Getting Daring

[duh who]

I've been fooling around with extending the yoke on some shirts because I
thought it looked "sportier". However, I have a tendency to get some
tension across the backs of my shirts because I have broad shoulders,
extended yoke or not. I decide to go another route.

I was inspired by something in David Coffin's book. He had one shirt that
had a sizable reverse pleat down the back, with contrasting color for the
inside piece.

I took Coffin's idea about the large reverse pleate and decided to make two
reverse pleats at each shoulder blade. I then tapered each pleat down to
nothing by the time it reached the waist. This gives me some give at the
shoulder blades, but I only let the pleat expand for about six inches below
the yoke (which I shortened by 1 inch from the original pattern), and is
edge-stitched closed from there on down.

The pleats were angled in so as to give me a tapered line also to look at
(or for others to look at, rather). I'm just ponying it up with some cheap
fabric right now. It may look too funky when I get through, but, what the
heck, $7 in materials and a little creativity, and something to tweak for
later projects. Keeps me off the streets.

Dwight

[Kate Dicey]

duh who wrote:
>
> I've been fooling around with extending the yoke on some shirts because I
> thought it looked "sportier". However, I have a tendency to get some
> tension across the backs of my shirts because I have broad shoulders,
> extended yoke or not. I decide to go another route.
>
> I was inspired by something in David Coffin's book. He had one shirt that
> had a sizable reverse pleat down the back, with contrasting color for the
> inside piece.
>
> I took Coffin's idea about the large reverse pleate and decided to make two
> reverse pleats at each shoulder blade. I then tapered each pleat down to
> nothing by the time it reached the waist. This gives me some give at the
> shoulder blades, but I only let the pleat expand for about six inches below
> the yoke (which I shortened by 1 inch from the original pattern), and is
> edge-stitched closed from there on down.
>
> The pleats were angled in so as to give me a tapered line also to look at
> (or for others to look at, rather). I'm just ponying it up with some cheap
> fabric right now. It may look too funky when I get through, but, what the
> heck, $7 in materials and a little creativity, and something to tweak for
> later projects. Keeps me off the streets.
>
> Dwight
Sounds like you are enjoying the experiments, which is part of the fun!
:)
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

[SewStorm]

> Keeps me off the streets.

Well, then it's surely worthwhile!! LOL

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

[duh who]

"SewStorm" > wrote in message
...
> > Keeps me off the streets.
>
> Well, then it's surely worthwhile!! LOL
>
> Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati
>

I've been giving some thought to quilting, but just can't seem to motivate
myself. Seems like a lot of tedium, only to find out my color sense is
awry. Then, last night, as I was coming in off the streets (from a
bookstore looking for sewing books) I walked in the house and looked at my
Richard Diebenkorn print hanging on the wall. He's an abstract
expressionist whose works sometimes have some rectangular geometry to them.
I started thinking "Hmmm...maybe I could replicate one of his works in a
quilt."

But, its shirts first.

[duh who]

> I've been giving some thought to quilting, but just can't seem to motivate
> myself. Seems like a lot of tedium, only to find out my color sense is
> awry. Then, last night, as I was coming in off the streets (from a
> bookstore looking for sewing books) I walked in the house and looked at my
> Richard Diebenkorn print hanging on the wall. He's an abstract
> expressionist whose works sometimes have some rectangular geometry to
them.
> I started thinking "Hmmm...maybe I could replicate one of his works in a
> quilt."


Here's an example of a Diebenkorn:

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/D/diebenkorn/ocean_park_114.jpg.html

[Trish Brown]

duh who wrote:

> I've been giving some thought to quilting, but just can't seem to motivate
> myself. Seems like a lot of tedium, only to find out my color sense is
> awry. Then, last night, as I was coming in off the streets (from a
> bookstore looking for sewing books) I walked in the house and looked at my
> Richard Diebenkorn print hanging on the wall. He's an abstract
> expressionist whose works sometimes have some rectangular geometry to them.
> I started thinking "Hmmm...maybe I could replicate one of his works in a
> quilt."
>
> But, its shirts first.

My very best friend rang me up one day and said 'I'd like to do something
creative. Not embroidery like you do, but something *bigger* with our old sewing
machine. What can I do?'

After giving him the basics of sewing and making clothing for his wife and
daughter, I advised him to go straight to his local quilting group and learn to
quilt. Today, he's a magnificent quilter and has made gifts for all his family
and friends and some magnificent hangings and furnishings for his home. Above
all, he's been utterly besotted with the bug and has become something of an
addict. LOL! It's so *good* to be an enabler!

Still, I take your point about getting motivated! I've been collecting fat
quarters for years and years and *still* I haven't been able to get started! I
don't know why it is... something to do with cutting up all that fabric only to
sew it back together again. Or maybe like you I'm afraid I won't be able to make
much of a colour combination. Or maybe it's just not my algorithm... Dunno...

If I do anything, it'll probably be something along the lines of crazy patchwork
where I can incorporate embroidery and embellishment along with the piecing. One
thing I do know: the first thing I ever make will be a picnic rug. I've
collected all my DH's old cotton shorts (all in various shades of blue) and cut
them into four inch squares. One Of These Days, I'm going to piece them all
together into a throw rug and back it with some flannel-backed vinyl. One of
These Days...

I wish you success with your shirts and hope like mad you can get started
quilting! It's so good to have something you do just for beauty rather than for
pure functionality! :-D
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[duh who]

> I wish you success with your shirts and hope like mad you can get started
> quilting! It's so good to have something you do just for beauty rather
than for
> pure functionality! :-D

Well, that shirt is getting daunting. I've got the shell together, but
there's something about the reverse pleats that want to stay open once
opened. I had someone look at it, and the lines tapering down to the waist
look good, but she thought the pleats staying open looked a little funky.

I'm closing the pleat from both ends to narrow its expanding area and this
seems to help. Perhaps I should just do a large 1/2 pleat on each side.
Maybe pictures would help.

On my regular shirts I do this:

...............______________________
_______\ /______


My current design is like this (ignore the periods, that's just so things
line up):
...............__................................. .....__
_______\ /___________________\ /______

What I might do is this

..............._______________
...............\............................/
________\......................../_________

[Valkyrie]

"duh who" > wrote in message
...
> > I wish you success with your shirts and hope like mad you can get
started
> > quilting! It's so good to have something you do just for beauty rather
> than for
> > pure functionality! :-D
>
> Well, that shirt is getting daunting. I've got the shell together, but
> there's something about the reverse pleats that want to stay open once
> opened. I had someone look at it, and the lines tapering down to the
waist
> look good, but she thought the pleats staying open looked a little funky.
>
> I'm closing the pleat from both ends to narrow its expanding area and this
> seems to help. Perhaps I should just do a large 1/2 pleat on each side.
> Maybe pictures would help.

I wonder if a very close to the fold top stitching would solve your problem?
I did some two toned cheerleader skirts that I top stitched knife pleats
from waist to hem. They hung nicely as one color when standing perfectly
still, as soon as they moved at all you could see the second color. If you
top stitched the yoke, collar, cuffs and placket, too, it would be just an
integral part of the shirt design. Lots of good steam pressing before top
stitching those pleats would probably also help. Also, a pleat that should
lie flat put over any sort of a curve, as a body does, will open if there
isn't enough extra ease in the over all across the back measurement, maybe
just giving yourself another inch or so would help. However, even if you
have those pleats hanging perfectly and not pulling open, as soon as you
bend forward or reach with your arms they are going to pull open. Just the
physics of how your back moves makes pleats a design feature that will not
be perfect at all times.

Just a thought,
Val

[Kathy Morgan]

duh who > wrote:

> Well, that shirt is getting daunting. I've got the shell together, but
> there's something about the reverse pleats that want to stay open once
> opened. I had someone look at it, and the lines tapering down to the waist
> look good, but she thought the pleats staying open looked a little funky.

I agree with Val; try topstitching the edges of the pleat right next to
the fold/seam line.

--
Kathy

[duh who]

"Kathy Morgan" > wrote in message
.. .
> duh who > wrote:
>
> > Well, that shirt is getting daunting. I've got the shell together, but
> > there's something about the reverse pleats that want to stay open once
> > opened. I had someone look at it, and the lines tapering down to the
waist
> > look good, but she thought the pleats staying open looked a little
funky.
>
> I agree with Val; try topstitching the edges of the pleat right next to
> the fold/seam line.

Well, it didn't seem to like the outside of the pleat being open, as it
would never close back once expanded. So, I edgestitched that seam all the
way down, and left only about a 4" opening to the inner pleat side. This
seems to work.

[Irene]

Hi Dwight,

If you are getting tension across the back because you have broad
shoulders, please remember that you have to add length as well as
width to get over those muscles. This is something that some of us can
see for ourselves as the same fitting problem is in the front. You
might need the assistance of somebody local who does tailoring and
knows these tricks.

First, make sure that the neck and shoulder are perfectly fitted. Big
shoulders require the addition of fullness at the outer edge of front
and back shoulder line, tapering to nothing at the neck. In your
case, one of the lines might taper and one might be parallel to the
original shoulder line. Do this at the real shoulder line, NOT the
yoke seamline.

Then try adding a quarter to half inch to the bottom of the yoke, in
the back only, so that the armholes are riding a little lower.

You will also have to add to the top of the sleeve. This is an area
that makes the strain worse unless the cap is the right shape. In
your case, I would draw out from the back half of the sleeve but
tapering so that there is a sliver added to the front side over the
top of the shoulder. I would add as much fullness as you can ease
into the seam, you will still be able to flat fell it, but this is the
area that needs to be enlarged to take its share of the stress.

This will of course require a test or two. Do all your fitting on a
pattern with the real shoulder seam, and draft the yoke at the end, it
probably will only take one pass of testing.

OK, now the slightly silly story: the D-ex-H was such a gorilla that
the best fit came from the Missouri River Boatmen's shirt (of which he
got 40+). After the divorce, he had the balls to present me (at a
picnic) with his latest floozie's "improvements" to the shoulder
area--she had edited out the gathers at the top of the sleeve. I
asked him to test the shirt as he had tested mine, and he proceeded to
swing his arm and tear the fabric right out in both directions. I
smiled and said "there was a reason for that fullness" and walked
away...

Good luck with the fitting--Irene


"duh who" > wrote in message >...
> I've been fooling around with extending the yoke on some shirts because I
> thought it looked "sportier". However, I have a tendency to get some
> tension across the backs of my shirts because I have broad shoulders,
> extended yoke or not. I decide to go another route.
>

[duh who]

"Irene" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi Dwight,
>
> If you are getting tension across the back because you have broad
> shoulders, please remember that you have to add length as well as
> width to get over those muscles. This is something that some of us can
> see for ourselves as the same fitting problem is in the front. You
> might need the assistance of somebody local who does tailoring and
> knows these tricks.

You gave me a LOT to think about here and visualize. I'll save it and refer
to it and try to absorb it.