Some of you know that I’ve been participating in the Men’s Shirt Sew-A-Long over at Male Pattern Boldness.  I was a little slow off the mark making the muslin/toile, but after a solid chunk of sewing on the weekend, I have completed what will be known in our family as “the Dayo shirt”.

Why the Dayo shirt, you ask? The fabric was a gift to mr thornberry some years ago from a work colleague, Dayo. Dayo’s wife and family live in Nigeria, and she hand-dyed the batik herself.  When we first received it I thought “oh my, what will I make out of this?” – but I reckon that this shirt is the perfect match for the fabric, as does my husband!

The pattern is the Negroni shirt, by Collette patterns. I made the size medium, and overall I think it’s a pretty good fit.  Because this is the muslin, I made it straight from the pattern, without any alterations.  Next time I make it I will:

• shorten the sleeves about half an inch
• narrow the back yoke so it’s not so wide across the shoulders (and adjust the sleeve cap accordingly)
• make the first button lower down (and adjust the rest accordingly)
• narrow the facings – I think they’re much wider than necessary.

One of my husband’s shoulders is lower than the other, which we weren’t really aware of until I took all these photos to see what needed to be adjusted! I don’t think I’m going to make any alterations to take that into account. It does make the pockets look as though they are on slightly different levels – which they aren’t – but I figure that no-one is likely to notice that on a shirt that is in motion.

The instructions for the sleeve plackets and cuffs were great and they came together beautifully. I’d still like to draft a collar and stand for this shirt too, so that I have that option. There are plenty of instructions around on how to do that, including on the Male Pattern Boldness blog.

So there you have it – the Dayo shirt, aka the Negroni muslin. Definitely wearable as is – and you’ll all find him in a crowd.  He’s definitely lost all anonymity with this one – especially because you can see him wearing it over here as well!