Some recent Simon shirts: The first one is made from Armani deadstock I found in that cool store in Padova recently. The rest of the fabric from the shiny inner yoke is still waiting to be made into another Simon shirt.
The blue one is made from a piece of vintage fabric (1960s?) that was just barely enough. After cutting I had just 2 inches left or even less .
In the third example with the horizontal fine black stripes, see how well these stripes match at the front .
The last, yellow shirt is made of cheap, printed cotton from Montmartre, but has noble, antique buffalo horn buttons, which will perhaps live on in 2-3 more shirts to come, when the fabric will be threadbare and faded.
We discussed this in our recent call, and we agreed that when people post a showcase here, we would ask if it is ok to (also) post them on the website.
I’m supposed to setup an auto-repsponder for that, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
megday recently asked for a Simon pattern but with short sleeves. I got a small piece of the finest Egyptian cotton in a particularly beautiful weave. It was so small that it wasn’t enough for long sleeves (and yes, my sleeves were supposed to be very long). So, without further ado, I made a short-sleeved shirt. Fortunately, without the fiddly cuffs, it went pretty swiftly.
An example of a Simon shirt with a fine metal zipper instead of a button placket. It is made from a slightly elastic fabric with a high wool content—perfect for cold winter days.
Very nice! I was wondering about zippers in shirts, whether they are standard fashion or sacrilege or something. Not that I care much, but still wondering. And now you show one. How did you get the idea for a zipper? Did you think about a concealed zipper to improve wind proofing? My jackets with zippers are awful against wind (and equally bad against rain), but another placket layer could improve that I suppose.
And is the base material of the zipper plastic? Except for some vintage stuff, I am unable to find metal on cotton zippers – seems like no-one wants them anymore.
I also like the little details by which you tweaked this to your personal liking, e.g., a hanger loop at the collar.
I remember that decades ago I had a simple black cotton shirt with a zipper that I really liked wearing. So I wanted to try that again. I like the combination of fine, rather elegant fabric and the informal, casual look with the front zipper.
I don’t need a zipper cover on this shirt to protect against the wind, as I mainly wear it indoors (unlike my sports jackets).
And yes, I’ve never come across zippers with cotton tape either. It’s especially important to me that I only use high quality and don’t have to worry about broken zippers annoying me.
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Thanks for sharing!
