One of my goals for this year was to make a button up shirt. I had the Cheyenne Tunic on my “make nine” last year, but I chickened out and made excuses. I was SO happy when Allie announced that January would be Indiesew’s “Shirt Month”! I immediately decided that this was the year, and January was the month! I didn’t start making my muslin until the last week of the month (again, a little bit procrasti-chicken), but I did it! AND I finished my muslin two days before Shirt Month was over! Here are a couple of pictures of it.
I was very happy that I made a muslin before making it with my nice Indiesew fabric because my muslin had some bubbling in the collar stand, yoke, and cuffs. I also didn’t ease the collar stand in very well, so when I cut off about a half inch extra, I had a really hard time stitching the bottom down. I ended up with a little bit of a pleat in the middle (thankfully the collar covers it up), but I definitely learned from it! I was still very happy with the finished result and will wear this often.
I was very happy that I was able to learn all of the shirt making skills with the Cheyenne Tunic by Hey June because Adrianna is SO good at explaining things and I knew I would be in good hands. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. The only place I got stuck (while making my muslin) for a couple of minutes was stitching the collar stand facing on. I just had to bring Dallas into the room, read the instructions out loud, and hold it a few different ways before I was finally like – ah ha!
I was also really happy that I made a muslin first because I accidentally plowed past one or two steps in my muslin, like top stitching the sleeve french seams down. The second time around, I was also able to minimize the bubbling A LOT, and made sure to read every step! Haha
Now about this awesome fabric! I was so excited when I saw this double cloth on Indiesew because these are some of my favorite colors, and the two sides complement each other perfectly! I had some fun finding a couple of inspiration tops on Madewell before cutting it out. This one was the most popular from my Insta-stories poll, and I really liked it too. Madewell always has some of the best stuff to get my creativity flowing.
My top is a little bit different than the Madewell top in how I cut some of the pieces, so I’ll break it down. I cut the button plackets, sleeve plackets, and yoke on the bias; everything else was cut straight grain. The pieces I flipped to show blue side were the back piece, the inside yoke, and the cuffs. I also went with a square pocket instead of the pocket that came with the pattern. I think it would have been fun to do the curved tunic hem, but I already had the pattern pieces for the shirt lengthened and ready to go, so I just went with the shirt hem.
Sewing Tall Adjustments: I lengthened the ‘shirt’ bodice pieces by 2 1/4 inches so that they were both the same length as the ‘tunic’ version, just so that I didn’t have to bother with lengthening the button plackets. So I just used the tunic length placket, and I also chose not to lengthen the sleeves at all since they are pretty comfortably long already.
I can’t even express how good it feels to have finally made a button up shirt! And I finished TWO within a week! It felt like an eternity, but it was also really good to just focus and get them both done. I just get really intimidated by things that I’m not familiar with, and when I don’t know how exactly they go together — and when they have so. many. steps. I basically danced around my kitchen both times I got to the end of the instructions and saw, “Congratulations! Your Cheyenne Tunic is complete!”
I am really glad that I dove in and learned every step of the shirt making process with this pattern. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed the process, and finishing every step was so satisfying! I am so excited to be able to add a few more button up shirts to my ‘make list’ this year since I finally conquered my fear, and it really wasn’t so bad!
The fabric for this post was provided by Indiesew. All thoughts and opinions shared are my own.
It looks so good! I love all the details, and the fabric is so pretty. One of these days, I am going to get brave and try the Cheyenne.
Thank you, Sky! It was really fun to make and I’m realizing projects like button ups, pants, and jackets aren’t so much about bravery, but more about time…which requires a lot of patience. So just get patient and you’ll be good to go! 😉 This is such a good pattern though and great for your first time making a button up.