Shirt #30 and #31 - Ivory Poly-cotton Shirts

July 2019

A long-sleeve dress shirt, retired fall 2020 from the collection of Dave Loffredo and a short-sleeve casual shirt in ivory poly-cotton, in the collection of Erik Zantopp.

After my cotton dress shirt, I decided to move to a poly-cotton with a "permanent-press" finish. I just find them more practical and comfortable when packing for meetings. I ordered five yard lengths in a variety of colors. This was a 60in broadcloth, so a yard went much farther than with 44in stuff, and I was able to get two shirts out of a five yard length.

I wanted to test some interfacing alternatives, so I made one of the shirts with non-fused "sew in" interfacing in the collar, another with no interfacing in the front band, and some other variations. I sewed them unwashed, and was surprised by the lack of shrinkage. The long sleeve shirt ended up way too long, which convinced me that I needed to develop a "near net shape" pattern for myself.