Orange Trial

Husband is consistently disappointed by the increasing amount of synthetic fibers in the selection of polo shirts in local stores.  I decided to try making a polo shirt, using Simplicity 9994 from 1981

It was an attempt.

He wasn't home when I decided to try this pattern, so I measured his other shirts and thought the largest size option would be big enough--while it technically did fit him, it did not fit him in the way he likes.  But!  He does believe that I can make a polo shirt from scratch now.  Further discussion revealed that he prefers henleys, anyway, they're just harder to find.  I have since acquired Simplicity 9315 from 2021, which is a proper henley in extended sizes.  I just need to acquire more appropriate fabric to try it out.

And "appropriate fabric" was indeed an issue with this attempt, too.  Since it was never intended to be worn, I used the only even vaguely suitable knit I felt like I could spare: the orange left over from this.

So I was surprised when I showed it to him and he said he would have worn it if it had fit.  He admitted that he does like orange, but never wears it because, where we live, orange is strongly associated with a specific state college football team, which is something he does not want to be associated with. 

 

I did have to remind myself how to do a proper placket (thank you to Bhooki on YouTube, and also for a video about attaching the collar), because the pattern wants you to sew a facing, which...just seemed very "home sewing" to me (although, looking at pictures of Lacoste's original tennis shirts, that may have been how they were originally made.  Still.  Not what I wanted.)

Assembling the placket and collar weren't nearly as fiddly as I expected, and the rest of the shirt went together easily.

If I ever do make a proper polo shirt, with freshly-sourced piqué knit, I'll probably also make the effort to source a purpose-knit polo shirt collar and ribbing for the sleeve bands.  Using self fabric for both didn't turn out as awkward as I expected, though.

 

The little slits at the hem side seams did go as awkwardly as I expected, and it was not helped by me deciding to shorten the shirt at the hem, because, as give, the side slits seemed awful long.  (Husband is not a tall person.)

Overall, this went together much easier than I expected, and I hope to find more fabric suitable for trying out the henley pattern at some point.

(This shirt very quickly got donated; maybe a college football fan will find it useful, or someone looking to be pumpkiny for Halloween.)