the shoulder. I sewed a really simple enclosed seam here. Just made the usual 5/8" seam, trimmed one side down to half the width, then folded the other side over, and edge stitched it flat.
My accomplishment last night was the front pocket. It has to match the shirt front, be edge stitched, and be reinforced. Interesting discovery that a front pocket is a recent addition to a man's shirt. His suit had enough pockets to meet his needs.
