Two terrific bloggers recently posted several batches of vintage men’s shirt patterns. Lisa, of As I Said . . . and Peter, of Male Pattern Boldness, both featured this vintage McCall’s (no. 3087) pattern, and now Peter’s decided to make it:
I was really thrilled to see this pattern, because I had already decided to make a shirt just like it for Mr. Noile. (The pattern is on its way to me as I write.) Mr. Noile lived in Japan, and has an abiding interest in many things Japanese. A while ago, we watched a Japanese video series called At Home Dad. The star, Hiroshi Abe, wears a shirt just like this in episode 10:
The interesting/quirky/fun feature is the closure:
I took these screenshots when we watched the show; they’ve been sitting on the back burner ever since.
I’m pretty sure that Hiroshi’s (or rather, Kazuyuki’s — he’s the character) shirt is knit, which gives it a very contemporary feeling. However, in keeping with Mr. Noile’s own at-home lifestyle-of-the-moment, I’m going to make his in flannel, in the long-sleeve version. If he likes it, I think I’ll make it in knit, with the short sleeves, for spring.
Another minor difference is the collar. Kazuyuki’s collar is cut so that the edges are flush with the chest seams; the pattern seems to have a more traditional collar, with longer points nearly covering the buttons. Here’s how it looks at the end of the day, when Kazuyuki has undone the buttons, exactly as if he’s undone the top button or two of a conventional shirt:
What I’d really like to know, though, is who, in Japan, found/researched/co-opted this design? And where has it been slumbering since 1954?
How interesting that this look showed up on a Japanese program! It is a cool design.
As of today (1/23/10), Peter’s got his partly finished, and I’m about to cut mine out. I think it’s going to look better in a knit, like on the show, than in wovens, though. I guess we’ll find out!
So cool, that was my favorite of the shirts too! I wouldn’t mind some for myself. Can’t wait to see your version. I think you should try to do the Japanese collar, I like that one much better.
I’ve been watching a lot of Korean dramas on TV here (Alone in Love, Someday, Grand Chef) but I don’t know anything about Japanese shows. Can you give me some titles to look out for?
Lisa, we watched a few other shows with Hiroshi Abe. He’s great, and a lot of fun to watch, but only one other was worth the time we spent, and it’s name escapes me right now. It’s about a bachelor who is too concerned with important things to bother with dating or marriage. The others? Well, he’s really fun to watch, but the shows were stultifying, at which point we moved on to other things — at least temporarily.
Mr. Noile found these as a result of his anime interests. We don’t have a television, so I don’t know what’s available there. If you’ve got access to Korean TV, though, maybe you can get Japanese stuff as well? If you can get titles, you could probably find reviews online. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
I do like that shirt. Very nice design!