I decided to make my very fussy husband some shirts. Armed with David Coffin's excellent book and my new weapon of choice (newly acquired and serviced Singer 201K 1954 model - great year by the way!) I started by making a toile using
Burda 6874. Then I made a linen long sleeve with a "grandad" collar in a white linen. I hoped to practice techniques before I started the real thing. The linen was lovely to work with and I was pleased with the results. I used the patterns for a tower placket and a collar band from David Coffin's book but otherwise used the pattern straight out of the packet. My husband is a cycling nut and, like many cyclists is very slim and a standard size in ready to wear.
This fabric from Spoonflower with a nod to the Tour de France had his name on it but was quite expensive and I was terrified of the pattern matching. In the end I matched the pocket and the button placket with the right front. With hindsight I should have cut the buttonhole band as a separate piece and then I might have been able to match both fronts and the buttonhole band.
I learnt a lot by making this, using glue pen on the sleeve fell seam and on the collar, using a buttonhole chisel for the first time. But all credit goes to my lovely old Singer, what a star for topstitching!
The only thing I am not happy about is the fit of the shoulders. Can anyone help? I suspect the culprit is sloping shoulders and/or a forward shoulder so should I alter the bodice fronts and back rather than the yoke as David Coffin suggests?