Cathy’s Sunshirts

Lightweight, airy overshirts for UV protection

Compare with this far more elaborate rub-off of a shirtwaist.

Cathy wrote:

OK, I would like to sew Sunshirts for my husband Chris and myself.

Looking for these features: Long sleeves. No cuff (elastic) Yoke on front and back so bodice from approximately armpits down can be one fabric, shoulders another. Mandarin collar (tall to cover back of neck).

I’d like to use linen for sleeves and shoulders and collar, and mesh for lower half of bodice. It’ll be worn over a T shirt, so it’s to protect chest, neck and arms from sun. The mesh section is for ventilation.

Cathy sent excellent reference photos

Here’s our working design (you can mentally add buttons, etc.). The pattern pieces are detailed below.

The upper is a long rectangle with bib extensions front and back, darted at the armscye to reduce bulk in the armpit while keeping good range of motion.

The two-piece sleeve has a mesh bottom for ventilation.

The pleats in the front netting are to give both of them extra room. The lightly interfaced front band will be of the upper fabric to stabilize the buttonholes. The band collar is raised at center back to protect the neck. The straight sleeves will have elastic at the cuff. Cathy’s shirt will have back darts.

The uppers and bands will be made of hemp summer cloth. The lower mesh will be of a hemp/cotton net.

Sidebar on hemp: the strongest natural fiber (8+ times more than linen), UV, mildew, mold, and pest resistant, comfortable, considerably more absorbent than cotton, machine wash/dry (softens with use), dyes beautifully, resists dirt and stains, withstands high heat. Like linen, it wrinkles easily. Linen is brittle; hemp is not. Hemp was used for sails for clipper ships, standing up to sun, salt, and typhoons above deck while trusted to come out of lengthy storage in a dank hold ready to hoist. Frank Lloyd Wright specified hemp canvas for awnings for his houses.

This will be fast to draft, and uncomplicated to cut out and assemble.

Here are the specs we’ll need for each of them:

a) Length of front bib (from where shoulder seam meets collar band)

b) Width of front bib

c) Height of mesh (this is the same all the way around)

d) Shoulder/sleeve length from collar seam to finished hem

e) Biceps circumference including ease

f) Wrist circumference – big enough to get your hand through

g) Length of back bib

h) Width of back bib

i) height of collar band at center back

I didn’t redraw for Chris, but it would look the same except without back darts.

The pattern for the top.
The front bib has to be longer than the back as it has farther to go over the front
so that the hems of both sections are the same distance from the ground.
The underarm gussets: wider in the front where they join to the long mesh bottom rectangle.
Mesh lower section with released tucks for greater room over bust/abdomen.

Front bands:
Fold in half (optional, lightly interface) wrong sides together, sewed to joined upper/lower center front. Open out with seam allowances away from band; press, understitch. Fold band to inside and press; topstitch. Repeat with other side. Stay-stitch the neck opening to stabilize and work the buttonholes.
Or can be sewn to inside and flipped to top if you want the contrast color of them all the way down.
The collar band (it’s called a stand if there’s a collar stuck on it) is raised at the center back to provide sun protection for the nape of the neck. Standard application to the shirt body. Optional: lightly interface.
Mesh edges are notorious for stretching out.
One way to control them is to baste a length of seam binding as close to the raw edge as possible.
Pull the basting threads until the edge is straight and flat again.
Flip to the inside and topstitch.

Next: pull pattern master from photo of shirt

Lay the sample shirt out flat and trace around its outline. Prick through for the neck opening, cuffs, and front bands.
Fold the paper in half. Redraw, splitting the difference.
Corrected shirt pattern from original.
Altering the pattern: use the details collected earlier.
Start by copying the sections that don’t change to a fresh piece of paper that’s pinned over the original. The back isn’t shown, same deal though.
Draw the parts that need to be changed. Your working master pattern pieces will be generated from this.
Add the seam lines for your design.
Make a rough sketch with notes showing all of the pieces (this is from arayti’s far more complicated shirt). As you generate the pieces, check them off.
These will be the sewing lines; seam allowances will be added after the individual pattern pieces have been done.
The collar band is coming.
The center front strips need to be extended so that the bands will overlap.
Capture the collar band.
As captured and with back raised.
Match the shoulder seams of the front and back at the neck ends, pivot for a smooth curve.
Pin-tracking/truing/rectifying the pieces:
Place the middle of the collar band at the center back. Align it with the back neck curve as far as you can.
Take out the CB pin and pivot to align the next section. Continue leapfrogging pins and pivoting the sewing line.
Continue to the center front.
Adjust the collar if necessary so the sewing lines come out the same.
Generate the pattern pieces, tracing each out from the master and adding seam allowances and hems. Write the width(s) on your pattern pieces in case your sewing is interrupted.
Consider which way the allowances will be pressed and make sure they match that line. When sewn, the line of stitches must pivot there so there’s enough fabric to keep from puckering. Here’s a commercial pattern with this mistake.
The hem for a tapered sleeve cuff (or pants leg) can not just extend, it must jog out to mirror the body above. The turnback for the raw edge repeats.
For an elastic cuff where the fabric turns up for a self-casing, simply straighten out the bottom area.

I code for interfacing with a gold crosshatching.
Determine interfaced areas (if any) and mark them on their pieces. Couture (and some home sewing patterns) have you cut the interfacing to the sewing line and then try to attach it to its piece without distorting it. The industry flat-fuses lightweight interfacing to the entire piece and then cuts it out.
For this shirt, lay out your front bands and collar on grain on a piece of fabric. After flat-fusing, re-pin the patterns and cut.
Only half of each front band needs to be interfaced, so these can be cut as rectangles. Or flat-fuse each entire piece.

(There will be additional material posted when the shirts arrive)