Sewing your own unique clothes have never been easier or more fun with Sprout Patterns and Spoonflower! Or have me sew up a custom one just for you!

Over the past week, I've put together the Negroni Shirt Project I called Rocket Man, created by Colette Patterns and made available in fabulous designs from Spoonflower! Sprout Patterns makes it even easier by pulling it all together and digitally printing the clothes pattern directly onto the fabric of your choice!

This was my first men's shirt that I've had the pleasure of sewing up, so I wanted to be sure to piece everything together very carefully (which helps avoid seam ripping out any errors).

Spoonflower Designs Used:

Printed on: Kona Cotton. Note: colours of patterns do come out a little less vibrant on this material as the cotton does soak in a bit more of the ink. Synthetic materials usually have brighter colour retention. When in doubt, order a swatch first!

 

Soyuz Blueprint by Sharksvspenguins
The official blueprints for the Soyuz rocket, on a blueprint blue background. Used for main body of shirt.

Dover ~ Navy Blue Solid by Peacoquettedesigns
This is Dover, a deep navy blue color. Named for the crossing between England and France, this color calls to mind a tall ship with dashing officers. Used as an accent for under pocket flap and on back yolk.

The Sewing Pattern: PROS & CONS

When you order your Sprout Pattern you receive the digital download files for both the long sleeve and short sleeve versions which you can print out for all the sizes and the instructions for sewing them up.

Here are a few of my pros and cons from this pattern in particular:

PRO: I do love Sprout Patterns for having the fabric already printed up in the shape and size of the pattern I need! Saving some time for sure.

CON: I dislike having to print out paper pieces of patterns, which for this pattern, you generally still have to print out some of them to get placement dots for things like buttons and pleats, so that's slightly annoying. I kinda wish the dots were printed onto the shirts as well, but I do realize not everyone wants to put the pockets in the same place, or the fit may have to be tweaked for certain body types, so having them printed could cause other issues.

PRO: I did like the tips in the margins of the pattern, for links to things like alternate pocket types (should I, in the future, like to make this out of other materials) or how to flat fell the seams.

CON: The seam allowances did tend to jump around a bit to differing sizes, and it wasn't always re-listed in the next section or part of the pattern clearly, which means I had to re-read the instructions a few times to make sure I was getting it right.

As this is a more complex sew than some of the dresses from Sprout, it does stand to reason that you would need to reference some of the paper pieces of the pattern for positions of the key pieces. 

I also searched the world wide web for helpful tutorials such as the Negroni Sew Along by Peter Lappin of Male Pattern Boldness!

The Result

All in all the total time was about 5 hours, doing a few steps each night this week to get it finished, but I was being quite fussy, and like I said, I had to do some re-reading to make sure the seam allowances were all correct.

I'm comfortable, now that I'm familair with all the steps, that I could compact this project into 3 hours to get from start to finish! I am very pleased with the result, and the tidy seams.

My hubby is also eager to wear it out and about, which never happens with clothes-so the project is a winner in my book!

Want this Shirt? Your Options...

DIY - Sew it up yourself!

Head over to the Rocket Man Project Page I created at Sprout Patterns to order it for yourself! You can choose from types of fabric as well if you prefer something a little lighter or heavier weight! 

Custom Order - I will tailor one for you!

Want one but don't sew? I'd love to help! You buy the supplies (approx $100) and I charge $20/hr to sew it up (approx 3 hrs sewing time). Contact me for a complete project quote!

Comments? Questions?

I'd love to know what you think of this shirt! Have you sewed up a Negroni? Have any other tips you'd like to share?  Feel free to leave your comments below!