DIY Buttondown Alterations

[agh98]

So, I bit the bullet and bought a new singer sewing machine at Target. No, no lofty aspirations here - though I would like to make my own ties someday (as many on here have spoken about in the past). Rather, as a tall/slim fellow, I wish to merely take in a couple of inches from the body of several off the rack shirts in my collection. Yes, I have mytailor.com and landsend custom shirts that fit fairly well, but also have so many other shirts in my closet that would fit _great_ if I could just get rid of some of the excess body.

That said, I don't sew (yet). I'm going to attempt to thread the machine and get situation this morning, but would appreciate any tips about ripping the side seams and pinning/sewing a new seam. I see the machine has many stitches, so I will try to find a suitable one and, I assume, sew inside out from the inside. I'll also start with a relatively inexpensive shirt as my first victim!

Any advice / pointers to online tutorials of any kind? It would be much appreciated. If I discovery any "hints," I'll be sure to pass them along.

Adam

 

[tiecollector]

Take a sewing class.

Be sure you loaded the thread right.

Try sewing straight lines on scrap fabric.

on the real shirt:
- turn it inside out
- pin it along the seams up the body and down the sleeves
- sew a straight stitch up around where you pinned. This will take practice, and I was up til 8am last night practicing my own shirts. But I found just go in a pretty straight line, for me I start at the bottom corner and swoop in a curve to about 2" in then kind of go in a straight line at a slight angle so that when I end at the armpit, there isn't much seam allowance then I proceed to take more in along sleeve. My biggest problem is that the chest is often tight cuz I have a large drop.

This will get things pretty close, if you want a super European, contoured fit, you can add darts in back. I tried doing my first darts yesterday, it wasn't as easy as I had hoped, but I think I did pretty well after 2 tries.

 

[agh98]

Thank you sir,

Oh, this is definitely going to be an adventure!
So, in essence, you're saying that you leave the existing seam intact until you have the new seam sewn (then, I assume, cutting the excess material away only once the new fit is confirmed).
I'm going to try to use my best fitting shirt as a guide to take some starting measurements.
More to come.....

 

[tiecollector]

I don't even cut the excess fabric away and neither will an alterations tailor all the time. I leave it in tact because it allows me to take it out later. My tailor recut the sides and did it too small and I had to end up giving the shirts away.

If you just cut it, though I have done this, it isn't the best way because the fabric will fray over time. You can serge it, but that is more for knits and polos, etc.

The easiest is probably to just do a press seam and fold the excess fabric sideways and then tack it down with a basting stitch so it doesn't ruin the silhouette, but I don't even bother since I don't have my shirts painted on.

If you want to cut it then what you should do is a french seam. http://www.sewneau.com/how.to/french.seam.html

 

[agh98]

Well, took my first sewing class yesterday and can say that it was a great experience. It was a beginner class, but it really helped in building confidence as to using my machine. I'm thinking of taking a private lesson now focused on learning how to read a pattern; and b) making neckties - what I'd really like to focus on right now.
Thanks for the advice to take a class......invaluable advice!