The Scout Shirt by Danielle Elsener

The Scout shirt is a new zero waste pattern in Sewing Without Scraps.

Last week I cut out a long sleeved version and over the weekend sewed it up.

The pattern pieces are cut in a zero waste arrangement, and apart from the front/back/yoke, the pieces are in a modular arrangement that can be moved around the fabric.

The sewing went fine, almost like a regular shirt really.

There are a few more seams than a regular shirt, which is a superb opportunity for doing topstitching if your fabric is plain – mine is obviously too busy for it to show. Besides the extra seams on the sleeves, the front band could be sewn on the outside for more topstitching opportunities.

Here’s a mid-sewing try-on:

Left side: after tweaking. Right side: original.

The length is quite long, longer than expected. I ummed and ahhed about it, and decided to cut off 5cm and take a 2.5cm hem. So much for the side splits I’d planned – they disappeared with the excess length!

Also, clearly adding 5cm extra length to the sleeves was complete overkill! 5mm-1cm would have been adequate, if anything. As the cuffs are long with two buttons, I left the sleeve length and just shortened the cuff 4cm. I do like the deep cuffs though, and will reinstate them if I make this again.

I made the biggest size (LL/3L) and I don’t know why – M/L would have been okay as I am in fact a size L. However, this size pattern is wide enough in the hip department to make a much longer version as a shirt dress, which I think would be great.

(For reference, I’m 168cm/5’6″ tall, 89cm/35″ bust and average length arms.)

I made a few tiny tweaks to the collar.

The collar leaf I sewed with 6mm seams for the three outer sides (instead of 1cm). I might make the collar 2cm longer in the future, purely for my own aesthetic tastes.

I double-checked the neckline before sewing the centre back seam in the collar stand. This is very easy to to: measure the seam line of the neck by standing a tape measure along it (22.2cm):

Then I transferred this measurement to the collar stand to be sure I was sewing exactly in the right place:

The neck size was perfect.

The collar stand and collar leaf are both straight, not curved. Wait, what? Shouldn’t they be cut curved? Not really. Collars have been cut straight for hundreds+ of years, so it’s totally legit and just a different way of doing things.

While sewing the sleeves, I found them to be too small for the armholes (if anything, it’s usually the other way around – the armhole is smaller than the sleeve and the sleeve is eased in). This is noted in the cutting guide, but mine appeared to be about 3cm smaller. Did the armhole stretch more with handling? Luckily, the seersucker is incredibly flexible and it wasn’t too hard to make it fit. Seems to be okay.

The shirt has yet to be buttonholed and buttoned, as I didn’t have buttons, so it’s pinned closed at the moment.

All in all, a great shirt pattern and SO economical on fabric. I’m now thinking about lengths of stash fabric I’d written off as shirt material as there wasn’t enough – this would be the perfect pattern for them. I wear long sleeved shirts during summer for sun protection and I know I’ll wear this one a lot.

Aussies, there are copies of this book in my shop now. US readers, Danielle has copies too. Neither of us have more on order, so please take this opportunity to order if you’ve been thinking about it. While I have you here, Danielle has a new book in the works, Zero Waste Pattern Drafting. The project is on Kickstarter – read more about it HERE.