Howdy Sewists!
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be a part of the Sewcialists #sewmenswearforeveryone month! As a male sewist it can be hard to find inspiration and guidance online, so I’m hoping this month will raise awareness and shine a spotlight on sewing menswear for all!
There have been some pretty exciting highlights for menswear-sewing in the month running up to now, with the launch of Bartack Magazine and a menswear focused podcast from Love-To-Sew, to name just a few. As well as the thought provoking and informative posts we’ve come to expect from The Sewcialists. Myself, I’m looking forward to February as a chance to really revel and celebrate in my chosen hobby — I’m finding new inspiration through pattern recommendations, sew-a-longs and Sewists-to-follow. And I hope you are too.
I’ve been sewing around 4 years now, mostly menswear but also a few dresses for my nieces and the occasional dress or top for a friend; but yes, mostly menswear, mostly for me. Over the years I’ve found some incredibly inspiring menswear makers… but not that many! I grew up gay in a small town and I was a professional dancer before I became a hairdresser — and I find it interesting that I’ve never really felt like I was in any minority until I started sewing. Trust me, I have thick enough skin to handle it, but it does smart a little when someone starts their Instagram post with ‘Hey ladies, what’s on your sewing machine today?!’ Or ‘What do all you dressmakers think about…?’
There are many posts which will tell you the differences between sewing menswear and womenswear. And, yes, if you’re getting into tailoring, pad-stitching and horse-hair-canvas, then you’re talking about a whole other bunch of skills. But if you’re making a women’s tailored jacket or formal wear then you’re going to need all those same skills. Likewise, the skills you use for making ‘women’s’ dresses, blouses, trousers, pants, jeans, joggers & jackets are exactly the same as those needed to make their ‘male’ counterparts. Sewing menswear doesn’t necessarily mean tailoring. For anyone pushing their skills, on a progressive sewing journey, things like welt pockets, French seams and zip flys are definitely going to come up! So don’t think you need to move to Savile Row to make menswear… although that would be nice!
If you’re trying to fit menswear for the first time, go easy on yourself. If you get a good fit on the shoulders/chest for a shirt and the waist/ hip on trousers then you’ll be on to a winner. Most men are used to wearing S/M/L/XL, etc., in set lengths, so any adjustments you need to do between sizes will pay dividends. Remember that men like to do their clothes up left over right (from the wearer’s perspective) so if you’re following a tutorial, read all the way through first in case you need to reverse the instructions.
There are a few (great) resources for menswear sewing patterns like this Sewcialists Blog Post. You can find both vintage and modern patterns at Thread Theory, a wide library at Bartack Magazine and even print your own to size with Freesewing.org. Some of the European sewing magazines include menswear (& boyswear) patterns too, like Ottobre and La Maison Victor. The ‘Big 4’ have a concise range as well, but I should warn you to look beyond the cover images! This was on the cover of my current shirt…
However, I visualised it more like this…
Much like womenswear patterns, you sometimes have to look beyond the images to the style lines.
If you haven’t made shirts before, it is possible to make a simple shirt; short-sleeved, so no cuffs, leave out the yoke and pockets, fold over the button bands, and use a nehru or camp collar. But I wanted all the bells and whistles on this one, with contrast yokes and collars, and all the topstitching. For a Sewing Menswear theme, I don’t suppose you could get much more literal than a Western/ Frontier/ Cowboy-girl Shirt! I’m using Simplicity 1327 and a cotton print fabric from Misan West (in London’s Goldhawk Road). The chambray is from Crescent Trading (off Brick Lane) and is left over from another shirt.
Precision was going to be key to finishing this shirt. I used starch on the yokes, pockets and button bands to get a sharp press and topstitched with a 3mm stitch length. I used the foot as my guide for the second row of stitching and tried to keep it as even as I could.
I didn’t use my overlocker at all on this shirt — you can usually tell I’ve made something myself if you get to see the rainbow overlocking thread I use on everything. But it’s french seams all the way for me today! The pattern comes with 1.5cm seam allowance included. So, if you cut out carefully and align your seams well, you can sew once at 5mm with the right sides facing out, turn and press the seam so the right sides are now facing in, and sew it again at 1cm. This french-seam can now be pressed to one side, or topstitched down for a decorative finish.
My machine does a decent buttonhole on light to medium weight projects. Problems only seem to come up when I’m close to a bumpy seam: so trim your allowances neatly on the collar, cuffs and plackets.
I even sew the buttons on at the machine. Using a button foot, I set a zigzag stitch to the shortest length (You could use a darning plate or lower the feed dogs), the width needs to match the gap between the buttonholes, so start slowly by hand cranking if you’re unsure. My machine has an automatic lock stitch function but you could leave your thread tails long enough to pull through and tie off instead. I use a dab of washaway glue to hold the button in place. (Clear tape works well too!)
I’m really pleased with the finished shirt — it’ll earn its place fully in the summer, but I managed to find a day bright enough to get outside for a photo. (What you can’t see is my coat, gloves, scarf and hat just behind the bandstand!)
As I mentioned, there are some great sewalongs and tutorials on line. Of course, I’ve done a few posts on shirt-making myself if you wanted a bit of further reading…
… So please check out the hashtag #sewmenswearforeveryone and use it on your menswear (or menswear inspired) makes. If you’re looking to follow more menswear sewists, try searching these hashtags too…
#menwhosew #mendosew #dopemensew #mansewing #mensew #mensewtoo #broswhosew #sewmenswear #makemenswear #makedoandmen
Thanks for reading and have a happy Menswear-For-Everyone month!
Note: The Sewcialists is a hyper-inclusive editorial site. We recognize that “Menswear” as we use it in our theme month is a very loaded term, and we use any gendered reference in these discussions to denote the most broadly accepted “traditional” categories only, without wishing to prescribe or proscribe what any person can wear. We recognize all gender identities and the choice to dress how one pleases.
Andrew is a 46 year old ex-dancer turned hairdresser and (in any spare time) home sewist. Living in the heart of London UK with his partner of 25 years (now husband), both dreaming of one day owning a dog. Andrew is a man, and he can sew! You can follow him on Instagram @sewandrew or on his blog sewandrew.com.
Cooool shirt! Excellent choice of fabric/color combinations!
And it was really interesting to read about your point of view regarding not feeling included. I can totally see where you’re coming from. Sounds like there’s a need for a project/blog or something like that, a platform catered to men’s sewing! By the way, the Dutch magazine Knipmode recently released a menswear issue… If you’re not too daunted by the Dutch language, maybe it’s something for you?
Thanks Karin. I’ll have a look into knipmode- there’s always google translate! 👍🙏
Yes the knip mode issue was nice in the sense that it had 15 quite versatile patterns for 5 euros. I bought it, but speaking of exclusion of men I also found the texts very non-inclusive (very gender- and heteronormative, ie women sewing for the man in their life) so not being able to read Dutch may even be an advantage!
At last! My poor education pays off 🤣🤣🤣👍🙏
Oh, that sounds super lame… Actually I recently read that it’s the exact same issue as they published on menswear several years ago, but with a slightly different cover. Maybe I shouldn’t have recommended it, lol
I love the way this turned out. Thank you for writing this, it’s great to hear your perspective. Happy sewing!
Thank you, I’m really glad you enjoyed it! Happy sewing to you too! 👍🙏👏
Great post 😀
Its kinda interesting to see how times have changed so much. I love my true vintage patterns and have a great many in my collection. I want to make my son a 1920’s early 30s suit but the patterns just don’t exist! If you are lucky you can find the odd 40’s suit or shirt pattern but that’s your lot. They are very few and far between. It was a given that women would make their own clothes and things for their children, patterns a plenty, but a man would go to a tailor or a gentleman’s fitter.. who would be a man. Strangely the majority of women’s clothing designers were men but they were made by women.
Male clothing just doesn’t seem to be deemed important. When my boys were babies I could walk into any high street baby store and see 3/4 of it full for little girls in every style and shade. The boys section was hidden in the corner and boring! I’ve no idea if that is still the same now as I avoid shopping like i would the plague (excepting any sewing related shopping of course :’D )
We have all come a very long way I’m happy to say. But sadly we still have a way to go yet! I love sewing. I love interacting with sewing people. It never even occurs to me what gender they are, colour, race, sexual orientation or even what they do for a living, if they sew and are a nice person then that’s all that matters to me 😀
We need more male sewers who aren’t afraid to be different and make they own clothes letting their individuality shine… Bring on the exciting and vibrant menswear designers who will address the balance and make patterns a more 50/50 shopping affair! Can’t wait!
Lainey x
That’s really interesting Lainey, thank you.
And, yes, sewing is our umbrella and it doesn’t / shouldn’t matter what else we are besides. As you say, ‘if they sew and are a nice person…’ I totally agree!
👍🙏👏😘
Thank you for sharing your make. My son is 5 and is super interested in what I’m doing in my sewing room. He asked recently if there are boys that sew and of course I showed him pictures of things made by Oleg Cassini and Christian Dior and the like….but of course their clothing isn’t the stuff everyday people wear. And it’s for women. I need more posts like yours to have examples for him of regular guys sewing the regular everyday clothes they wear. Boys are artists, too, and many would love fabric as their medium but they need to see males representing the hobby. I hope more of the fellows who sew will start sharing their work!
Thank you so much! That’s really cool! Check out the hashtags on Instagram and you’ll find some amazingly cool & creative Sewists to show him 👍👏🙏
I grew up very poor in a very rural place, so there wasn’t a lot of ready-made entertainment available to me and my siblings. In order to keep me and all my siblings busy, my mom taught all of us, including my brothers, how to kit and sew. While neither of them has made either of those a regular hobby, they both know how to do some basic mending, and the younger of the two occasionally makes simple accesories and toys for fun and to give to friends. Otherwise, both lead pretty stereotypically masculine lives working in construction and landscaping, and dressing in (mostly) unflamboyant ways. During a stint volunteering in a profession theater costume shop I saw quite a few guys sewing: several of the designers were men, and nearly all the theater’s interns regardless of department and gender, were required to help out on costumes for big shows. Some of the actors would ask for sewing lessons, too. I don’t have any photos of them sewing or the things they’ve made, but i thought your kiddo might like to know that not all men who sew are famous designers who only make things for extremely wealthy women.
This is so, so good. The fabrics look great together and the time you spent being careful on topstitching completely paid off. O_O Beautiful! I hope many men see this and are inspired to share their craft!
Thank you so much! Here’s to the menswear revolution 😅👍🙏👏😀
This is a stunning make. I know that you said you took up sewing relatively recently. I don’t believe you sometimes 🙂 You do such thoughtful, good-looking stuff!
Thank you! I started in 2014, I suppose that’s a while ago now! I still *feel* new to it! 😅
So beautifully done!
Thank you! 🙏
Ugh! I too cringe every time I see a post that starts with “hey ladies” or something like that, partly because it’s exclusionary in terms of gender, but also because it has a long history of being used to exclude on the basis of economic status, and at times race. Not to mention that it is also often used as an unwarranted diminutive or pejorative term by men when they harass women.
On another note: I love western-style shirts, and this one is especially fantastic!
Exactly, what’s wrong with just: ‘Hey!’ ?
And thank you- it’s not my first & I’m pretty sure it won’t be my last! 👍🙏
Love the shirt. One of the best things about sewing your own clothes is being able to use funky prints like this. I too prefer to see the line drawing. Most of the models on the covers of patterns (OK, all of them) are shaped nothing like me or don’t share my taste in fabrics, so I don’t find them particularly helpful.
Hopefully that’s changing… the #sewover50 movement seems to be gathering a good bit of momentum 👍🙏