Apprenez à coudre des chemises boutonnées

I found this class quite rushed with both the standard placket and hidden placket. My preference would be to break this down into 2 lessons although it meant duplicating some techniques. After making a standard placket I ended up with the buttonhole side being a tiny bit wider than the button side which is fine. Also the button side appears to be folded over so that there are 3 layers and the buttonhole side has 2. My preference is to have both sides the same size and thickness. My suggestion for a beginner like myself is not to trim the right side and attach a separate placket but to fold over the right side in the same way as the left side. Once that has been accomplished the sewist can play with contrasting fabric plackets and determine how best to do that depending on the thickness of the chosen fabric. Having 3 layers of fabric and a very light interfacing works nicely with cotton lawn but I have doubts this is workable for thicker fabrics .
Didn't get along with Kalle sleeve placket used Angela Kane's free template instead but the Jenna placket looks similar and is available with this class.

Excellent instruction here for a professional looking pocket. Heather engages so well it feels as if she is talking directly to you.
This lesson isn't really necessary since the written instructions are easy enough to follow and there is a sew along for the Kalle pocket the one I am working on. However, one cannot help feeling enthused by Heather watching her work which always helps. Demonstrating in such a natural way without aiming for the demon of perfection.

Excellent instruction here for a professional looking pocket. Heather engages so well it feels as if she is talking directly to you.

An informative lesson. I had already got my head around suitable fabrics and have most of the supplies but I found information on interfacing and buttons helpful. Again opportunites for customising your shirt using buttons in different colours and a different size on the cuffs. You can also vary what interfacing you want to use depending on the feel you want to achieve. For example you might want to use a crisper interfacing on the collar than on the placket.
Re fabrics: fewer fabrics are suggested than on the pattern envelope with the focus being on very fine lightweight cottons that are soft and smooth where you can barely see the grain. For plain fabrics chambray has texture and offers two tone shades with its unique weave and for patterned Indian type cottons. A lightweight linen such as handkerchief linen is also suitable and for a different look a rayon challis.

Heather presents with her usual infectious enthusiasm for shirt making which is a joy to watch. Comparing Jenna and Kalle shirt: Kalle has 3 placket options and instructions are given to show how these are interchangeable with Jenna. Personally I wouldn't want to transfer the Kalle plackets to Jenna. I think Jenna is too oversized for a pop over placket for instance and I would prefer to see each pattern in its own unique style. It was very helpful though to see instructions on how to transfer the fold over placket of Jenna to Kalle. It is only necessary to have a separate sew on placket if you are sewing fun options such as having the placket in a contrasting fabric or cutting the placket in a different direction to the shirt e.g. cross grain or bias. Heather explained an endless number of options even having left and right plackets in different colours. These options also apply to the collar, yoke and placket. The focus was to have fun. In this first lesson the sewist is encouraged to think about the look they want to achieve and options to customise e.g. how the back pleat can be made narrower with a caution as to how that will affect the amount of ease. The importance of grading sizes was mentioned too to ensure enough ease on the hips. There is an ebook on fitting in this lesson but that seems to focus on Jenna and there are suggestions for other books on fitting. I would say it is a good idea to familiarse yourself with one of these patterns first. Kalle can be overwhelming with the options already and you need to have space to digest the fun elements suggested in this lesson. I am currently part way through a toile using the same fabric for all pieces and will come back to this lesson at a later date for the fun options. Beware these classes could create an obesession in shirt making!

Breaking this on line sewing class down into manageable chunks for an intermediate sewist who has never sewn a button up shirt before I would like to review each lesson.
Introduction
Heather is an enthusiastic educator in this lesson almost breathing the techniques of shirt making to those who might feel daunted by the prospect with a promise of hand holding showing an insight into the struggles that might be involved.
While this class is designed for any button up or button down shirt pattern we focus on Closet Core Kalle and Jenna and note the differences.
Kalle has a back pleat while Jenna is oversized
Jenna has a deeper yoke than Kalle which would be better for my rounded back
Jenna has an improved sleeve placket the Kalle one foxed me and so I used Angela Kane's template on Youtube
Jenna has a fold over right side front placket rather than the trimming and sewn on placket of Kalle.. Why not have Kalle with a fold over placket?
If I have calculated correctly buying the Kalle pattern, expansion sleeve pattern and this class sepatately costs £10 more. The Kalle and Jenna bundle patterns both bought with the class costs an extra £10.
Professional looking samples of Kalle shown on this introduction. I am itching to learn more.