The Gosling has been on my radar for a while. It was released as a sewing pattern by Sew Sew Def magazine  published by Mimi G. There aren’t many versions of this pattern online so I thought it was worthy of a review! I bought it from Mimi’s website for the bargain price of $3 US. 

The pattern itself is well-drafted; this is probably the best fitting shirt I’ve made Paul thus far! We have tried a few other woven shirt patterns (The Tee by Merchant and Mills) and the popular McCalls 6044 which he found uncomfortable with arm movement. With this pattern, he didn’t have any discomfort or issues with movement. We used a cotton from Drapers which has a slight sateen finish.

The shirt was nice and quick to put together – much simpler than a jacket, jeans or long sleeve shirt! The pattern is designed to be a slim fit but I added a 2mm to each of the seams of the body to allow for a little ease. The seam allowance is 1cm which is perfect if you want to overlock the seams. I’d add 5mm if you wanted to sew flat-felled seams. I don’t think this is necessary for a casual shirt.

My favourite detail of the shirt is the seam line which connects the back yoke to the front of the shirt. The pattern instructions are clear but don’t go into huge detail on certain techniques. If you are new to shirt making I’m sure you could resolve any issues through a different shirt making tutorial or by watching YouTube. 

One of my sewing goals this year is to perfect my collar techniques I recently watched this class on Blueprint and found it so good! I might also try this technique too. I’ll be making Paul and myself more shirts to practice these techniques. I can see myself making more versions of The Gosling in the future.