FIT Class #8 -- MIDTERM: The Finished Dickey Gets Graded

Readers, I won't lie: I was nervous to show my dickey to Professor B yesterday.  It's the basis of our midterm grade.

First thing on arriving in class yesterday, we were instructed to place our dickeys on the "Alva" brand, Size 40 male dress forms in our classroom, and pin our name to our work.

I used the dickey I'd worked on during class; it was good enough and I really didn't feel like making another one (I had man-skirts to sew!).  As instructed, I had had four buttonholes made at Jonathan Embroidery ($5 down the drain) and sewed on my buttons by hand, as per Professor B.'s directions.

Personally, I thought four (diagonal) passes through each pair of buttonholes, using doubled thread, made for a somewhat clumpy-looking button, but for now, I'll do as told.  Normally I'd use thread that matches the button rather than the topstitching but he seemed to want us to use the thread we'd been working with.



I carefully trimmed away any stray threads and pressed the final garment.  I carried it to class on a hanger.











There were a fair number of good-looking dickeys on display: nice fabric, appropriate button choices, well-pressed, etc.  Naturally a few looked less than fabulous, but some of the students are sewing for the first time.  Professor B. said he was impressed overall and commended us on our effort, reminding us that we have the second half of the class to hone our skills.

Then, while we worked at our machines on cuffs and collars (in our final shirt fabric), we were called up one at a time by Professor B. to show him our dickey and get our grade.  I had a scare when, a few minutes before class, Professor B. asked if I would step out into the hall for a moment.  Ugh -- he's not happy about my blog.  He told me he had drafted a size Small shirt pattern and wanted to know, since I was a smaller size, if I wanted to use it to make my final shirt (so that conceivably I could wear it).  I said yes, so in the time remaining, I traced the thin plastic pattern pieces onto craft paper.  Whew!

When it was my turn to come forward, I took my dickey off the form and brought it up to him.  He seemed pleased and commended me on my stitching.  He wants me to try to get the collar extension closer to the placket edge (which I could have, had I used my usual method).  It's probably less than 1/8" off but that's still too much (see pic below).  He thought one of my collar points could have been a little sharper (to match the other).  And then he gave me my grade.



I have not been graded for anything in more than twenty-five years, so I was sort of embarrassed by how much it mattered, but there you go.  (Plus the pressure from the blog.)

I got an "A" --  I'll take it!

I'm excited about having a smaller pattern to work with, especially because the new one has a collar and collar stand adapted from a Canali shirt, with much nicer shaping; I'll show it to you down the line.  BTW -- we do have class next week; spring break isn't until mid-April.  So expect more weekly updates till then.

Meanwhile, I also hope to start on Michael's crossword puzzle shirt later this week -- maybe even this afternoon.

And that's it.

Have a great day, everybody!

Ever-tactful, Prof. B. silently wrote down our grade for us in our notebooks.