A traditional shirt is a staple of a men’s wardrobe. Made in a light pale colour, it can become the most worn outfit be it for a formal occasion or smart casual reasons, be it with a tie or jacket, or even with rolled-up sleeves. But it all starts with a perfect pattern. 

 After a bit of research, I decided to give Burda 7045 a try. It seemed to be almost perfect (I'll explain why, almost, in a second) - it has different collar options and it’s easy to adjust it. I also love the fact that it has darts, which is a nice touch for a traditional shirt. The only serious thing I had to change was the collar slits. The pattern includes a very quick and messy way of making them which I changed for a traditional one. 

The first shirt I made was more of a casual one. 

It's a bit lose which makes it even more comfortable, and it has one feature that makes it impossible to wear with a jacket - horizontal stripes. That’s how it was designed to be used, so I didn’t risk it and placed the pattern pieces to achieve the Michael Douglas' Gekko shirt effect.

 The fabric is Italian pinstripe shirting one and apart from the strange stripes placement, it's an absolutely perfect shirting fabric - breathable, easy to iron (and it's 100% cotton) and dries in seconds!

 The second shirt had to be more formal. To achieve that, I went one size down and picked a completely different fabric. I chose Lady McElroy cotton shirting fabric. It’s an easy-to-work-with fabric and it has a lovely light blue colour which goes with everything. Just like most of the shirting fabrics, it has a woven print created with white and bright blue threads. 

To sew a proper formal shirt I added the collar stay slits to the pattern. They aren’t included in the pattern but are very easy to make with an extra collar piece. It’s a must for traditional shirts and I didn’t want to skip it. And the actual collar stays I used came in a big amount, which gives us a chance to use it for numerous projects and build up the stiffness of the collar. 

The interfacing I used was Vilene G700 light-medium woven iron-on fusible interlining which matches all the requirements. It’s thin enough, yet it gives a good stiff feeling to the collar, collar stand and cuffs. And it’s made out of pure cotton. I usually get one or two meters of it a year and it goes a long way and allows me to use it on all of the projects I have throughout the year. 

As for the stitches, I used flat ones, since they’re the most appropriate ones for the shirt. I finished my shirt with a very traditional touch - genuine mother of pearls buttons. Those are the ones that are used on the most classy and expensive ready to wear and bespoke shirts. I can highly recommend both the pattern and fabric. Together (along with all of the notions I used) they can make a very decent traditional shirt for a classy gentleman.

Burda 7045