Just so you know, I have been really busy in the sweatshop! Mark came home from Hobart with orders from his parents, which included socks and a shirt. I have knitted the socks and dispatched them, and now I have completed the shirt for Mark’s father – who was very taken with Mark’s version.

This is KwikSew 3422 with fleece fabric from Knitwit. Buttons are op-shopped. Mark’s dad really liked the skeletons on the collar and cuffs of Mark’s shirt. I forgot this little detail for the collar, but did remember for the cuffs.

It’s his father’s 90th birthday in October so this solves the “what to buy him” dilemma that we always seem to face.

Next up was a shirt for Mark. This was made from some beautiful linen that we bought at Global Fabrics in Dunedin. I really enjoyed making this shirt, the fabric was lovely to sew with (but won’t be quite so lovely to iron!). Mark wore it for the first time yesterday and was really happy with it.

Basically this is the same shirt that I have made several times and I am quite confident with making it at night when I’m tired.

The buttons came from Buttonmania and were actually given to me by the owner. They are gorgeous – I do like square buttons!

The third shirt was also made for Mark. This time from a fabric that my sister found in the op shop. It has a lovely feel, but is clearly a cotton/polyester blend (a flame test confirmed this). Having said that, it will require minimal ironing and so will be fabulous for travel.

Mark was clearly not thrilled with having his photo taken – hehe. I used lovely wooden buttons also from Buttonmania in Melbourne:

Please note the pocket, I was trying to make the shirt a bit more interesting and had seen something similar in a high end shirt shop in Perth. I’m not really sure that I pulled it off, but Mark likes it, so all is well.

It’s not very clear in the photo, but I did a really good job of matching the yoke stripes with the top of the sleeve. Very happy with this.

The pattern for all three is KwikSew 3422. I did have a lot of trouble with the buttonholes on the third shirt; my machine just didn’t want to do them nicely. Was it the fabric? the thread? me and my dodgy finger? I found out how to calibrate the machine, which was thrilling, but still didn’t sort it out.  Mark finally prevailed upon me to take the machine to the repairer and of course it did nice buttonholes! Got it home, and back to the bad buttonholes. I did everything, including running a spirit level over the machine to ensure it was level – we’re talking desperate times here! Anyway, I just sat and did a million (never let truth get in the way of a good story!) buttonholes, playing with stitch length and finally got them to work. I held my breath for every one of the eleven buttonholes on the shirt and got there in the end. Phew!