Making the Stripe Shirt

For my Integrated Design class, I was assigned to design and sew a button-down shirt with stripes somehow incorporated into the design. The stripe part was assigned after the button-down shirt part unfortunately, so I had already planned out the perfect puff-sleeved blouse before realizing there was more to the assignment. Despairing re-sketching my idea with striped fabric, I realized as I drew that there were other ways to work the stripe into the project. It would require a lot of patience and exact measurements, but I could work a stripe into the actual pattern of the garment and eliminate the need for a stripe shirting fabric.

I cut a basic fitted shirt pattern from my slopers, then worked in a continuous stripe by slicing, building upon, and taping my pattern pieces. Many hours and yards of pattern paper later, I had my shirt pattern, consisting of 16 paper pieces and over twice that number in fabric pieces.


I purchased a nice khaki cotton weave, a tad sturdier than normal shirting but with a more interesting texture to its surface. For the stripe, I took a chance and used scraps of Zac Posen floral organza. The organza was difficult to cut, and only time will tell in terms of how it sews.


I hope to achieve a continuous stripe on my shirt, going from front to back around the sleeves. I want the stripe to look almost fluid, like in the designs of Miuccia Prada for both her Prada and Miu Miu lines.