I'm blaming Alan H and Sydnee

[plaid preacher]

Here is a photo of my most recent project. As you can see, it's not a kilt; it's a clergy shirt.


Now let me explain. As any of my fellow "union members" can attest, it is hard to maintain one's sartorial elegance when shirts for clergy predominantly come in one colour ... black. I have grumbled and complained about this for years. Because of my complexion, black makes me look like death. Not a good look. I was starting to think about ordering custom shirts from the web ... and maybe I still will someday, but recently I decided to sew my own. ... I blame Alan H and Sydnee for this...and I'll explain that in a minute.

I currently am down to just a couple of shirts, and only one that is not the full celluloid collar variety, because recently I had opportunity to meet a fellow clergy from Malawi who, in the course of our conversations, asked if I had any old shirts that I was not wearing that I could give him for pastors back in Malawi. Well, what's a guy to say? I went home and cleaned out my draws of all my shirts and also solicited shirts from other friends and colleagues. When all was said and done I was able to collect about a dozen shirts for pastors in Malawi.

But now I need new shirts. As I was trying to figure out what to do, I turned to my wife (the traditional sewer in our house) and asked, "Can I sew my own?" You see, she had watched me sew my x-kilt a while back. A project that I received a lot of advise from my new web-buddies Alan H and Sydnee. My wife said yes.

So here I am, sitting amidst the grey fabric trying to read a real sewing pattern (Guys, Alan is right correct when he notes that the x-kilt pattern is not like a sewing pattern a dressmaker would use but is more like wood working instructions; trust me on this!) and stitch this thing together. After a little bit of floundering, however, things are starting to take shape, and hopefully I will soon have my first bespoke clergy shirt made by none other than myself.

And whether it turns out ... or whether it has a sleeve 6 inches shorter than the other .... you guessed it .... I blame Alan H and Sydnee.