One of the pleasures of having my daughter home for Christmas is to get to sew for her. This year's request was for a plaid shirt.

We have acquired a number of really fine cotton shirtings from a major supplier of shirt goods to the menswear industry. From this group, Alex selected a lightweight brushed cotton in a black and white plaid.

The wonderful thing about sewing the Florence Shirt is that the fitting is pretty easy. Making sure it fits in the bust and shoulder and that the sleeves are the right length is about all it takes. There is lots of built-in ease in the waist and hips.

I decided not to worry much about matching the plaid motif everywhere. So I matched the plaids at the side seams and across the fronts, but then I cut the pocket and back yoke on the bias.

While I matched the horizontal plaid sections when I cut out the front and back bands, I cut them so they would line up in the reverse color. This makes these elements really stand out rather than blend into the overall linear plaid.

There are two Sew Confident tutorials that I always refer to when making shirts. The Collars and Stands tutorial gives you two options for applying a traditional collar and stand. I am still using the first and most classic method, but you might enjoy checking out the newer method. The second tutorial called Sleeve Plackets illustrates how to sew the sleeve vent detail included in the Florence shirt.