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The Basic Fundamental of a Beautiful Shirt |  | A question on many people's minds is :"What makes a beautiful shirt?" .
Answers include
i) it must have single needle stitching;
ii) the fabric pattern must be matched, or
iii) it must have Mother-of-Pearl Shell buttons.
The replies vary. Everyone has his preferences and ideals. But these responses have missed a very important point, i.e. "A beautiful shirt is one that fits well."
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Online Store | Tailor-Made Shirts | The Basic Fundamental of a Beautiful Shirt  A Beautiful Shirt is SimpleA beautifully-cut and well-fitting shirt looks simple on the outside. When something is executed in such a way that it looks very simple and ordinary, the inherent beauty lies within. A well cut shirt is a beautiful shirt.
A building is only as strong as its foundation. The foundation of a shirt is its cut. A shirt is beautiful when it is precisely and immaculately cut. Only after attaining a perfect cut do we consider the shirt's sewing and garment accessories.
Then what makes a good cut? How does one ensure a shirt is cut well?
This article tries to explain in a clear manner what contributes a good cut and hence a beautiful shirt.
|  |  Does Beauty Lie in Symmetry, Always?To attain a beautifully-cut and perfectly fitting shirt is a challenge for the shirtmaker. Let us study the shoulder yoke. The shoulder yoke is considered the most critical part of the shirt. Here is where the whole shirt is supported . All the pieces of the shirt, be it sleeves, front and back pieces and the collar, are supported by the shoulder yoke. It is no doubt that a shirtmaker will spend more time in adjusting the shoulder yoke than the other parts, to give a perfect fit.
Most shirts are cut symmetrically. It means usually only the left side of the shirt is drafted. The shirtmaker cuts two layers of the fabric at once, producing 2 symmetrical sides of the garment. But the truth is, most of us do not have a perfectly symmetrical body. The human shoulders slope at an angle of 20 to 22 degrees usually. But we find that the majority of us have shoulders that slope at different degrees on both sides. For example, we have people with the left shoulder sloping at 20 degrees on the left side and 25 degrees on the right side. The most extreme we have seen is 10 degrees on the left and 29 degrees on the right, a difference of 19 degrees!
Shirts that are cut symmetrically usually cannot properly accommodate customers whose bodies are not perfectly symmetrical. If a symmetrically-cut shirt is worn by someone with asymmetrical shoulders, or whose shoulders slope at different degrees, it will amplify the problem of uneven shoulders. A well-cut shirt should fit beautifully, taking into account the uneven shoulders.
| |  The Asymmetrical RealityAssuming we have a customer with his right shoulder at an angle of 15 degrees and his left at 25 degrees. This is how we move the shoulder yoke of the shirt to accommodate the slope of the body. Notice the slant of each shoulder yoke piece in diagram 2.
When both left and right slope of the shoulder are the same, we will have both pieces slanting at the same but opposite angle. Most of the time this will be the case, but when the shoulders have unequal slopes, the shirtmaker will have to slant the shoulder yoke accordingly.
To many, this is a small change. But the implication can be enormous. We have to split the shirt into left and right. The back pieces have a higher right and a lower left shoulder.
The front pieces are different, too.
The same goes for the armholes - to maintain the same armhole the left armhole has to be cut lower.
The same goes for the the collar.
Every part of the shirt is affected. The whole process becomes double the complication and the shirtmaker has to cut the left and right sides of the garment separately. It will add more complication if the same customer has uneven arm lengths.
Now you see why the shoulder yoke plays an important part of the cutting of the shirt. At what degree of difference will we have to cut left and right separately? From past experience, when the difference is large i.e more than 5 degrees, the shirtmaker will have to consider cutting asymmetrically. Cutting a shirt in this manner will produce an immediately noticeable improved smoothness in appearance. There is no crease, no tug or excess fabric. This method produces indescribable satisfaction in the customer and the shirtmaker. A well fitting and most beautiful shirt is created. From its appearance it may look simple and ordinary. But its execution is far from ordinary.
| | Split YokeFrom the above diagram, you will notice that we have split the yoke into 2 halves. When sewing, we will have to sew the two split yokes together. Hence a "split yoke" is formed.
You will also notice how the split yoke can be split correctly or not correctly. You can use the shoulder yoke in diagram 1 above, split into two, place the pattern in bias and sew together . This way of sewing a split yoke has no effect of conforming the shirt to your body. It is just cosmetic. The correct way is using the split yoke in diagram 2.
| | To Split or not to SplitAdvocates of split yokes hail this as the epitome of a perfect shirt. They regard this feature indispensable to a good shirt. In a sense this is true if looking at diagram 2.
There is another school of thought that considers split yokes to be unnecessary. Though they agree that the joining of stripe pattern at the centre looks nice.
But can we have the essence of diagram 2, but in one piece instead of two? Of course you can. In the way of pattern making, we can join the two pieces of pattern together and cut as one piece. Thus we preserve the essence of a split yokes but maintain the yoke as one.
To split or not to split is just a matter of taste and preference of the customer. To the shirtmaker, it does not matter provided he is using diagram 2.
| | A Beautiful ShirtWe would end this article by returning to the first question: What makes a beautiful shirt? A shirt that is comfortable, and fit the wearer body is a beautiful shirt. And the cut of the shirt is the fundamental building block of the shirt.
Note: This article is purely the view of the author and does not represent the view of the shirtmaking industry. If anyone feels that this article in any way is inacccurate, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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Online Store | Tailor-Made Shirts | The Basic Fundamental of a Beautiful Shirt |
