Finished - my chambray Tyler shirt

Finally it's finished! This one has taken a good couple of weeks, and for the most part I am very pleased with my first attempt at a button down shirt! Just to recap, this is the Tyler shirt, by the newish Finnish pattern company Named. It is available in PDF only at the moment, with only 2 sizes available per pattern (34-36, 38-40, etc etc). My fitting post for this pattern can be found here but in a very quick nutshell my muslin was a size 36 but I made the bodice seams 5/8 inch to be able to french them, did a sway back adjustment, added an extra inch to each side of the centre front for better bust fit, and added a little extra to the hips. I probably really needed the size 38 in the bust and hips, but the 36 in the shoulders - my adjustments seem to have worked out ok and the shirt is very comfortable.

My fabric is this divine Robert Kaufman cotton chambray with woven dots, in indigo blue, which I purchased from Purl Soho while in NY in July on our honeymoon. I had seen it on the Purl Bee blog ages ago, and loved Laney's Archer shirt made from the same fabric, and when I found it at Purl Soho I had to snap it up - if there's one thing I love more than stripes, it's spots! The fabric is very lightweight, and the weave is quite loose (it frayed like an SOB) so it was perfect for french seams. Because I am more likely to wear the shirt with the sleeves rolled up I didn't want messy seams visible.

After reading Sunni's post at A Fashionable Stitch on the same pattern I followed her recommendation and used this Threads article to make a proper sleeve placket. It was an excellent tutorial. I'd highly recommend it, and would recommend making a dummy version as they suggested. It took me a couple of hours to make the dummy version, and then my real versions. The trickiest bit I found was getting the triangle top stitched ends to look the same.....

The pattern company does not give picture instructions and they are slightly.....hmmm. Brief is not the right word. I think they are translated from Finnish, and as such there are a couple of steps that are a little hard to follow. I did end up using some other shirt making resources on the internet, including Grainline's Archer sew-a-long, plus the Threads placket article, more just for some visuals. I constructed my shirt in a slightly different order to the instructions too - here's a step by step of what I did that may be of some assistance to others:
1 - added 5/8 inch seam allowance to the side seams, sleeve seams and back centre seam to allow for french whilst tracing pattern (in future would probably make all seam allowances 5/8 inch - see later).
2 - DID NOT DO THIS but god I wish I had (more on this later) - stay stitch neckline on front pieces, back pieces and sleeve pieces (only at the neckline).
3 - Did sleeve plackets whilst still flat.
4 - Did centre back seam (frenched), sleeve/bodice seams front and back (frenched - really had to stretch/ease pieces to be able to match them up), then sleeve and side seams all in one piece (also frenched).
5 - Did centre front button plackets and cuffs.
6 - Made collar using Andrea's FANTASTIC collar tutorial.
7 - Buttonholes and buttons.

So my major stuff up with this shirt is the neckline. As mentioned above I did not stay stitch the neckline parts and holy crap they stretched. Big time. Because this shirt is raglan sleeve there are 8 pieces that come together to make up the neckline - 8 pieces that can stretch and distort and end up adding 2 INCHES to the diameter of your neckline. When it came time to attach my collar stand I ended up having to recut 2 new collar stands and collar pieces, adding 2 inches to each. I realised then what had happened but didn't twig with how it would affect the fit. It is of course now very big around my neck, and as a result doesn't sit that well on my shoulders, and makes the sleeves too long:

I notice in these pics I'll have to put a press stud between the bust buttons too - thought I had that sorted. I don't doubt that eventually I will take the collar off and redo it - the only solution I can think of to make the neckline a little smaller is to take a tuck in the centre back at the neck line (that will take up at least an inch). I just can't be bothered unpicking my hand sewing and redoing it all right now! Is that wrong/lazy?

So the final verdict on the Tyler shirt is pretty good I think - I'm really pleased with the construction of my collar and cuff plackets for a first effort, I've improved my invisible slip stitching no end, and I've learned that if I'm easing fabric then putting the longer/bigger piece on the bottom so it is directly in contact with my machine feed dogs makes it a lot easier.... And despite my sloppy neckline and slight boobage gapage I do love my shirt!