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Un-Selfish Sewing, McCall’s 6044

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

Guess who finally took project pictures? This gal! And guess who insisted the pictures be taken in front of our car? That dude. He’s very proud, obviously.

This is the first thing I’ve ever sewn for my boyfriend, Justin, other than reluctantly hemming pants (just because I can sew doesn’t mean I will sew!).

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

The Goal: I wanted to make my boyfriend a shirt that fits because he’s so oddly shaped. Also, because we are from Austin, and like all other men from Austin, my boyfriend is in a band so, naturally, he needs a pearl snap shirt. (Seriously, go to a concert in this town and you will know this to be true.)

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

The Pattern: Susan was kind enough to let me borrow this pattern, McCall’s 6044. I made a size L with some fit adjustments. I did a combo of a few versions.

(OMG, so, while image searching this pattern for the envelop pic I realized I made quite nearly the exact same shirt as Suzanne did. Whoa. Our men even look a wee-bit the same. Erie.)

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

The Fabric: Chambray from The Common Thread here in Austin. Pearl snaps from Snap Source.

The Changes: Justin aparently has a giant neck. I remember when he was a groomsman in a friend’s wedding and he had to rent a tux. The shirt he got was sized by neck size so while he could tie a tie the rest of the shirt was gigantic! He looked like a deflated balloon. Obviously I had to make neck adjustments to this pattern. It fit well in the shoulders and upper chest but I had to widen the shirt in the front. He also told me that he wishes the sleeves were a little shorter but I think I’m too lazy to go back and fix it. I’ll do that next time. 😉

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

I topstitched everything and mock-flat felled all the side and shoulder seams.

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt

The Results: Overall I like this shirt for a first try. Next time I’ll try to make it more fitted in the back, I’ll shorten the sleeves a half inch or so for his taste, and I might widen the neck by another 1/2″ just to give him slightly more neck ease. Also, I think the sleeve cap on this pattern has way too much ease in the front to the point where in the back it stretches and in the front it rumples up and looks like gathers if I don’t iron the heck out of it, and yes, I double checked the pattern piece, too. What’s up with me and analyzing sleeve caps lately?

McCall's 6044 Men's Shirt
 
Justin doesn’t show up on the blog all that much but I swear he exists, even if he doesn’t like to smile in pictures. His only photo facial expressions are faux smile, Blue Steel, or dead-face. Guess we’re going for dead-face in this post. Hey, at least the car looks good. 😉

Comments (31) for post “Un-Selfish Sewing, McCall’s 6044”

  • Looking good J! I don’t think I’ve seen J’s hair combed over like that since 5th grade. The shirt looks great! Good job, Dixie.

  • Nice shirt! My hubby has a ginormous neck also, out of proportion to his body. I have been considering making him a shirt or two, but that’s as far as it’s gotten, lol!

    • thank you! we went to a wedding about a month ago and he didn’t have any well fitting shirts so we both bought a bunch of shirts the day of the wedding and found one that would work. that’s when i knew i had to make him a button down shirt for those rare times when you really need one. next time i’ll get enough fabric for a long sleeve shirt.

  • hehe… your post has me cracked up 🙂 Your beau totally looks like a blonder version of Jack Black. I LOVE Jack Black. My boy has the same neck problem, and the fact that he’s actually ASKED me to make him a shirt has me all aflutter. This is from the man who looked at me suspiciously when I offered to make him a pair of boxer… although that was in the early days of my sewing career.
    Oh yeah, and your car is freakin’ awesome. The shirt is lovely too 🙂

    • haha, my boyfriend’s gotten the jack black comparison before. thanks! seems like the big neck issue might be a common one.

  • Ah, it’s inevitable — one day we just have to suck it up and make a shirt for the dudes in our lives. I liked this pattern a lot when I used it. It’s pretty simple to make, though you definitely stepped it up with all the contrast top-stitching and western details. Good idea to use fake flat-felled seams!

  • This turned out great! This is the same pattern I sewed for my boyfriend, and had some sleeve issues, too. This is definitely inspiration to try it out again for a 2nd version. 🙂

    • thanks, i knew a lot of people had made shirts for their men but i didn’t realize it was the same pattern until now. kind of cool!

  • Wow! Really nice shirt and Justin looks great in it. I was in Texas once or twice and it always feels like an oven. Does he really want a more fitted shirt than the one you made? I would think keeping cool is a way of life in Texas! Seriously nice car too!

    • good point on the heat! justin’s normal wardrobe is shorts and a t-shirt. this is about as fancy as he usually gets. these “fancy” shirts will probably be relegated to fall/night time when the temps go down. 😉

    • Thanks! It’s actually a 635 – “The Shark!” I wish it was an M3. This car is cool looking but it’s kinda slow 😉

  • it looks awesome. i have made that pattern for my husband a couple of times and its a real winner. its nice to have a boy pattern, just wish there were more out there to choose from that i could make for him.

    • Thank you 🙂 I agree, I wish there were more boy patterns but at the same time I think the variations are so limited that I could probably have one TNT pattern and make changes myself.

  • Thanks for the review – my husband is shaped similarly and also has a terrible time finding shirts (and he’s also in a band!) so it’s good to know this pattern would work. Your shirt turned out great!

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