I first found out about this book via instagram, and I was so excited I pre-ordered it immediately. Before I get into the pros and cons of this book, I would just like to say it definitely fills a void in the world of sewing patterns. It is SO HARD to find good patterns for men's clothes, and this book contains enough patterns to sew up literally, an entire wardrobe. But, before I talk more about the book, let me talk about the pattern I made from it.
The pattern I chose is one of two shirt options in the book: The Summer Shirt. (Just a quick note on this pattern, it has all the same pattern pieces as the regular shirt pattern, it just shows you where to shorten the sleeves.)
After measuring Luke using the sizing guide included in the book, I made the size small. Over all I am very happy with the fit. The only sizing issue I encountered was that the collar stand doesn't quite fit over his neck, but this is an issue he has with rtw shirts as well, so that is not the fault of the pattern.
The only major alteration I had to make to this pattern was to the sleeves. As they are in the pattern they were much too long and slightly too full for Luke's taste. I ended up taking up 2 1/2" of the length of the sleeves and 3/4" out of the width.
The only "beef" I had with this pattern was the yoke. I have made a couple of different shirt patterns, and each of them has approached the yoke differently. I much prefer the "rolling" method of attaching a yoke, but this pattern does not have you do that. Instead you simply fold over and top stitch. I had initially thought I would just do the rolling method anyway, only to find that it doesn't work with this pattern because the yoke piece is so skinny. There is nothing wrong with the method provided and it is appropriate for the size of the pieces, but what can I say? I like big yokes and I cannot lie.
The fabric I chose was a cotton/ linen blend by Robert Kaufman which I got from fabric.com, here. Although this is a fairly stable fabric, it was a little tricky to work with. Even though I made sure to pre-wash the fabric, I experienced some pieces shrinking quite a bit after they were thoroughly pressed when I applied fusible interfacing to the button band. This caused me to have to ease some of the pieces together, but I think it worked out in the end. Aside from the shrinking issues, I would definitely recommend this fabric for warm weather shirts or shirt dresses.
The pattern pieces are provided on included sheets of paper. They overlap each other in order to save space, but they are color coded by pattern, so that you can be confident you are only tracing the pieces you need. The instructions were also fairly easy to follow. I would say this a a good option for a "first shirt" pattern. There were a couple of places where I got stuck, but after reading the tricky steps several times through, and being sure to take breaks when I got tired or frustrated (this is important!) I managed to pull through and I am very happy with how this turned out.
Over all, I am thrilled with this book. All together, there are 14 patterns in this book, including day-wear, lounge wear, and accessories. It also includes vital information on sewing tools, fabric types, sizing, and common sewing techniques. Unfortunately this sizing in this book only goes up to a size large (which is a 42" chest/ 36" waist). This is really limiting compared to most regular sewing patterns, but aside from that, I think this book is still a good purchase given how much reference material it provides.
If you are a confident beginner, I think this a great introduction into the world of men's garment sewing. Although starting with a shirt may be a bit daunting, this book has a wide variety of patterns with various levels of difficulty. If you are a more experienced sewer, this book is an entire wardrobe of patterns in one neat little package. No matter what your experience, however, I think this book is great for anyone interested in men's fashion.
Looking good
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