Henry Shirt Sew-Along, Day Six

Little known fact about me: I am terrible at finishing projects. Like, I very jazzed about the idea and the starting and say jazzed all the way up until I am about 90 percent of the way in. Then those last few steps somehow feel like torture. Tomorrow will be brutal. How will I ever possibly hem a shirt and put on some snaps without melting into a puddle on my floor?

But that's tomorrow. Today, we're still good. We're in the 90 percent. Occupy the Henry Shirt!

OK, I'm off my rocker right now. Let's get to it.

Today we form and attach the collar.



Start with a simple 3/8 inch press on the bottom of your outer collar piece. Make sure you've got the right bottom! I referred back to the pattern paper just to make sure.

When you line up the under collar to the main collar, you'll notice something. It's smaller! This was a scary moment for me, because I often cut things a little wonky. But in this case, the pieces are meant to be different, because you cut the under collar on the bias. Which is a fancy way of saying, this piece of fabric will stretch, and so it is OK that it is a tad smaller.

Here they are with one side sewn together. See? Stretchy! 

I should have said this earlier in this process, but a good iron and a lot of pressing is so helpful. You've got to iron the hell out of all your seams after each step of the process to make things really lay properly. It's a life-saver! I especially went wild with my iron after this step above, where I sewed the two short ends together.

Then you attach the collar to lining to the shirt, leaving the main piece floating free. That gets sewn together first.

And that's the last good photo I have of the process!

You'll flip the collar over and line that folded edge up, covering the unsightly seam bits on the inside of the shirt. Then you edge-stitch it down.

And then look at that....

Your shirt is really now a shirt!

Check out my Sew-Along partner Leila's nearly finished project on her blog, Bilingual Baby. We're almost done, which means I must summon all my will-power to not rest happy with what I've done so far. Cause I'm really happy with that. Like, I just want to put the shirt under my pillow for safe-keeping. But I won't. I'll finish it, I promise. Check back tomorrow to see!