Pattern Review: The Gosling Shirt
It doesn’t hurt at all to name a sewing pattern for a men’s shirt “The Gosling” because a google search of this pattern also conveniently conjures up multiple images of Ryan Gosling on the computer screen. The eye candy is a nice distraction, I will admit. Or a very strategically-named persuasion to get “The Notebook” movie fans to buy a shirt pattern possibly endorsed by the actor. Although I am an unabashed admirer of Gosling, that’s not the reason I bought the PDF digital pattern that you can buy here.
Designed by Mimi G Style, this short-sleeve men’s shirt has an angular detail on the front yoke and pocket which were the big selling points for me. It creates a subtle geometric interest without being a full-on cowboy shirt.
This pattern comes in sizes XS-2XL. It is quite a pleasant sew and I’ve made 3 of them so far. According to body measurements, I sewed up size XL for my man. They turned out to be a breezy fit.
But I think a size L fits him better here:
Rated for intermediate beginners, this pattern is relatively easy to put together. The instructions and diagrams are adequate, and the only tricky bit to sew is piecing the angular front yoke to the front shirt. Here are some suggestions to make the sew go more smoothly:
1) I will suggest sewing the back and front yokes to the back and front shirts respectively by sewing just within the seam allowance first, close to the seam line. Then when you are attaching the facings to the shirt, this first thread-line will not show on the outside of the shirt.
2) Shorten the interfacing that goes on the two button flaps to reduce the bulk accumulated at the hem.
There is one main adjustment that I made to the pattern, which is to close up the gap where the collar meets in the front. The original pattern has these two points further away than I like them to be:
So I added 1cm to the width of the collar at the fold line of the pattern piece, and now the collar comes together closer when the top button is closed:
I suppose it’s a matter of taste, but I prefer it when the collar meets in the centreline.
There is also an option to sew on button tabs at the sleeves so that you can secure the sleeves when rolled up to a shorter length, but I eliminated this completely for all three shirts.
The fabrics I used were mainly linen and cotton shirting, and my husband’s current favourite is the shibori-dyed number. Of course, it is my favourite one as well. I was afraid that it might look a little too hippie for the hubby, but fortunately the print on the dye has a somewhat sophisticated artsy vibe.
I particularly like how the back print looks on a shirt. And I feel confident enough to make another one as a good friend’s wedding gift. The shibori is a nice handmade detail that gives a great personal touch for a shirt as a gift.
The pattern matching was very successful in the back of the shirt, but the inherent imperfections of shibori-dyeing were challenging to match up the front shirt. It was quite a headache cutting up the fabric to make everything line up and in the end, this is the best that I could do. C’est la vie:
Not perfect but also not too shabby. I’m rather proud of the pattern matching on the pocket, though.
The fabric started out as a light blue Belgian linen, and I basically dyed it with a deep blue commercial dye. The shibori was achieved mainly by itajime or accordion folding techniques.
I didn’t know what the garments the fabrics will turn out to be, and I chose to make a men’s shirt out of curiosity to see if it’ll be clownish or classy. And I’m really relieved that it turned out to be the latter.
The best part of this shirt for me is how the juxaposition of the shibori patterns on the back collar and the back yoke:
Now if my husband and I want to be annoyingly cutesy matchy-matchy, we can be shibori twins: him in his new Gosling shirt and me in my Peppermint Magazine Wide-Strap Dress.
