Shirt & Blouse Sewing Patterns

A well-made shirt is the clearest possible demonstration that something was made rather than bought. It's also the garment where the details are the point: a collar that sits properly, a placket that runs straight, cuffs that match. None of it is beyond a confident beginner, but all of it rewards taking your time, and it's the reason shirt-making has a slightly forbidding reputation it doesn't entirely deserve.

Maison Fauve leads this collection, with Vikisews, Tessuti, Wardrobe By Me, Puff & Pencil, Friday Pattern Company and Merchant & Mills alongside. Between them, the range splits fairly neatly into two: proper button-up shirts, including workwear-inspired and oversized cuts, and blouses, which are softer, often collarless, and rely on drape and detail rather than structure. If you want the collar and the placket, look at the shirts. If you want something that falls and moves, the blouses are where to start.

Shirt or blouse?

The line between the two is blurry, but it's a useful one when you're choosing. Shirts have a collar and stand, a front placket and buttons, and usually a yoke and cuffs. They suit crisper cloth, hold their shape, and involve more construction steps. Blouses are looser in definition: often no collar, sometimes pull-on, frequently gathered or tied, and cut for fabrics that drape. They're generally quicker to make and more forgiving of fitting, which makes them the friendlier starting point.

Getting the details right

Interfacing is not optional on a shirt. Collars, stands, plackets and cuffs all need it, and using the right weight is what stops a collar going limp after two washes. Choose one lighter than your shirting, and if you're using a woven cloth, a woven interfacing will move with it rather than fighting it. Mark your buttonhole positions from the pattern rather than eyeing them up, sew a test buttonhole on a scrap of the actual fabric with the interfacing fused in, and press every seam as you finish it. Shirts are made in the pressing as much as the stitching.

What to make them in

Classic shirts want cloth with some crispness: cotton poplin, chambray, oxford, brushed cotton for winter shirts, and linen for looser summer cuts. Blouses go the other way, and suit viscose, crepe, georgette and silk, which fall softly and gather well. A drapey viscose in a structured shirt pattern will collapse, and a stiff poplin in a blouse pattern will stand out from the body, so it's worth following the fabric notes on each pattern. Order a sample if you're not sure how a cloth behaves.

Related collections

For tees, vests and jersey tops rather than button-ups, see T-shirt and top patterns. For cloth, try cotton poplin, linen or viscose, and don't forget interfacing and buttons.